Arianna Rose

Arianna Rose (she/her/hers) is a professional Playwright, Musical Theatre Lyricist and Librettist, Theatre Director, Dramaturg, Visual Artist and Educator. She is the recipient of the MAC Song of the Year Award, the York Theatre NEO Award, and various best play/playwright awards from Theatre Odyssey, 4th Street Theatre, Tree City Playhouse, Midnight Sun Theatre, Town & Gown Theatre, Mixing It Up Productions, the Know Theatre, Studio 1 Theatre, South Baldwin Theatre, Veterans Repertory Theatre and Clocktower Theatre Company. Her work has been presented to date in 37 states and Washington D.C. in the U.S., and internationally in England, Scotland, Canada, Germany, Israel, Italy, Australia, Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea, and UAE.

Her short plays were selected 4 consecutive years for Theatre Lab at FAU’s New Works Festival readings, 3 consecutive years for Theatre Three’s One-Act Play Festival, three times for Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop’s 10-Minute Play Festival, and twice for Midnight Sun Theatre’s Serial Bowl Competition (winner, Best play: The Ripple Effect) and Theatre Odyssey’s Ten-Minute Play Festival, (Winner: Best play: FAMILY BY NUMBERS. )

Arianna was one of four playwrights selected for the 2019-2021 Miami-Dade County Council of Cultural Affairs Playwright Development Program, moderated by Kia Corthron. Two of her full-length plays developed in the program have gone on to have readings, workshops and productions across the country and awarded finalist status in many playwriting competitions. She was a 2022 participant in the Kennedy Center Playwrights Intensive and the William Inge Theatre Festival Playlab.

Arianna is a two-time finalist for the Edward Kleban Librettists and Lyricists Award. She was one of the three finalists for the 2020 Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing in the UK. Her musical A COLLECTIBLE SENSATION, with collaborator Amy Engelhardt, rose to semi-finalist for the 2023 Eugene O’Neill Music Theatre Conference in Connecticut, with the libretto being a 2023 Kleban Award finalist, and was a finalist for the TRU/STREAMING MUSICALS Reading Series 2025 in NYC and Musical Theatre West Reading Series in CA. Her musical THE LOST GIRL with collaborator Ben Bonnema was a top 20 finalist for NAMT 2022 and has been selected for extensive development.

Full-length plays: TOUCH THE MOON (workshop production, Cincinnati Lab Theatre); THE EQUIVALENT OF SENSATION. (Production, Femuscripts Community Theatre, Miami, FL); THE RIPPLE EFFECT (Production, Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop, S. Fallsburg, NY) ; THE LESSER LEYENDECKER (Playwrights Thriving Reading Series - online; Athena Projects Read & Rant, Denver CO ) . In development: JONNA/JACK, A CHANGE OF HEART.

Full-length musicals: THE LOST GIRL, written with Ben Bonnema. Reading, Florida Festival of New Musicals, Viterbo New Works Festival (WI). Workshops: CDP (NYU), Buck Hill Skytop Musical Festival. Top 20 finalist NAMT 2022. A COLLECTIBLE SENSATION, a musical adaptation of THE EQUIVALENT OF SENSATION with Amy Engelhardt. Workshop, University of Minnesota/Duluth January 2025; Finalist, Kleban Award 2024 (Libretto). Semi-finalist for the 2023 Eugene O’Neill NMTC and NapSeries NYC 2023. THE LEYENDECKER LOOK, a musical adaptation of THE LESSER LEYENDECKER with Thomas Jacobsen. TOUCH THE MOON, a musical adaptation of TOUCH THE MOON with Thomas Jacobsen, In development as well as the family musical THE SPELL. SKIPPING A STONE, a musical adaptation of THE RIPPLE EFFECT with composer Asher Schectman, in development. GUTTER BALLS (book, music and lyrics by Arianna Rose) Workshop production, Bucknell University.

45+ Short-form and One-Act plays and musicals. A comprehensive list is available on my website: www.ariannarose.net

Shawn Maus of The League of Cincinnati Theatres had this to say about TOUCH THE MOON (full-length drama): “Touch the Moon is the kind of new work that reminds you why we make theater. Cincinnati LAB Theatre’s Touch the Moon is not just a play, it’s an emotional reckoning. Written by Arianna Rose and masterfully directed by Elizabeth Harris, this new work is a slow-burn character drama that will leave you breathless… shaped by a deeply personal experience from the playwright’s own family—and it shows in every raw, vulnerable moment. …a story with heart, hurt, and haunting humanity. .. Touch the Moon is already whole. It’s rare to witness something this intimate, this grounded, and this emotionally charged on stage.”

Edge Media Network lauded Ms. Rose’s play FAMILY BY NUMBERS, calling it “One of the best plays” with a “powerfully haunting conclusion”. The world premiere was at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson, NY in April 2019 with more than 30 productions in the U.S. and Canada. Selected twice for Columbia University’s Narrative Medicine Program, and published in the 2021 Smith & Kraus Anthology of Best 10-Minute Plays and Theatre Odyssey Best Plays Anthology, joining her other winning play SEX, LIES & STYROFOAM. Arianna also has monologues published in Applause Books “Best New Monologue Anthologies “ 2019 and 2020, and Smith & Kraus’ Best Womens and Mens Monologue Anthologies 2023 and 2024 and in the upcoming 2025 Best Mens and Best Women’s Monologues Anthologies.

Arianna is a Playwriting and Musical Theater Writing Instructor, both freelance and with The Dramatists Guild/PlayPenn. She was awarded Adjunct Professor of the Year for 2021-2022 at a local community college, where she continues to teach, as well as teaching Musical Theatre History at a local university in South Florida. She has also served as an Adjunct Theatre Professor at her alma mater Bucknell University, and an instructor at Bloomsburg State University Continuing Education. M.F.A., NYU's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program; B.A. in Theatre from Bucknell University; BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Writing Workshop.

A proud member of ASCAP, Literary Managers & Dramaturges of the Americas, Musicians Local 802, SEIU, New Play Exchange, The South Florida Theatre League, and the Dramatists Guild of America, where she has served as South Florida Ambassador from 2020-2025. She is the founder and moderator of the Plays on Purpose/New Musicals weekly writers group, and is also a Play Mentor with the Dramatists Guild Plays-in-Progress program.

A born and bred New Yorker, Arianna moved to Florida in 2016 and has been making a name for herself there in the vibrant theatre community. www.ariannarose.net