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Kira Rockwell

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Kira Rockwell BIO

Kira Rockwell (she/her) is a neurodiverse playwright and educator. She is an Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing with the Mass Cultural Council, a Recipient of Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, Second Place recipient of Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, Two-time Finalist for Princess Grace Award, Two-time Finalist for O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Semi-Finalist for The Working Farm at SPACE on Ryder Farm, Two-time Semi-Finalist for the Blue Ink Playwriting Award, and more.

Her plays include OH TO BE PURE AGAIN (Actor's Express); THE TRAGIC ECSTASY OF GIRLHOOD (Workshop Premiere: Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Boston Globe Critic’s Pick, Elliot Norton Nominee); NOMAD AMERICANA (Fresh Ink Theatre); WICKED BITTER BEAST(S) (The Theatre School at DePaul University); and WITH MY EYES SHUT (Now available through Original Works Publishing).

Her work has also been developed with The Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, Great Plains Theatre Commons, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, and Third Culture Theatre in partnership with HBO and Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network, among others. Commissions with Ensemble Studio Theatre and previously Moonbox Productions. Rockwell holds an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University.

Before graduate school, Rockwell worked at the intersection of mental health, youth development, and arts education. Through a trauma informed, healing centered lens, she aims to nurture communal spaces that disrupt passivity and empower agency.

Kira Rockwell News


Moonbox Productions Reveals Playwrights & Plays for 3rd Annual Boston New Works Festival


Moonbox Productions has selected eight original plays by local playwrights for its 3rd Annual Boston New Works Festival.  Moonbox will host the 2024 Boston New Works Festival June 20th – 23rd at the Boston Center for the Arts.

Finalists/Semifinalists Revealed For 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival


Playwrights Foundation, the West Coast's premier launchpad for exceptional new plays and playwrights, has revealed the semifinalists and finalists for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival, which will be presented in a hybrid festival.

Review: OH, TO BE PURE AGAIN Cleanses Souls at Actor's Express


What did our critic think of OH, TO BE PURE AGAIN at Actor's Express? With strong performances, stellar tech, and a startling poignant story, OH, TO BE PURE AGAIN feels like a much-needed baptism in healing. It would be a sin to miss this story. 

World Premiere Of OH, TO BE PURE AGAIN Announced At Actor's Express


Actor's Express continues its 35th anniversary season with the World Premiere of Kira Rockwell's play, Oh, To Be Pure Again, a new play about female desire, submission, rebellion, and growing up in a religious culture that's obsessed with your sexual purity.

Actor's Express Revises Schedule For Season 35


Due to ongoing calendar and production challenges due to COVID 19, Actor's Express announces new dates for its upcoming Season 35.

Actor's Express Announces URINETOWN, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH and More for Season 35


Actor's Express announces its 35th Season of dynamic, entertaining work, including a World Premiere and co-production with Oglethorpe University Theatre. In addition to the six-show subscription season, AE continues its foray into podcasts and also welcomes back its perennially popular cabaret partnership with Atlanta icon Libby Whittemore.

Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Announce 2021 Artist Cultivation Event and EST/Sloan Project Commissions


Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) (William Carden, Artistic Director), along with The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Doron Weber, Vice-President and Program Director) and the EST/Sloan Project, announced today the 2021 Fall Artist Cultivation Event for the EST/Sloan Project.

Actor's Express Announces HEDWIG, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG and More in 33rd Season


Actor's Express announces its 33rd Season of gripping, entertaining work, including two Atlanta Premieres and one World Premiere. The season opens Summer 2020 with the rock musical Lizzie, which explores the murderous legend of Lizzie Borden.

14th Annual MFA Playwrights Workshop Launches New Work Next Week In Washington D.C.


National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, in association with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and Stanford University's National Center for New Plays, announce the 14th Annual MFA Playwrights' Workshop. The Kennedy Center will host more than 60 theater-makers from July 27-August 4, 2019 as part of the week-long Workshop featuring new works by graduate students or recent MFA graduates from the University of California, San Diego, Iowa Playwrights' Workshop, Boston University, National Theatre School of Canada, and Brown University. 

Boston Theater Critics Association Announces The 37th Annual Elliot Norton Awards Nominations; Broadway-Bound JAGGED LITTLE PILL Leads With Six Noms


Two dozen nominations of outstanding actors, directors, designers and ensembles were announced today by The Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA), with winners to be revealed at the 37th Annual Elliot Norton Awards on Monday, May 20, 2019 at 7 PM, at the Huntington Avenue Theatre.

The Kennedy Center Announces 50th KCACTF National Festival


The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosts more than 120 outstanding theater students from colleges and universities across the nation as part of the 50th annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), which runs April 16-20, 2019 in multiple locations throughout the Center. The Center also announced the national awardees for the KCACTF. Selected awardees and representatives will be brought to Washington, D.C. for an expense-paid trip to participate in the National Festival. These student artists from across the United States have been recognized for their outstanding work from the eight regional festivals that were held January 8 through February 28, 2019.

Full Lineup Announced For BECHDEL TEST FEST 2.0


The Bridge Initiative: Women in Theatre offers its second Bechdel Test Fest, Friday through Sunday, April 26th-28th, at Tempe Center for the Arts. The festival offerings include a panel discussion, play readings, film screenings, and more. All plays and films pass the Bechdel Test: two female-identifying characters who have a conversation with each other about something other than a man. Originally applied to film, The Bridge Initiative is using the test in assessing festival plays too.

New Play Winners Announced For Bechdel Test Fest 2.0


The Bridge Initiative: Women in Theatre announces contest winners for their second Bechdel Test Fest to be presented at Tempe Center for the Arts, April 26th-28th. The contest received more than 100 eligible submissions from 19 states and the District of Columbia, as well as the U.K. and Canada. Over the course of six months, a team of professional theatre practitioners from both Arizona and across the country served as adjudicators. Every submission was scored anonymously, on criteria of originality, storytelling, dialogue, characters, an X factor ('I want to see this play'), and whether or not it satisfied the requirements of the Bechdel Test: two female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man.

BWW Review: THE TRAGIC ECSTASY OF GIRLHOOD: Teen Angels?


Inspired by her experiences working in the recreation department at a youth residential care facility in the Lone Star State, Kira Rockwell has written a fictional story about five adolescent girls that portrays their back stories, personalities, and behaviors with authenticity, while trying to erase the misconception that they are all bad girls and gently educating her audience about the challenges they face. Under the direction of Leila Ghaemi, an ensemble cast of BU School of Theatre undergrads coalesces into a seamless unit that definitely fights above its weight.

THE TRAGIC ECSTASY OF GIRLHOOD Comes to Boston Playwrights' Theatre


Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) opens its 2018-19 season with The Tragic Ecstasy of Girlhood by Kira Rockwell. Running from October 11-21, this new drama is directed by Leila Ghaemi.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre Announces 2018-19 Season


Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) today announces the new plays that will comprise its 37th season. The line-up includes The Tragic Ecstasy of Girlhood by Kira Rockwell, Winter People by Laura Neill, Wynwood by Alexis Scheer and Dead House by Beirut Balutis.

Encore Date Announced for WITH MY EYES SHUT


With My Eyes Shut will extend for its encore performance on Sunday July 22, 2018 at 7pm.  Performance will be held at Studio/Stage, 520 N Western Ave, Hollywood.

BWW Review: Festival of New Texas Plays at Austin Playhouse


Austin Playhouse recently produced staged readings of the three winning plays from their Festival of New Texas Plays. EIDOPHUSIKON by Reina Hardy kicked off the festival on Friday, April 27, NUTSHELL by C. Denby Swanson was on Saturday, April 28, and MONROE by Lisa B. Thompson concluded the lineup on Sunday, April 29. Along with the professional staged reading, which featured Austin Playhouse directors and company members, each of the winning playwrights received a $500 prize.

West Coast Premiere of WITH MY EYES SHUT Comes to the Hollywood Fringe Festival


From the award winning producer of Fifty Shades of Shrew and Must Be Comfortable With, comes the West Coast Premiere of With My Eyes Shut by Kira Rockwell.

BWW Review: Fresh Ink Theatre Offers a Breath of Fresh Air with NOMAD AMERICANA


World premiere production of Kira Rockwell's NOMAD AMERICANA introduces the eccentric Echo family, whose vagabond lifestyle allows them the freedom to be who they are while looking for the magic in the universe. The play is a gently meandering character study and a breath of fresh air.

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