Crowded Fire Theater Reveals the 2024-26 Resilience & Development (R&D) Playwright Cohort

Crowded Fire Theater (CFT), known as a vital home for new play development and production on the West Coast, has announced the fourth cohort of the Resilience & Development (R&D) Lab, supporting four playwrights in the development of new works. The playwrights selected for the 2024-26 cohort are Aidaa Peerzada, Anthony Doan, Ashley Smiley, and Leigh M. Marshall. Over the next two years, CFT is committed to supporting these four visionary writers, bolstering the development of new and original pieces.

“Crowded Fire is excited to continue supporting the work of local Bay Area playwrights through our fourth Resilience & Development lab cohort,” shares CFT Leader of Artistic Producing Caro Asercion. “These daring writers are exploring questions of narrative form and structure; of intimacy, legacy, and personal histories; and of what it means to search for deeply human connections in our rapidly transforming social landscape.”

Leader of Artistic Curation & Producing Nailah Harper-Malveaux shares, “The chemistry of this group is bursting with possibility, a flair for the epic, and a desire to create their own mythology! Each playwright has deep local roots, whether through performance, working behind-the-scenes in production, or creating space for other writers to develop their craft. We cannot wait to see what new works are created through their unique lenses and writing styles.”

As part of Crowded Fire’s revolutionary shared leadership model, the 2024-26 R&D Lab cohort will be co-facilitated by Harper-Malveaux and Asercion.