NEW WORLDS FESTIVAL
APRIL 2023
* denotes founding member of WPC
JURY PICK:

Courtney Emerson is a Staten Island based actress and visual artist, who began writing in 2020. This is her first year writing with The Collective, after previously having directed the short play “It’s Genetic” by Ariana Nicoletta for 2021’s Not Forgotten Play Festival. Her most recent acting roles include Ann Deever (All My Sons) and Patty (Blackout) both at Seaview Playwright’s Theatre, as well as Fortinbras (Hamlet) with the Staten Island Shakespearean Theatre Company.
AUDIENCE PICK:

Holly Pepe has been writing since she could hold a pencil. Her mother relishes telling anyone who will listen about the time she ran out of paper and caught four-year-old Holly writing a book on a stack of coffee filters. She uses a Mac now. Holly has written numerous short stories, poems and essays; additionally, she wrote the novella, “Cruise to Nowhere” and she wrote and directed the one act play, “Pumpkin Soup” with the help of her son Chris. The play was later performed at a Staten Island middle school to raise autism awareness. She is also the author of the novel, Lesson Plans. Since 2005, she has had the privilege of teaching English at Staten Island’s New Dorp High School. This past summer, she had the amaing experience of playing Lady Montague and The Apothecary in Staten Island Shakespeare’s production of Romeo and Juliet. She is honored and humbled to be a part of the Women’s Playwright Collective.
MENTOR

D.L. Siegel is a born and raised New Yorker, currently residing in Brooklyn. She received her BA in English and Theater from Princeton University and her MFA in Playwriting from The New School for Drama (NSD). Her plays have been produced from coast to coast by HERE Arts Center, Silver Spring Stage, Wyoming Theater Festival, Millibo Art Theatre, Independent Actors Theatre, The Gallery Players, Modern-Day Griot Theatre, Princeton University, The New School for Drama, and the New York International Fringe Festival among others. Playwright Residency, The Amoralists' Wright Club 2015-2016. When not writing, D.L. splits her time between working for a healthcare tech company in New York and playing with her beloved corgi, Sancho Panza.