PLAYWRIGHTS
2023
* denotes founding member of WPC
Mayah Lourdes Burke Mayah is a multi-hyphenate creative based in NYC. She is the writer, director, and producer of 4SZNS, which had its theatrical debut in Harlem in 2022 at El Barrio’s Artspace. She is so happy to be here and working with WPC!
Amanda DeLalla (2021, 2022) is a NY based writer and actress who currently works at Broadway Licensing. She holds a B.S. in Comm. Arts from St. John’s University and is also a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. Onstage roles include Mother (The Oldest Boy), Gilmer (Godspell), and Kiki (Significant Other). As a writer, she is the lyricist and librettist for a musical as well as four full-length dramas and two solo shows. Her work has been presented in a variety of venues, including Lincoln Center, The Tank, Dixon Place, All for One Theater, Snug Harbor, and the Chain Theatre. As a rule, Amanda uses her experiences with living on the autism spectrum to craft stories about emotion and resilience.
Kseniya Ignatova-Yates * (2018-current) is a poet and playwright living and working in New York City. She has been an active member of the WPC since its inception in 2018. Her work with the collective includes one-act plays Yaffa (2018), Orbit (2019), as well as her first video piece, Perpetuum Mobile (2020), 7.05 (2021) and Beso (2022).
KLeyko is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and community advocate. Focused on her hometown of Staten Island, KLeyko’s writing, audio, and visual work often centers on the people, places, and animals native to the island and illuminating their inspiration and beauty. Kleyko has performed in Staten Island Shakespeare productions of Lysistrata, Much Ado About Nothing, and Antigone and participated in WPC for several years in a non-official capacity. You can hear her audio project, Animal Bones V.1, on streaming services.
Helene Montagna (2019-2021) has been a member of the Women’s Playwright Collective since 2019. She also serves as the Playwright in Residence at Sea View Playwright's Theatre in Staten Island. Her work has been produced in various venues throughout New York City. Helene has been a recipient of grants from Staten Island Arts for her plays "Don't Hang Up" and an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". In 2014, Helene was a Romulus Linney Playwriting Scholar at the Sewanee Writers' Conference. She has studied playwriting at Primary Stages and Labyrinth Theater Company (Master Class) in New York City, and with playwright/poet Dan O'Brien (New York City and Sewanee).
Sarah Sterling (she/her) was born and raised in Stittville, NY, about a fifteen-minute walk from nine-mile creek, past the big red farmhouse on Railroad Street. She is now a working multidisciplinary theatre artist in NYC.
Caroline Russell is a writer, actor, and animal enthusiast born and raised on Staten Island's North Shore. After a few years' worths of misadventures in rural Vermont and LA, she feels honored to be back home, playing whatever part she can in the vibrant local theatre scene.
Teresa Wrobleski (2022) was born and raised on Staten Island. Writing has always been her passion, whether it be in scripts or in prose. She is a recent graduate of Brooklyn College with a degree in Film Screenwriting and a minor in Theatre Arts, where she honed her craft and expanded her artistic vision. She hopes to contribute to the Staten Island theater scene and give back all of the good will she has gotten over the years.