Biography
Zakiyyah Alexander is a writer and actor. She is the author of: 10 Things to Do Before I Die (Second Stage Uptown); Sick? (Summer Play Festival); The Etymology of Bird (Hip Hop Theater Festival, Providence Black Repertory Theatre); Blurring Shine (Market Theater, Johannesburg); Sweet Maladies (Rucker Theatre); Something New, and (900). Her work has been seen and/or developed at: A Contemporary Theater (ACT), Bristol Riverside Theater, Philadelphia Theater Company, The Humana Festival, Penumbra Theater, The Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Rattlestick Theater, Hartford Stage, 24/7 Theater Company, the Hip Hop Theater Festival, Vineyard Theater, the Women's Project, GAle GAtes et. al, La Mama Theatre, Greenwich Street Theater, etc. Awards include: Helen Merrill Emerging Playwriting Award, ACT New Play Award/Lorainne Hanseberry Prize, Stellar Network Award, Theodore Ward Prize, Jackson Phelan Award, Drama League New Directors/New Works, New Professional Theatre Playwriting Award, Young Playwrights Inc., etc. Her work is included in the current edition of New Monologues for Women by Women; featured in the book of essays, Girls who like Boys who like Boys; and included in Game On as part of Humana Festival 2008: The Complete Plays. A resident member of New Dramatists; past residencies and fellowships include: EST's Youngblood, the Women's Project Writer's Lab, the Women's Work Project, and the Drama League. She has received commissions from: Second Stage, The Philadelphia Theater Company and the Children's Theater of Minneapolis. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama (MFA in playwriting), she is currently on faculty at Bard College where she teaches undergraduate playwriting. Ms. Alexander is a native New Yorker and was raised in Queens and Brooklyn.
