Founding Playwrights
Telling Humans was founded at Chicago Dramatists in the personally selected master class taught by playwright Emilio Williams and overseen by playwright/dramaturg Carson Grace Becker.
KELSEY J. AUSTIN
Kelsey Austin is a writer based in Southern New Jersey.
In addition to short pieces, she has several full-length works including BLOW-OUT, OUTSIDE JOB, THE ESSENTIALS, and RAINDROP CLEAN....
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WILLIAM C. BIETSCH
Writer, designer, educator, and marketing/advertising professional, Will is always looking to live or create his next story. His plays CORAZON CICATRIZADO and ALMA SALVAJE have had readings in Mexico City at...
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FRANCIS BRADY
Francis is a lawyer of forty years standing, and lives in Chicago.
In the course of his practice he has told a lot of stories: fortunately for his law license, most of them fact based. Now his horizons are shifting and he’s trying to bring his stories to the stage.
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ELIZABETH DESCHRYVER
Elizabeth DeSchryver is a published poet and short story writer who's had short plays produced at local festivals and Chicago Dramatists.
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DEEPTHY KISHORE
An emerging playwright, Washington, D.C. lawyer, photographer, explorer, logophile, and parent of a genius maltipoo, Deepthy is a lifelong learner who strives to tell thorny stories through plays, legal briefs, and visual images. To inspire discussion about social justice issues and current events, Deepthy writes plays with policy arguments and moral debates at the center of the narrative.
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STEVE NORDMARK
Steve is a Chicago native and current Chicago Dramatists Network Playwright.
His recent work includes the two act comedy COURSE SOCIETY, a stage adaptation of Sherwood Anderson’s “The Egg”, 10 minute plays A HAPPY ANNOUNCEMENT and UNBOXING VIDEO, and a bootleg restoration of “Arsenic and Old Lace” which can be seen when its copyright expires in 2035 pending any extensions.
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SHELIA PAYTON
Shelia Payton is an author, playwright, librettist and lyricist living in Milwaukee, WI.
Her theatrical works include Facing the Shadow, which was staged by The Black Rep in St. Louis as part of the Missouri History Museum’s 150th anniversary commemoration of the Civil War; and an African/African American-themed opera, Black Caesar, based on the true story of a 17th century pirate.
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JUDY LEA STEELE
Judy lives in Chicago. She is an actress whose frustration with the lack of stories by and about women, especially over 50, has led her to writing them.
An emerging playwright, she creates alternative structures that reflect the voices she has lived and heard. Her current focus is the destruction and reconstruction of patriarchal, canonical stories, recreating them from a woman's point of view. Driven by the aural and visual senses, she explores methods of using those tools as text.
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