New Play Festival 2019

Daphne Cancel is a senior Theater and English major with a creative writing emphasis double major and an Interdisciplinary Writing minor. Hailing from the far-away state of Maine, Cancel has written, directed, and starred in various plays on and off campus, taught theater to homeless youth, served as a student representative to the Dean of the college, and is the resident advisor for the Queer Scholars Community. Cancel is the editor-in-chief of HOUNDSTOOTH Mag, was the 2018 Writing Fellow for the Argonaut Creative Writing Fund, and has contributed to the Occidental, Feast, and The Fang. This is her third year being a part of New Play Festival, having previously been a dramaturg and a participant in workshop development.

Molly is so excited to have her comedic play, Just Die Already, produced in the 2019 New Play Festival. In the past year Molly performed her original stand up comedy at her first two national comedy festivals, in Madison and Palm Springs; founded and directs 2 Paws Up, the only sketch comedy club at Occidental; started hosting a weekly open mic every Saturday at Flappers Comedy Club; while being a part of April Fool's Improv Troupe. She wants to go into entertainment professionally and even got an internship in Fall 2018 at 21st Century Fox!... as a technology intern. Well, close enough, at least that Cognitive Science came in handy along with her Theater major.

Eliana Sternin is a senior Theater major on the cusp of entering the professional theater world, armed with wide eyes and enthusiasm! This is her second time participating in the New Play Festival, and she could not be more excited to showcase her first full length play, which also doubles as her senior comps project. She's so thrilled to be sharing such a deeply vulnerable piece with the community that has given her so much over these last four years.

Rosie Stevenson is a junior exchange student from all the way across the pond where she studies at the University of Bristol, UK and is an English major and a Theater minor. This is Stevenson's debut as a playwright but she has worked as an actor, dramaturg and director on a variety of different plays, as well as being involved in the research and development process of several new-writing pieces, including Evan Placey's Girls Like That and Pronoun. At the Theatre Royal Plymouth (TRP), where Stevenson was a Young Representative for 4 years, she collaborated with other Reps to develop widening access to theater initiatives, eventually earning herself the role as an Assistant Theatre Workshop Practitioner for TRP's Young Company where she led workshops for disadvantaged young people and differently-abled young adults. With a concern for the rising number of student suicides at her home university and a passion for British culture, Stevenson looks forward to bringing her contemplative play and British quirks to the stage.