SARAH MANTELL
Sarah is the recipient of the 2023 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot (Playwrights Horizons). Their other plays include Everything That Never Happened (Baltimore Center Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Boston Court Pasadena), The Good Guys (Second Stage), Tiny (Seven Devils, Seattle Rep), and Fight Call (Artists Repertory Theatre, Breaking the Binary) They have been first-runner up for the Leah Ryan Award, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, and longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize.
A current Colt Coeur resident artist, Sarah has also been awarded residencies with MacDowell, Yaddo, Wildacres, Hedgebrook, Fresh Ground Pepper, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and SPACE on Ryder Farm, as well as a Toulmin grant, an Edgerton Foundation grant, and a Playwrights Realm Writing Fellowship.
Sarah began their career in literary offices at the Magic Theatre, Geva Theatre, and People's Light. They went on to launch the education department at PlayPenn, inventing signature programs like Rent a Dramaturg and dramaturging for the annual conference. They have been a judge for new work submissions across the country including Hedgebrook, The Public Theater, Sewanee Writers Conference, MIT, Breaking the Binary, and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Essays on supporting new work include “Touch the Wound, But Don’t Live There” in American Theatre Magazine and "Read This Before You Have a Reading" for the Playwrights Realm.
Teaching credits: Wesleyan University, SUNY Purchase, Occidental College, Hudson Valley Writers Center, University of Vermont, and Worcester Polytechnic. They run the independent workshop Five Weeks to a First Draft as well as a Free Application Help pilot program for historically underrepresented writers.
BFA Rhode Island School of Design. MFA Yale School of Drama.
FAQ
Can I buy your plays somewhere?
Nope, they’re not published yet.
What? How??
I don’t know. Our profession is infinitely confusing.
So then how do I read your plays?
90% of the time I will send them to you. Just message me here.
I am a professor. Can I teach one of your plays?
Absolutely. Contact my agent Skyler. He is very nice and will share a PDF and charge you $5 per student so I get paid a little bit for writing them.
I work for the company that makes:
a) Hybrid Technica .04 Pens
b) Fabriano Staplebound 11.7 x 8.3 Blank Notebooks
c) Jarlsberg cheese
Can we sponsor you?
Yes. Please put Jarlsberg in the subject line.
Can I hire you to dramaturg or to teach?
I do both of those things. I’ve taught college courses and one-off masterclasses. I’ve dramaturged for new play workshops and for productions. I like helping other people make the plays that only they can make.
I am Shakespeare. You fucked up my villains. I will haunt you.
I’m looking forward to it. Please put Jarlsberg in the subject line.
REPRESENTATION
Theatre
Skyler Gray
The Gersh Agency
sgray@gersh.com
212.634.8113
Television
Vern Co
The Gersh Agency
vco@gersh.com
212.634.8190
Eliza Wheeler
The Gersh Agency
ewheeler@gersh.com
310.205.5836
TV/Film Management
Britton Rizzio
Curate Management
britton@thisiscurate.com
310.291.8860