Beth Hyland
Beth Hyland is a playwright and screenwriter based in Southern California. Her plays and musicals include SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA (Geffen Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival), FIRES, OHIO (Goodman Theatre NewStages, Portland Center Stage, Alliance Theatre), CANCELINA (Rivendell Theatre, Baby Teeth, Bramble Theatre), BABY SHOWER KATIE (Round House National Capital New Play Festival), KILLED A MAN (JOKING) (First Floor Theater, Arizona Theatre Company), CLEARING (Commission Theatre, A Short Leap) and SEAGULLS (The Sound at Steppenwolf LookOut, Octagon Theatre Bolton, Oak Park Festival Theatre). She is the 2024 winner of the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Prize and Jay Harris Commission and a two-time winner of KCACTF’s Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting. She holds commissions with Manhattan Theatre Club, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Rivendell Theatre. She is a soon-to-be graduate of UCSD’s MFA in Playwriting under the mentorship of Naomi Iizuka and Deborah Stein. bethhyland.com
SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA
Sally, a once-celebrated novelist grappling with writer's block and overshadowed by her husband Theo's rising literary fame, seeks solace and inspiration in the iconic Boston apartment once inhabited by Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Intent on completing her novel about Plath's life and salvaging her faltering marriage, Sally's plans take a haunting turn when she begins experiencing spectral encounters that challenge her perception of reality. As the boundaries between truth and fiction blur, Sally confronts the ghosts of her past, threatening to unravel both her sanity and her artistic vision. In SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA, a tragicomic exploration of women's creativity and women's madness, love and art collide with supernatural consequences.
Beth Hyland is a playwright and screenwriter based in Southern California. Her plays and musicals include SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA (Geffen Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival), FIRES, OHIO (Goodman Theatre NewStages, Portland Center Stage, Alliance Theatre), CANCELINA (Rivendell Theatre, Baby Teeth, Bramble Theatre), BABY SHOWER KATIE (Round House National Capital New Play Festival), KILLED A MAN (JOKING) (First Floor Theater, Arizona Theatre Company), CLEARING (Commission Theatre, A Short Leap) and SEAGULLS (The Sound at Steppenwolf LookOut, Octagon Theatre Bolton, Oak Park Festival Theatre). She is the 2024 winner of the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Prize and Jay Harris Commission and a two-time winner of KCACTF’s Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting. She holds commissions with Manhattan Theatre Club, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Rivendell Theatre. She is a soon-to-be graduate of UCSD’s MFA in Playwriting under the mentorship of Naomi Iizuka and Deborah Stein. bethhyland.com
SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA
Sally, a once-celebrated novelist grappling with writer's block and overshadowed by her husband Theo's rising literary fame, seeks solace and inspiration in the iconic Boston apartment once inhabited by Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Intent on completing her novel about Plath's life and salvaging her faltering marriage, Sally's plans take a haunting turn when she begins experiencing spectral encounters that challenge her perception of reality. As the boundaries between truth and fiction blur, Sally confronts the ghosts of her past, threatening to unravel both her sanity and her artistic vision. In SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA, a tragicomic exploration of women's creativity and women's madness, love and art collide with supernatural consequences.
Chess Jakobsis a writer, creative producer, and scientist.
Chess’s portfolio of work is focused on society, culture and environment.CREATIVEChess’s debut play, The American Five, received the Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commission and is set to have its world premiere at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. It is directed by Aaron Posner. Chess’s debut poem “Sum of Steps” was featured in Peace and Riot Magazine’s Third Edition.
Prior to writing, Chess was an actor, director, and dramaturg. Chess’s professional career began at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in the original cast of Bruce Norris’s Downstate. They were also in Olney Theatre’s production of Fiddler on the Roof and Indiana Repertory Theatre’s production of A Christmas Carol.
Chess was the Assistant Director for Heart of Rock and Roll on Broadway (debut). Chess was also the Associate Director and Dramaturg for Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors (Off-Broadway/New World Stages).
The American Five
In the face of surveillance and injustice, the play explores the relationship(s) between Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Bayard Rustin, Stanley Levison, and Clarence B. Jones and their work together on the March on Washington, where Dr. King delivered the I Have A Dream Speech. The American Five is both an exploration of American history and a lens on what happens when people of varying communities (in this case, Black, Women, Queer, and Jewish people) use their collective experience for societal benefit.
Chess’s portfolio of work is focused on society, culture and environment.CREATIVEChess’s debut play, The American Five, received the Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commission and is set to have its world premiere at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. It is directed by Aaron Posner. Chess’s debut poem “Sum of Steps” was featured in Peace and Riot Magazine’s Third Edition.
Prior to writing, Chess was an actor, director, and dramaturg. Chess’s professional career began at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in the original cast of Bruce Norris’s Downstate. They were also in Olney Theatre’s production of Fiddler on the Roof and Indiana Repertory Theatre’s production of A Christmas Carol.
Chess was the Assistant Director for Heart of Rock and Roll on Broadway (debut). Chess was also the Associate Director and Dramaturg for Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors (Off-Broadway/New World Stages).
The American Five
In the face of surveillance and injustice, the play explores the relationship(s) between Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Bayard Rustin, Stanley Levison, and Clarence B. Jones and their work together on the March on Washington, where Dr. King delivered the I Have A Dream Speech. The American Five is both an exploration of American history and a lens on what happens when people of varying communities (in this case, Black, Women, Queer, and Jewish people) use their collective experience for societal benefit.
Phaedra Michelle Scott
Phaedra Michelle Scott is a writer and dramaturg based in New York City. She is a staff writer on the upcoming CBS/Showtime drama KING SHAKA. Her playwriting credits include GOOD HAIR (Commissioned by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant & Ensemble Studio Theater, developed with Pipeline Playlab); DIASPORA! (2024 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Play, 2022 Great Plains Theater Conference); and PLANTATION BLACK (developed at SPACE on Ryder Farm, Playwrights Horizons, LobstahLab [InterAct Theatre Company new play development retreat], and Seven Devils Playwrights Conference). Her podcast work included PLEASURE MACHINE, developed with Colt Coer. Other plays include THE PURITANS (commissioned by Sparkhaven Theater Company) and UNITY (commissioned by University of Massachusetts, Amherst). Scott is currently under commission by Documentary Arts for a new musical adaptation of the children’s book Stompin’ At the Savoy (World Premiere, Delaware Theater Company 2025). She is an alum of Playwrights Horizon’s New Works Lab, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and Pipeline PlayLab, and Youngblood with Ensemble Studio Theater. She is a crocheter, horror enthusiast, and a deep lover of all things obscure. Proud Member of the Dramatists Guild and Writers Guild of America.
Plantation Black
Two contemporary families: one white, descended from the original owners of the Civil War era plantation, and the other Black, descended from the people who were enslaved on the same plantation. Due to legally and morally questionable events from the Civil War era, the rightful heir to the land is murky, forcing the present-day families to consider a sequence of events in 1864-65 that will help them arrive at an equitable path forward. PLANTATION BLACK’s innovative structure evokes the way history repeats itself, and the (sometimes) random ways we learn about our national and personal history. Before each performance, a cast member spins a wheel bearing the names of all the scenes in the play, and the show begins at a randomly selected point in the story.
Phaedra Michelle Scott is a writer and dramaturg based in New York City. She is a staff writer on the upcoming CBS/Showtime drama KING SHAKA. Her playwriting credits include GOOD HAIR (Commissioned by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant & Ensemble Studio Theater, developed with Pipeline Playlab); DIASPORA! (2024 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Play, 2022 Great Plains Theater Conference); and PLANTATION BLACK (developed at SPACE on Ryder Farm, Playwrights Horizons, LobstahLab [InterAct Theatre Company new play development retreat], and Seven Devils Playwrights Conference). Her podcast work included PLEASURE MACHINE, developed with Colt Coer. Other plays include THE PURITANS (commissioned by Sparkhaven Theater Company) and UNITY (commissioned by University of Massachusetts, Amherst). Scott is currently under commission by Documentary Arts for a new musical adaptation of the children’s book Stompin’ At the Savoy (World Premiere, Delaware Theater Company 2025). She is an alum of Playwrights Horizon’s New Works Lab, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and Pipeline PlayLab, and Youngblood with Ensemble Studio Theater. She is a crocheter, horror enthusiast, and a deep lover of all things obscure. Proud Member of the Dramatists Guild and Writers Guild of America.
Plantation Black
Two contemporary families: one white, descended from the original owners of the Civil War era plantation, and the other Black, descended from the people who were enslaved on the same plantation. Due to legally and morally questionable events from the Civil War era, the rightful heir to the land is murky, forcing the present-day families to consider a sequence of events in 1864-65 that will help them arrive at an equitable path forward. PLANTATION BLACK’s innovative structure evokes the way history repeats itself, and the (sometimes) random ways we learn about our national and personal history. Before each performance, a cast member spins a wheel bearing the names of all the scenes in the play, and the show begins at a randomly selected point in the story.