PLAYWRIGHTS
TAUFIK KAREEM JAMAL ABDUL-JALEEL is a devoted rising senior at UNC Charlotte, working hard towards a double major in Film & Media Productions and Management Information Systems. Originally from Charlotte, NC, he is a passionate filmmaker, actor, poet, and playwright dedicated to sharing stories that inspire and reflect his identity as a Muslim creative. His debut film, Lover Boy, can be streamed on Tubi, and he has been fortunate enough to appear in commercials for Central Piedmont Community College. Taufik’s work beautifully encompasses a variety of genres and formats. He finds a sense of belonging both on stage and behind the camera. He was instrumental in co-founding HowWeViewUs, a media company dedicated to sharing meaningful short films on YouTube.
ADERINOLA ADEPOJU is from Alpharetta, Georgia, and is a rising junior at Wake Forest University majoring in Critical & Creative Media, with minors in Theatre and Journalism. She is active in Anthony Aston Players, Wake’s student-led theatre group, works in the Theatre & Dance Department’s Box Office, and writes for the department’s social media. Aderinola has contributed to many productions and co-wrote Queen Cinderella and the Rainbow Magic, a play developed in collaboration with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She is a two-time recipient of the Fullerton Award for Acting and has also been awarded the Johnnie Collins Scholarship in Theatre. Most recently, she served as Co-Head Writer for LaughTracks, an annual sketch comedy show. Outside of theatre, she enjoys fantasy novels, heartfelt music, and rewatching her favorite shows with alarming dedication.
JULIA AVERY is a playwright, singer/songwriter, and performer born, raised, and working in south Florida. Her most recent works include: “Smelly’s Deli”, “Sleeping With The Fishes”, and “A Chili’s Divorce affair”. Julia’s work has been debuted at the Florida Theatre Conference, Santa Fe One act Festival, Palm Beach State New works Festival, and produced through the Palm Beach Play Development Collective, a nonprofit group that she co-founded. While Julia’s theatrical writing gears towards the side of comedy, her existential dread never fails to make an appearance! Always leaving more questions than answers. Julia is thrilled to be a part of Horizon’s group of new playwrights, and share her art and experience with you!
KAI CHISHOLM (they/she) is a Georgia Peach, born and raised. After graduating high school, they travelled up to New York City to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (c/o 2020). Since then, they’ve directed a few podcast plays with the Garden of Voices (Brussels Sprouts, The Breaks, The Graveyard Shift), acted in some plays with the Tiny Theatre Company (Othello, She Kills Monsters) and the Atlanta City Players (Bunmi & Babajide, Much Ado in Lagos 1963, Everybody, Blood Wedding), and apprenticed with One Year Lease (OYL) Theatre Company in Papingo, Greece. Currently, Kai is a rising senior at Georgia State University where they are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Applied Linguistics and Theatre. They are Super Excited to be here!
ANTHONY COSGROVE is from Crofton, Maryland, and is currently a rising Junior at Temple University in Philadelphia, with a major in Theatre and a concentration in acting. He is also pursuing a certificate in Film. He likes to write goofy but grounded plays that blur the line between comedy and tragedy.
SHAHIM FAIRCLOTH is from Goldsboro, NC and is a recent graduate of North Carolina Central University. Majoring in Theatre, Shahim is an actor, director and playwright who is looking forward to delve deeper into the world of playwriting.
CARMEN FOSTER is a rising sophomore pursuing her Playwriting BFA at Ohio University. She’s been writing for about eight years now and has a background in prose, screenwriting, and a number of poetry derivatives. Carmen has always been interested in names: how we define ourselves personally and culturally. She’s been finding that her most recent plays are steeped in social justice, and the irony with which history continues to repeat itself. Her work has been produced through both Ohio University (Wild Things and Waiting Rooms; Spring 2025) and the Athens Ohio Fringe Festival (Three, Two, One; Spring 2025). Her greatest dream would probably be breathing the same air as Antoinette Nwandu, Paula Vogel, or Lynn Nottage. They make everything
feel possible.
GABE GIBBONI is a playwright and screenwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gabe graduated from Temple University this spring with a Bachelors Degree in Film and Media Arts. While writing is his primary passion, he also loves directing for film and for theater, and he enjoys his work as a freelance video editor.
NIVEAH GLOVER is a Black American poet and playwright from Jacksonville, Florida, and a rising sophomore studying English at Howard University. With over eight years of creative experience, her work explores many ideas including identity, black womanhood, and southern culture. Niveah has earned numerous honors, including Jacksonville Youth Poet Laureate (2018), Folio Weekly’s “18 Under 18” (2019), a 2022 Young Arts Writing Award with distinction, two Florida Poetry Out Loud state titles, the 2024 national Poetry Out Loud Championship, and recognition as a 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholar. Her debut full-length play, Callas, will premiere early August, following a final workshop met with critical acclaim. Through her writing, Niveah is carving space for powerful, transformative storytelling rooted in truth and connection.
NEVAEH HARRIS-REDD currently attends Agnes Scott College and is a rising junior. She is double majoring in Theatre and Business and hopes to study abroad in London next summer at Roehampton. She’s been writing ever since she can remember and has been acting since she was eight years old. Her first production was The Jungle Book. Although she forgot one of her lines, she quickly realized that theatre was what she wanted to do as a career. Recently, she was cast as Beatrice (a dream role!!!) in Much Ado About Nothing. Outside of theatre, she likes to play The Sims, watch movies, read books, listen to music, and go on walks. She also loves to play with her cats, Bilquis and Isis, and her dog, Diesel.
MOYO IFAFORE is a rising junior studying Acting at Carnegie Mellon University with a minor in Music Technology. She’s a proud Nigerian-American woman, who uses her work to investigate the lives of women in the diaspora, and their relationship to their own mortality. Moyo believes in acknowledging the absence of something, and working to fill that hole with something of quality. Moyo wants to write stories for lovers of black fantasy and magic. Outside of school, you can find Moyo biking throughout Pittsburgh, reading about African Theatre, or rewatching The Godfather. She is a recipient of the American Theatre Wing Andrew Lloyd Webber University Scholarship.
KAYLA KARNESKY is a playwright and actor from Livonia, Michigan and a recent graduate from Columbia College Chicago, where she double majored in Playwriting and Acting. Her work explores themes of identity, memory, and girlhood, and she loves to draw from her Palestinian heritage. Outside of writing, she loves live music (5SOS in particular), her 15 Squishmallows, and baking pumpkin bread for her friends. She’s endlessly curious about people and stories and she still has the penguin collection her mom saved from her childhood.
EDEN LIPHAM is an aspiring author, actor, playwright, and a screenwriter. She grew up in Adairsville, Georgia and is a rising senior at Oglethorpe University, where she has majored in theatre and minored in creative writing. She just recently submitted her work, One Last Thought, to the 54th Agnes Scott Writer’s Festival where it won first place in the playwriting division. When Eden isn’t on stage or in the wings, she’s often binging copious amounts of TV, trying to finish writing one of her various novels, or scrambling to plan the next session of the D&D campaign she DMs for.
GIANNI LY is a San Diego native going into his second year of Journalism at SDSU! He’s been an amateur theatre enthusiast and lyricist-librettist for a little over a year, and he falls more in love with the stage every day. Apart from that, some of his foremost passions are philosophy, haute cuisine, print media, and classic literature. Gianni’s also a sizable fan of professional roller derby, frequents hardcore shows at his local punk venue, and, as a writer, idolizes Sarah Kane and the late Stephen Sondheim. He is a very social person and much looking forward to meeting everyone and learning as much as he can!
NYLA McKOY, known professionally as La’sianna, is a recent graduate of Clark Atlanta University with a degree in Theatre Arts. Originally from Jacksonville, North Carolina, she is a playwright, actor, and director for TV, film, and theatre. She co-founded 4 Eternal Vision Productions and released her debut short film, A Soulful Serenade, which is approaching its one-year anniversary. La’sianna is passionate about creating work that moves people, inviting audiences to feel deeply, live in the story, and carry its message with them. As her career grows, she’s committed to giving back and using her platform to uplift others through the arts.
ALEXIS McNEAL is a recent graduate of Troy University where she majored in Theatre with a minor in Performing Arts. She is really excited to be here!
AMELIA “Mel” MILSTEIN is from Virginia, born and raised in NoVA and Charlottesville. As a Piedmont Community College graduate, they transferred to the University of Virginia where they recently graduated with a Bachelor’s in History. Milstein has a few acting credits in short films, and their play Be A Doll was produced by the UVA New Works Festival, before being refined to be submitted to this year’s YPF. Milstein has also directed their own short film Room to Wait and is to direct another upcoming short film this summer. While they have been a writer as long as they can remember, Milstein has only recently begun to write screenplays and stageplays. They are super excited to be a part of this festival!
AINSLEY POWERS is a playwright, director, and actress originally from Houston, Texas. She is currently studying playwriting and comparative literature at Emory University and is the outgoing artistic director of Emory’s largest student theatre organization. She has written and directed shows for Emory’s Lenaia Festival, the university’s student-run play festival. She enjoys plays that focus on home, girlhood, and pickles. Outside of theatre she enjoys dancing at concerts, playing minesweeper, and finding more theatre to do.
IAN REIN is a recent graduate from Emory University with a dual degree in English & Creative Writing and Political Science. Ian is an Atlanta native, father to two evil cats, and most importantly, terrible at writing artist bios. His work has been performed at Emory’s Lenaia Student Playwrite Festival and as part of an Emory undergraduate student horror theater exhibition. He currently works as an assistant teacher for children with autism at the Early Emory Preschool. He hopes to pursue an MFA in playwriting in the 2026 school year.
BOBBI SALAS is a Chicago-based playwright who just graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Theatre. As a writer, Bobbi is committed to telling stories rooted in Latino and Indigenous experiences, drawing from their own cultural background to explore themes of identity and community. They were last seen at The Chicago Dramatists with their one-act Popo and Izta. They will be attending Brooklyn College in the fall to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing with a focus in playwriting.
LUCÍA SALAZAR-DAVIDSON is a rising senior studying Theater and Studio Art at Augsburg University. She is a playwright, director, actor, and theater technician, and has had four of her plays produced, with her co-written play Static to premiere in Minneapolis in February 2026. Lucía grew up in the small town of Palmer, Alaska, and it is their aspiration to write plays that bring marginalized people into the spotlight. She is particularly interested in explorations of their Latine heritage and twisting and queering classic stories. Lucía is so grateful and excited for the opportunity to grow alongside all the incredible playwrights in this festival! Outside of theater, Lucía is passionate about physical art mediums, including ceramics, fiber arts, glassblowing, and collage.
JULIA SHUTTLEWORTH is a rising third year at the University of Virginia originally from Tampa, Florida. She’s studying Politics, Public Policy, and Drama, and has been passionate about comedy writing in all its forms after sneaking into a taping of The Conan O’Brien Show when she was 11. This past year, she was lucky enough to have two of her plays, Catfight and Party Crashers, produced at UVA, the former of which she also had the opportunity to direct. When she’s not writing plays, you can usually find her performing with her sketch comedy group, doing stand-up around Charlottesville, doing the New York Times Crossword, or talking about sitcoms, rom-coms, and Succession.
OLUWATOSIN (TOSIN) THOMPSON is a Canadian-Nigerian playwright and songwriter, currently attending Georgia State University. She is a rising junior, a political science major and film minor who loves to travel, learn about new cultures, and discuss pressing social issues, which she shows through her writing. She mostly write songs, poetry, and short stories, but recently hhas leaned more toward musical writing for stage or film. Her experience with theatre has primarily been through performing in musicals; however, in April, she directed and presented her first short play at her university’s research conference. She is very excited to delve deeper into the realm of theatre, whether for writing, acting, or directing!
TIMMY TORINUS is an aspiring writer, actor, and dramaturg from St. Paul, Minnesota. A graduate of the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, he is a rising senior at Bennington College, where he studies Drama, with a concentration in literature. His co-written play The House Always Wins received a staged reading at the college in the Spring of 2024, and his original play The Rink will be produced in the Spring of 2026. His first original play, Twisted Tales, premiered in 2009 in his grandparents’ basement to critical acclaim. He is a former competitive waterskiier and certainly could have been an Olympic speed-skater. He is an avid Game of Thrones appreciator, and proud of the yellow belt he attained in second grade.
ANH VO is excited to be working in musical theatre as a newcomer from San Diego! He is a classicall- trained musician majoring in Piano Performance and going into his second year at San Diego State University. Some of his favorite composers are Alan Menken and Franz Liszt. He would like to thank Horizon for choosing him to be a part of their annual Young Playwrights Festival and is excited to meet and work with everyone!