“These are challenging times…the depth of the challenges we face is matched by the vibrant, defiant spirit of the writing that we read during our selection process. Applicants for BAPF47 displayed remarkable humor, deep emotional insight, innovative style, and an indomitable spirit of creativity. The semifinalists and finalists we have selected absolutely deserve to reach audiences who seek plays which push the boundaries of American theater today.”

– Jeffrey Gan, (he/him) Literary Manager

2026 Bay Area Playwrights Festival Honorable Mention
  • Lupe Finds Me in the Garden of Dreams by Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel
  • Brother, Brother, Brothers / 大哥，兄弟，弟兄們  by Rebs Chan
  • Swallow Me Whole by Sarah Galante
  • Everything, Devoured by Katherine Gwynn
  • come straight home by DJ Hills
  • Ministry of Gummy Worm by Sepehr Jafari Jozani
  • Beautiful Blessed Child by Daria Miyeko Marinelli
  • At the Confluence of Creeks by Sam Mueller
  • The Misplaced Saints by Audley Puglisi
  • Slash & the Space Cadet by A Yourd
2026 Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalists
  •  Monique Hafen Adams, On Blackwell’s Island
  •  Davis Alianiello,Snake
  •  Cass Brayton, Lip Service
  •  Carla Ching, Rage Play
  •  Xavier Clark, ICONS
  •  Maya De La Rosa-Cohen, The First Three
  •  Lisa Sanaye Dring, Golden Record Club
  •  AZ Espinoza, Caribbean King
  •  Peter Kim George, Belligerency
  •  Cas Koenig, EMPIRE LIQUOR
  •  M.J. Kang, James & Eddie
  •  Nicholas Kaidoo, Under the Sovereign Pleasures of God 
  •  Deepak Kumar, Stories in Mother Tongues
  •  Minna Lee, Last Gold
  •  Ali Littman, Banana Point
  •  Forest Malley, French Boy Cigarettes
  •  Priya Mohanty, Diwali Party
  •  Matthew Morishige, Work/Shoot
  •  AriDy Nox, Death Comes in Threes
  •  Ankita Raturi, No One Plays Badminton in America
  •  Edwin Rivera-Arias, Stubbornness & Bone
  •  Jaymes Sanchez, A Plausible History of Xicotencatl II
  •  Gaven D. Trinidad, Mercury Makes the Skin Glow
  •  P.C. Verrone, PIONEER 
2026 Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semi-Finalists
  • Sara Jean Accuardi, PULL
  • Shanna Allman, Eve’s Ale
  • Amanda L. Andrei, Helicopter Typhoon Carabao! Or, To Survive an Apocalypse Now
  • Emma Ashford, The Light Place
  • Borna Barzin, Like This
  • Robyn Brooks, THE GHOST OF GENEVIEVE BAPTISTE
  • Rachel Bykowski, Polyphagia
  • Dan Caffrey, The Tusk Hunters
  • Joey Capuana, Fucking Straight Guys
  • Jessica Charles, Hot Girls Making Out
  • Theresa Chiu, Omakase
  • David Davila, The Invisible Hand of God Touched Me in a Bad Place, an interactive power play
  • Selah DeGering, Art Is Isaac
  • Natalia Demko, DoGeeseSeeGod
  • Maddie Dennis-Yates, Vanessa the Miracle Girl
  • Jen Diamond, Pageant Play
  • Jeanne Dorsey, THE KIT: MADE BY MARTHA
  • Sunny Drake, Romeo & Jewels
  • William Eames, State of Jefferson
  • Ai Ebashi, Act II
  • Michael Tod Edgerton,Cissy Nicky Unreciprocated: A Femme Mani-Feste & Queerling Fantasia in Scenes Unwed
  • Tina Esper, TIGHT
  • Susan Faust, Finding Wild
  • L M Feldman, SCRIBE, or THE SISTERS MILTON, or ELEGY FOR THE UNWRITTEN
  • elizabeth flanagan, HARRY AND MAURA
  • Esther Gatica, LatiNext
  • Emma Gibson, Sun-stopping
  • Alyssa Haddad-Chin, The Ancestry Dot Com Play
  • Miz Hashimoto, This is Not a Noh Play
  • Anderson John Heinz, POEM PLAY
  • Harriet Heydemann, Lessons From A Jellyfish
  • Aaron Higareda, Cry Now, Laugh Later
  • Howard Ho, Moll-E
  • Tee Hoida, We Were Made of Stardust
  • Suli Holum, Layli Dove Stanton Outruns Them All
  • Spencer Huffman, The Baseball Gods
  • Julia Jennings, The Wash
  • Chad Kaydo, I Could Never
  • Garrett David Kim, Where You Go When You’re Gone
  • AJ Layague, Cowgirl Katarungan’s Recipe for Adobo
  • Ashil Lee, Me No Know Korean
  • lingyue, Ordinary Women Nameless Women
  • John Anthony Loffredo, how to prepare for an existential crisis
  • Eric Reyes Loo, Replaced
  • Yuge Ma, Transcendence
  • Jennifer Maisel, PROVENANCE
  • Zizi Majid, Milk
  • Gloria Majule, Afropick
  • Daniel Martinez Jr, Looking In
  • Claire McNerney, Are We There Yet?
  • Samah Meghjee, Maybe You Could Love Me
  • Francisco Mendoza, Best Foreign
  • Alle Mims, A Soviet Film on Negro Life in America
  • John Minigan, Sarai’s Knife
  • Karissa Murrel Myers, Blood of My Mother’s
  • Sophia Naylor, For a Brighter Tomorrow
  • Sophie Neely, Feeny’s Boodle Fight
  • Laura Neill, Foot Wears House
  • Nabra Nelson, Confessions (or the Secret Play for Secretly Liberal Muslims)
  • Schaeffer Nelson, Sixth Grade As It Was
  • Lee Papa, Last Looks
  • a.k. payne, Where Pathways Meet
  • Michael Quinn, The River East
  • Anjali Ramakrishnan, Scars of Metamorphosis
  • Shanti Reinhardt, Lehua’s Blood
  • ML Roberts, Solstice
  • Kira Rockwell, Holy Chicken Sandwich
  • J. Isabel Salazar, Circle of Five
  • Emma Schillage, COCKROACHES
  • Marilyn Schotland, Perihelion
  • Sanjit Sengupta, Turbulence
  • Matt Sievers-Shvyrkov, South South Alabama
  • Alec Silberblatt, RYAN’S PUB, TRIVIA NIGHT
  • Sheldon Skoboloff, You Never Existed
  • Philip Christian Smith, Walking While Black
  • SMJ, yo ho.
  • Luke Sorge, Taco Town
  • Zoe Stanton-Savitz, Twice Gone
  • Isabelle Fereshteh Sanatdar Stevens, THE RA PLAY
  • Megan Tabaque, Marry Me, Bruno Mars
  • Camille Simone Thomas, At God’s Back
  • Miriam BC Tobin, Light & Zivy
  • Gabriela Tovar-Borghini, Gaitana
  • Michael Tuton, The Return of Honor to American Life
  • Kanika Asavari Vaish, Eight Ways to Plead with a God
  • Mario Vega, Our Lady of the San Diego Convention Center
  • Ali Viterbi, Suicide Rom Com
  • Emma Watkins, Pretend it’s Pretend
  • Mallory Jane Weiss, Anaphora
  • Emmy Weissman, Mikvah Girls
  • J Xiang, TOM & FORREST AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Read the full Press Release

Read the BroadwayWorld article

Be the first to get 2026 festival news!