Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of Playwrights Foundation governs and stewards the organization to ensure long-term programmatic and fiscal health. They support and advocate for Playwrights Foundation’s purpose, vision, values, and work. Volunteers can serve on the Board of Directors for up to two terms of four years each.
Marcy Straw (she/her)
Marcy Straw, President
Arts Leader
Board Member since July 2018
Marcy serves as Executive Director of the California Music Center, producer of the Klein International String Competition; and as Managing Director, Eugenie Chan Theater Projects. For 30+ years, she has maintained a strategic consulting practice for nonprofits and artists. Previous roles include Executive Director for UC Student Association, Midsummer Mozart Festival, Teatro ZinZanni, and Bay Area Leadership Foundation; director roles for Encore Fellowship Network and Pacific Environment. For six years she led marketing for California Shakespeare Theater and prior, for ODC Dance. Marcy holds a BS and an MBA from John F. Kennedy University.
Ali Duerr (she/her)
Evren Odcikin (he/him)
Evren Odcikin, Treasurer
Theatre Director, Writer, and Arts Leader
Board Member since January 2022
Evren has had a 20-year career as a theater director, writer, and arts administrator with a deep commitment to championing underrepresented voices. He serves as the Associate Artistic Director and Director of Artistic Programming at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is a founding steering committee member of the MENA Theater Maker Alliance, a founder of Maia Directors, and a resident artist with Golden Thread Productions. Evren was born and raised in Turkey and is a graduate of Princeton University. odcikin.com
Dawn Monique Williams (she/her)
Dawn Monique Williams, Secretary
Associate Artistic Director, Aurora Theatre Company
Board Member since January 2023
Dawn Monique Williams (she/her), an Oakland native, is the Associate Artistic Director at Aurora Theatre Company. She was the Artistic Associate and a resident artist at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for six seasons. She’s worked in theatres across the US including: The Kennedy Center, Orlando Shakespeare, American Shakespeare Center, Cal Shakes, Profile Theatre (Portland), A.C.T., Chautauqua Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Company, and African American Shakespeare Company. Williams holds an MA in Dramatic Literature and an MFA in Directing. She serves on the Board the of Directors of Theatre Bay Area and is a member of The Drama League Directors Council.
Linda Brewer (she/her)
Linda Brewer, Member
Retired Clinical Social Worker and Theatre Activist
Board Member 2007-12 and since April 2020
Prior to her retirement, she taught at San Francisco State University in the School of Social Work and had a private practice as a psychotherapist. Linda graduated with a BA from Whitman College, a MSW from Catholic University and an Ed.D in Counseling Psychology from University of San Francisco. She is a member of the President’s Advisory Board at Whitman College. Linda sings with the SF Choral Society and serves on the New Music Committee. Other interest include art studies, watching tennis, reading, and travel.
Lauren Gunderson (she/her)
Lauren Gunderson, Member
Playwright, Screenwriter, Feminist
Board Member since April 2017
Lauren is a playwright, screenwriter and short story author from Atlanta, GA. She received her BA in English/Creative Writing at Emory University, and her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch, where she was also a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. She was named the most produced playwright in America by American Theatre Magazine in 2017 and 2019. laurengunderson.com
Gabriela Schneider (she/her)
Gabriela Schneider, Member
Attorney, Arts Advocate, Theater Maker
Board Member since January 2023
Gaby is a proud member of the board of directors as well as a former staff member at Playwrights Foundation, having served as Associate Producer for the 2018 festival. Prior to embarking on her legal career, she worked as a dramaturg, actor, and director in the Bay Area, performing in several productions as a member of Theater of Others. She grew up in the Bay Area and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and NYU School of Law. In addition to the PF board, she is also on the board of the Schneider Foundation.
Octavio Solis (he/him)
Octavio Solis, Member
Playwright, Author
Board Member since April 2017
An author and playwright whose plays have been mounted across the country. His fiction and poetry have been published in the Arroyo Literary Review, The Louisville Review, Zyzzyva, Catamaran Literary Reader and the Chicago Quarterly Review. His anthology The River Plays is published by NoPassport Press. He has received the 2014 Pen Center USA Literary Award for Drama for Se Llama Cristina. Retablos: Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border was the recipient of 2018 Silver Indies Award for Book of the Year from Foreword Reviews and was chosen by the National Reading Group Month’s Committee for the Great Group Reads 2019 Selections. octaviosolis.net
Jayne Wenger (she/her)
Jayne Wenger, Member
Director/Dramaturg
Board Member since January 2024
Jayne Wenger is a director and dramaturg whose exclusive focus is the development of new works for the theater. Her work is interdisciplinary, encompassing opera, dance, solo performance, new music and site-specific collaborations. She is the past Artistic Director of the Playwrights Foundation and Women’s Ensemble of New York. From 2018 to 2022 she was the Director of Creative Process for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival.
She is an alumna of Djerassi Resident Artist Program; a frequent guest artist and advisory board member for The Valdez Theatre Conference in Alaska; has taught at ArtWorkshop International in Assisi, Italy; and is an annual guest artist at San Francisco State University teaching dramaturgy and new play direction. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and the League of Professional Theater Women. She works privately with playwrights across the country.
Dan Wolf (he/him)
Dan Wolf, Member
Actor, Rapper, Playwright, Educator, Arts Leader
Board Member since January 2023
Dan Wolf is a hip-hop artist who works with rap, theater, personal narrative, and history to give voice to the problematic world we live in. His performances combine conventional theater techniques with the music, language, and aesthetics of the hip-hop generation. His projects have traveled all around the world from theaters and concert halls to museums, schools, and memorial sites where he engages history as a prompt to make vital music and theater that can only live in this moment. He is the co-founder of Felonious and Bay Area Theatre Cypher. He is a board member of the Playwrights Foundation.