Saviana Stanescu

Librettist Playwright

Saviana Stanescu is an award-winning Romanian-born playwright and ARTivist based in New York/Ithaca. Her US plays include Aliens with extraordinary skills, Ants (both published by Samuel French), Bee Trapped Inside the Window, Lenin’s Shoe, Useless, Toys, Bechnya, Hurt, Hobo-Jungle, Waxing West (2007 New York Innovative Theatre Award), What Happens Next, developed/produced at Women’s Project, La MaMa Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, EST, HERE, New Georges, Lark, Cherry, Civic Ensemble, Teatro La Capilla, Odeon, etc.

Honors include: Fulbright, NYSCA playwright-in-residence for Women’s Project, Indie Theater Hall of Fame / Person of the Year, TCG New Generations fellow, Women’s International Leadership, Director of International Exchange for the Lark Play Development Center, writer-in-residence for East Coast Artists, Audrey Residency - New Georges, John Golden Award, O’Neill Finalist, Yale Drama Series Runner-Up, KulturKontakt Vienna Artist-in-Residence, Marulic Prize for Best European Radio Drama, Cambridge fellow, Best Romanian Play 2000 UNITER Award.

Her work has been produced in the US, UK, Romania, Mexico, France, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Montenegro, Macedonia, Australia, etc.

Saviana holds an MA in Performance Studies and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU, and a PhD in Theatre from UNATC, Bucharest.

Currently she is an Associate Professor of Playwriting and Contemporary Theatre/Performance at Ithaca College and a Regional Visiting Fellow with the Cornell Institute for European Studies.

Saviana founded Immigrant/International Artists and Scholars in New York (IASNY) and curates the annual showcase “New York with an Accent” at the Nuyorican Poets Café. (www.saviana.com)

Highlights

Saviana Stanescu (www.saviana.com) is a Romanian award-winning playwright and ARTivist based in New York/Ithaca. Her US plays (Aliens with extraordinary skills, Lenin’s Shoe, Waxing West, Useless, White Embers, etc) have been produced/developed at Women’s Project, La MaMa, 59E59, Lark, NYTW, EST, Cherry, Civic Ensemble, and in over 15 countries around the world.