Victoria Z. Daly
Playwright
she/her/hers
Victoria is a Plays in Progress Mentor. Her mentor interests: character-driven, conflict, strong character arc, theatricality, dramatic physicality. Request Victoria as a PIP Mentor.
“I’m drawn to plays about complex, flawed humans struggling to connect with each other and themselves. Characters with big needs and stakes. Plays that explore fundamental questions about the way the world, and the humans in it, work. My main goal as a dramatist-mentor is to recognize the impulse and intention in your play and to help you, the playwright, fulfill your intention.
I’m especially excited to work on plays whose stories can only be told on the stage. Lighting, mixed media, non-linear structure, metaphor, heightened language — whatever you can dream up to tell the story and help illuminate the characters, I’m up for it. I’d be less effective working on plays that are highly plot-driven or message- driven.
After we’ve explored each of our questions about your draft, I’ll aim to have you fired up to start the next one.”
I’m a playwright, EMMY Award-winning story editor/producer, and script consultant.
I’m a Faculty Member at the Dramatists Guild Institute , the educational arm of the Dramatists Guild, in their Plays in Progress program and a script consultant to private clients. I work with writers across the U.S. and abroad.
My plays include Doppelgänger, Sam, Demeter and Polly, Shell Collection, Invisible, Far North, On the Cross Bronx, Circling the Globe, Raw, Final Rest, High Water Line, Rockaway Park 2012, Bottom of the Order and What to Do About It (#AfterTheBans.) They have been developed/ produced at venues on four continents including the Actors Studio, Valdez Theatre Conference, ATHE Conference, Short+Sweet Festivals in Hollywood, Dubai, and Perth, the Vspyshka Theatre in Russia, Alliance for Jewish Theatre, Berrie Center, KPBX-FM (NPR,) and the Edinburgh Festival. As a commentator and playwright, I contribute regularly to Scotland’s Writers Block Radio Hour, now on Radio Six International.
Some recent awards: Regional EMMY (producer/story editor,) 3 Seconds in October: The Shooting of Andy Lopez (PBS); “The 9 Most Memorable Plays of the Last 9 Years,” Warner International Playwrights Festival, Connecticut (Final Rest); the Neem Independent International Award, Russia (High Water Line); Winner, Impossible Fest, Chicago (High Water Line); Best Play, Short+Sweet Dubai (On the Cross Bronx); Winner, Grand Theatre Playwriting Competition, Georgia (Final Rest.)
My short plays have been published by Next Stage Press in Raw and Other Short Plays, a collection of 7 of my plays; Applause Theatre and Cinema Books (3x;) Smith & Kraus (2x;) Venus Theatre Company (upcoming;) the New Short Play Festival (Amazon); MonologueBank; The Last Frontier Theatre Conference; and some scripts literary magazine.
My playwriting workshops and bootcamps are now available both in-person and online. I’ve taught for organizations including Stephen Sondheim's Young Playwrights, Inc., the Fly Arts Center (Tenn.,) Litchfield Performing Arts (Ct,) Playmaking (NYC,) and my own The Write Stuff! programs. A former physical actor, I’ve taught and performed commedia dell'arte, clown and mask work in Paris, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and in New York City.
I’m the Founder and Executive Director of The 9th Floor, a collaborative of award-winning writers and actors in New York City, now in its sixteenth season. As a television producer, script consultant, and executive, I’ve worked for entertainment and media organizations including Lifetime Cable Television, Warner Brothers, and the American Broadcasting Companies. My journalism has appeared nationally in Glamour, Health, Portfolio, etc.
Education: MFA in Dramatic Writing, NYU/Tisch School of the Arts; Certificat d'Etudes in Theater, L’Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Paris; A.B. and M.B.A., Harvard. Member: Dramatists Guild of America; Actors Studio Playwrights and Directors Workshop; League of Professional Theatre Women; International Centre for Women Playwrights; and Honor Roll!, an advocacy group for women+ playwrights over 40.
Highlights
Playwright, Emmy -Award-winning script consultant/producer, and educator. Plays presented across the United States and on four continents. Faculty Member at the Dramatists Guild Institute, and Founder and Executive Director of New York's 9th Floor Writers and Actors Collaborative. MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts; graduate of the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France and (twice) of Harvard University.