Congratulations to our newly elected Council members, Stephen Karam and Sarah Ruhl*, as well as our re-elected incumbents David Henry Hwang,
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Christine Toy Johnson, Deborah Zoe Laufer, Adam Gwon, and Lloyd Suh!
STEPHEN KARAM is the Tony Award-winning author of The Humans, Sons of the Prophet, and Speech & Debate. He is a two-time winner of the Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, recipient of an OBIE Award for playwriting, and a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Stephen wrote and directed his first feature film, an adaptation of The Humans for A24 films (Top 10 film of 2021 for The Guardian, Vanity Fair, the Associated Press, Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter; Indiewire’s list of top first feature films of 2021, and a NY Times Critic’s Pick). He wrote the screenplay for a film adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull starring Annette Bening, released by Sony Picture Classics. His adaptation of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard premiered on Broadway as part of Roundabout’s 2016 season. Other work includes co-writing columbinus with PJ Paparelli (New York Theatre Workshop), the libretto for the chamber opera Dark Sisters with Nico Muhly, and the stray online humor piece for The New Yorker.
Honors include the inaugural Horton Foote Playwriting Award, the inaugural Sam Norkin Drama Desk Award, two Outer Critics Circle Awards, a Lucille Lortel Award, Drama League Award, Drama Desk Award for Best Play and the Hull-Warriner Award.
Stephen is an Assistant Professor at The New School and a mentor to high school students as part of TDF’s Wendy Wasserstein Project. He is a graduate of Brown University and grew up in Scranton, PA.
Statement: I first joined the Dramatists Guild as a student member in college, drawn to the DG Quarterly as a lifeline to a world that felt far away, impossible to access. It offered guidance and connection when I needed it. Over twenty years into my playwriting career, I hope to give back to the community that has been a cornerstone of my development as a playwright.
For the past fifteen years, I’ve focused on teaching and mentoring the next generation of dramatists, serving as an associate professor at The New School, a mentor for TDF’s Wendy Project, and a mentor for the Blank Theatre Company’s Young Playwrights Festival. Teaching is core to my practice because I know how transformative a thoughtful conversation with an experienced dramatist can be. Having entered the profession without a graduate degree or a built-in network, I relied on the generous mentorship of DG members who shared their advice, resources, and time.
I’m passionate about advocating for emerging playwrights. Early in my career, I signed a predatory contract that left me unprotected in my first professional venture. That formative experience drives my commitment to strengthening resources for writers just beginning their journeys. I’m particularly concerned about the increasing pressure for playwrights to cede a permanent percentage of ownership to directors, even when they haven’t been deeply involved in the development process. While this issue is rarely malicious, it underscores the need for clearer guidelines and protections—a cause I care deeply about as both a playwright and director.
As I near the finish line of another play, I’ve been reflecting on what this community has meant to me. The playwrights who’ve given me their time and wisdom have been a source of solidarity and inspiration, often filling the gaps left by not having a formal network early on.
It’s an honor to serve on the Dramatists Guild Council, contributing my experience as a teacher, mentor, and advocate while learning from my peers and honoring the past leaders who’ve guided us and paved the way.
SARAH RUHL is a playwright and writer of other things. A two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony award nominee, her plays have been translated into fifteen languages. They have been done on and off-Broadway, around the country, and internationally. Her plays include Eurydice, The Clean House, In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play, Orlando, Melancholy Play, Late: a cowboy song, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Stage Kiss, How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, and Becky Nurse of Salem, among others. Her play Eurydice was recently made into an opera and premiered at the Metropolitan opera, with music by Matthew Aucoin. Her most frequent artistic homes for premieres include Lincoln Center Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Signature Theatre where she currently has a residency. She’s originally from Chicago, where she has worked at the Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Writer’s Theatre, and the Piven Theatre workshop.
Ruhl has also written non-fiction and poetry, and her books include Smile, a memoir (Simon & Schuster); 100 Essays I Don’t have Time to Write (a New York Times notable book, published by FSG); 44 Poems for you and Love Poems in Quarantine (Copper Canyon Press) and Letters from Max (with Max Ritvo, Milkweed editions). She is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, a Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a Lilly Award, a Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and a PEN Center Award for mid-career playwright.
Ruhl studied playwriting with Paula Vogel at Brown University, where she recently received an honorary doctorate. She served on the board of the Lilly awards, was a member of 13P, New Dramatists, the Dramatists Guild, and she co-founded 3Views, a new online journal for writing about theatre. For the past twelve years, she’s taught at the Geffen School for Drama at Yale, where she is currently professor of playwriting. She lives in Brooklyn with her family. She’s currently working a new opera and two musicals, one with composer Sara Bareilles, and one with composer Elvis Costello. For more information on her work, see: www.sarahruhlplaywright.com
Statement: When I was last on the council, it was over a decade ago. I had three children under the age of 5, and a full teaching schedule. I loved being on the council, cared deeply about its aims, and gloried in its community, particularly being in the company of generations above me, like Tina Howe, who I interviewed for the Legacy project. I cycled off the Council because my teaching day in New Haven landed on the same day as all of the council meetings, and I thought that a playwright who wasn’t juggling young children and teaching could serve better than I could at that time.
A decade later, my children more fully grown, with a more flexible teaching schedule, I think I have more to give to the Guild, and when I say give, I mean give back. Over the years, the Guild has generously helped me when I’ve had issues with commercial producers, with the issue of plagiarism, and any number of questions about contracts. Every time I enter a rehearsal room, I know that the Guild has been protecting my language because of generations’ worth of advocacy.
Some issues that are top of mind for me currently: first, getting playwrights paid for their time in rehearsal while retaining their unique copyright. Second: subsidiary rights and directors encroaching on playwright percentages. Third: directors asking for rewrites or actually doing rewrites while playwrights are out of the room. Fourth: continuing the Guild’s education projects, like the Visiting Voices program, which I’ve participated in.
I’m honored to be nominated to serve and to give back to the community; this Guild has given so generously to the field, and I am so grateful for its advocacy.
*Ruhl also served on Council from 2013-2016.
