The Emerging American Artist's Fund

An emerging American playwright, published poet and NYSCA-NYFA Artist Fellow in Playwriting/Screenwriting, Susan Kathryn Hefti’s plays have been developed or presented at Lark Play Development Center; New York Theatre Workshop; The Playwrights Center; Seven Devils Playwrights Conference; Rattlestick Playwrights Theater; The William Inge Theatre Festival New Play Lab; The Bechdel Group; Capital Stage Company; The Harold Clurman Playwrights Division, Stella Adler Studio; The Bridge Initiative; St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery Theatre; Long Beach Playhouse Theatre; North Park Vaudeville Theatre; Topanga Actors Company; The Hidden Theatre Company & Wonderbox UK in London and in Paris at Théâtre Mélo d'Amelie & La Comédie Bastille. 

Susan's new full-length play, QUEEN OF THE BONACKERS, has been selected for the 2023 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference and was previously honored as a Princess Grace Award Semifinalist 2021; Creede Repertory Theatre Headwaters New Play Festival Semifinalist 2021; Burman New Play Award Semifinalist, Barrington Stage Company 2020; ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition Quarterfinalist 2023; New American Voices Playwriting Festival Semifinalist 2020; Campfire Theatre Festival Finalist 2020; Selection The Bechdel Group’s Workshop Reading Series 2019; Flux Theatre EMERGE UK Longlist 2019 and Playwrights Voiced Festival of New Works Quarterfinalist, Relative Theatrics 2019. QUEEN OF THE BONACKERS also enjoyed a Playwrights Center (PWC) Members Open Session Play Reading. 

Hefti’s short play, ON THE UNDERGROUND, or The Penguin Play - which explores slavery, climate change & the role of women in the global community - was selected by Wonderbox UK to be staged at SPACE (on The Isles of Dogs), as part of the theatre’s centennial celebration of UK Women achieving the Right to Vote. North Park Vaudeville Theatre produced The Penguin Play in California and Topanga Actors Company mounted a staged reading of the play which was also published by Smith & Kraus in its Theatre Brut Anthology of short plays.

A PEN American Center Writers Grant recipient, Susan began her professional writing career as a journalist, specializing in environmental news before transitioning into writing for the stage. She has also taught environmental studies classes at several Universities including Brown and Yale.

A proud member of the Dramatists Guild; The Playwrights Center; London Playwrights Workshop; New Play Exchange & Fractured Atlas, Susan is also a member of SAG-AFTRA.