Phanésia Pharel is a Haitian-American playwright from a dragon fruit farm in Miami. The daughter of an immigrant teacher and farmer, she writes to honor people. Her full-length plays include DEAD GIRL’S QUINCEÑERA, THE WATERFALL, R&B , LUCKY, and BLACK GIRL JOY.
She is the incoming playwriting fellow at Emory University where she will teach and have a new play produced through their repertory company.
She has received commissions from the Atlantic Theater, Lucille Lortel (Alcove), La Jolla Playhouse, Miranda Family Fund, Hero Theatre, City Theatre Miami, and the Latinx Playwrights Circle.
Her honors include Kilroys List, five awards from the Kennedy Center, two-time Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist/Honorable Mention, Jane Chambers Finalist, A is For Playwriting award recipient and the Frank Moffett Mosier Fellowship for Works in Heightened Finalist Prize.
Phanésia is a member of the Obie-winning EST/Youngblood group and The Wish Collective. Her work has been developed by the Playwrights' Center, New York Stage and Film, SolFest, Thrown Stone, Shattered Globe, and Echo Theater Company.
B.A, Urban Studies, Barnard College of Columbia University.
She is currently pursuing an MFA in Playwriting at UC San Diego, mentored by Naomi Iizuka and Deborah Stein.
Storytelling beyond the screen and stage
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Storytelling beyond the screen and stage *
viBe Theater Experience + WP Theater
I was the Interim Artistic Director of viBe Theater Experience for about a year before pursuing my MFA in playwriting at the University of California San Diego! I also worked as a teaching artist for several years with them and BAM.
My favorite part of that experience 💖 Pages 2 Stages—a playwriting program for girls of color (13-18) that I led, taught, and created for WP Theater & viBe Theater Experience!
The Wish!
The Wish Collective—a theater collective led by Justice Hehir, we wrote a play called “the wish: a manual for a last-ditch effort to save abortion in the united states through theater” it’s been performed in several states since the fall of Roe v. Wade. Staged on courthouse steps, in community centers, and at weekly protests outside the Texas Capitol (photo above outside the Texas Capitol). Read more in American Theatre Magazine.
We've continued writing two more plays after being commissioned by the Lin-Manuel Miranda Family Foundation.