UPCOMING + NEWS
PERFORMING DOUBLE COLUMN AT CATCH 80
by Marissa Joyce Stamps
December 6, 2025, doors open at 6pm | Life World | $20 at the door | info here
I told yall that I do, in fact, be performing! Catch me at CATCH performing an excerpt of my performance piece, double column! | double column is a performance piece with text and live music that looks to strings—those of the heart, those of rope play, and those of stringed instruments—to explore Marissa’s relationship to love (in all of its forms). The harmonies. The dissonance. The knots. The tuning. The rigging. The surrendering. | The Rubin ! Malcom-x Betts ! Jenn Kidwell ! Wonderful Cringe ! Ilana Harris-Babou ! Hannah Kallenbach ! Tatyana Tenenbaum ! Marissa Joyce Stamps ! RED & Jeremy Kadetsky/doxies !
LETICHE AND THE [WONDROUS] PURSUIT OF ELVIS
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 YALE DRAMA SERIES PRIZE
I'm so excited to share that Letiche was chosen by judge Pultizer-Prize winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins as one of three Shortlisted plays for The 2025 Yale Drama Series Prize! Congrats to this year's winner, Ariel Stess, and to fellow Shortlisters Carolina Đỗ and Malena Pennycook!
IN THE KILROYS WEB 2025
I've been included in The Kilroys Web 2025! And it means even more to me to have been nominated by a very dear friend I love very much--the phenomenal Libby Carr (who you should all know)! Here's what they had to say about me: "Marissa Joyce Stamps!!! The epitome of champion of new plays. Marissa is connecting artists to artists! She is sharing her resources far and wide! She is helping everyone self-produce their plays. She is constantly creating opportunities for creatives. She is an incredible advocate for early-career playwrights. And if you've been lucky enough to be in a writers' group with Marissa, you know what an incredible dramaturg she is. She is a caring, attentive, and meticulous excavator of new plays. Marissa was one of the first people I met when I moved to New York, and thank goodness!! She has been an invaluable part of my community ever since."
ROLLBACK NAMED A FINALIST FOR THE
2025 O'NEILL NATIONAL PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE
I'm happy to announce that Rollback is a finalist for the 2025 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. I'm honored to be in such great company of the amazing finalists, many of whom are good friends!
SELECTED AS A 2026 CALDERA ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
More writing and creating in the woods! This January, I'll be a Caldera Artist-in-Residence working on a new play, Mortal Kombat. The premise is inspired by my experience as a child going to the YMCA’s accessible sleepaway camp in Huguenot, NY for years. | Caldera AiR serves as inspiration to our young learners who can see themselves in adults with a regular creative practice. AiR supports artists, creatives, and cultural workers to build skills, relationships, and projects that inspire growth, combat oppression, and activate change. Residents draw inspiration from the residency community and the natural world surrounding our facilities in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains near Sisters.
SELECTED AS A 2025-2026 MACDOWELL FELLOW
We love writing in the woods! This fall, I'll be a MacDowell Fellow working on a new play, Cadalydic Converduh, inspired by my surreal visit to an underground, luxury(?) startup rental car business' parking garage to get my rental to Syracuse, NY for the April 2024 total eclipse.
MORTAL COMBAT SELECTED FOR LUCILLE LORTEL'S ALCOVE CLIMATE CRISIS COMMISSION
I'm happy to share that I was selected for Lucille Lortel's Alcove Climate Commission. For this commission, selected playwrights are asked to think and reflect on the current climate crisis and to imagine possible futures. | In Mortal Combat, it’s Staff Training Week, and a sleepaway camp is swarmed with 20somethings ready to make their summer coin. One cabin of trainees finds themselves to be quick besties in the midst of team-building exercises’ forced kumbaya. But once their training ventures out of the safety net of the pristine, state-of-the-art man-made grounds into the real wilderness of the rugged and hostile Mortal Combat [with Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!], their faux niceties are nowhere to be found and beasts are unleashed.
SELECTED FOR NEW GEORGES THE JAM 2024-2026
I'm happy to share that I was selected to join New Georges The Jam 2024-2026! | The Jam is a collaboration-based “performance gym” for theatermakers in all disciplines. The Jam is artist-driven and artist-led. Artists meet bimonthly to talk, eat, build community, and share work made in collaborative groupings.
RECENT
DIRECTED A READING OF LOVE IS RESPECT @ BREAKING & ENTERING'S 2025 DISORDERLY CONDUCT SERIES
by Emani Brielle Simpson + directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
November 23, 2025 @ 4pm | The Tank | rsvp + info here
When Carmen, a high schooler, finds herself in a hospital room once again due to her boyfriend’s physical abuse. Her friends intervene giving her support through tough conversations, friendship and Christianity. This play is about seeing the signs and responding as a collective community to domestic violence. | Join Emani Brielle Simpson and the artists of Breaking & Entering for a community event to promote domestic violence awareness. Presented in partnership with LADIES AT LUNCH and WOMANKIND.
DIRECTED A READING OF MOURNING DOVES @ BREAKING & ENTERING'S 2025 ROOFTOP READING SERIES
by Imani Russell + directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
August 23, 2025 @ 7pm | The Yard | rsvp + info here
After the death of her grandfather, Güendis finds herself missing out on her last year of high school to take care of her grieving mother, grandmother, and sister. Forced to grow up too soon, she tries to cope in her own way... with the help of a familiar and possibly otherworldly friend. Mourning Doves (or, the bird play) explores the decay/regeneration of a family, the pressures of being an eldest daughter, and asks: "Who has the right to grieve?"
INTERVIEW WITH NAZARETH HASSAN FOR BOMB MAGAZINE
Very honored to have interviewed my good friend and collaborator, Nazareth Hassan for BOMB Magazine. In this interview, we discuss Blackness, spectacle, skateboarding, rap, and queer love collide in Naz's new play, BOWL EP (which closed on June 22, 2025 at The Vineyard).
PURVIEW IN 3VIEWS FOR MILO CRAMER'S
BUSINESS IDEAS AT CLUBBED THUMB'S SUMMERWORKS
Check out my Purview with 3Views on Milo Cramer's play, Business Ideas (directed by Laura Dupper), part of Clubbed Thumb's 2025 Summerworks. It recently closed on May 27 at The Wild Project.
DIRECTED A STAGED READING OF ROUND @ FRESH GROUND PEPPER'S PLAYGROUND PLAYGROUP'S 2025 READING SERIES
by Taylor Steele + directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
June 22, 2025 @ 7pm | Open Jar Studios | rsvp + info here
Round is a whimsically complex play following a fat Black woman’s journey through a liminal space where she is forced to confront her doubts, her fear, and herself. Guided by [redacted]—a humorously irreverent stand-in for God-knows-who—this woman is shown how others see her and must decide if what they see is her true reflection.
YOU CAN TELL FROM THE TWISTED JUNIPER
@ EST/YOUNGBLOOD BLOODWORKS READING SERIES
by Marissa Joyce Stamps
Monday, May 19th @ 7pm | Ensemble Studio Theatre | free rsvp + info here
I'm so hype to share this play—my first full-length play and first love—publicly for the first time ever! | Joelli and Darrell's San Diego vacation is detoured because of intense monsoons and they get trapped in the middle of Sedona, AZ. Amongst vortexes, strangers, and strange beings, Joelli finds herself on a desert quest that makes her question what's right in front of her.
DIRECTED THE FATE OF THE ONLINE COW @ THE CHAIN THEATER
by kanishk pandey + directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
April, 25-27, 2025 | The Chain | tickets + info
The Cow spends her life in front of a camera, playing Minecraft for an active chat, earning money for her owners, Mud and Hue. Up until this point, her life has been simple but fulfilled. However, when the game leads her to consider her own predicament, she must come to terms with the oppressive conditions she exists under and the act of earned revolution.
LETICHE AND THE [WONDROUS] PURSUIT OF ELVIS NAMED A FINALIST FOR
2024 O'NEILL NATIONAL PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE
I'm happy to announce that Letiche and The [Wondrous] Pursuit of Elvis is a finalist for the 2024 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. I'm honored to be in such great company of the amazing finalists. View the complete list of finalists here.
DIRECTED IS CRY YOU CRY'N? @ BROWN UNIVERSITY'S
MFA PLAYWRITING'S WRITING IS LIVE FESTIVAL 2025
by Dhari Noel + directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
March, 6-9, 2025 | Leeds Theater @ Brown University (Providence, RI) | info here
Grace is staging a green-card wedding at her house: Tashie–who recently came from Trinidad with her son Likkle–is marrying her Americanized ”cousin” Nap, who brings his “friend” to the wedding. Many years later, four fraternity pledges are experiencing their last night of hell week before becoming full-fledged brothers: they make dances, crack jokes, and test one another’s love. Both stories take place in the same basement, with double-cast actors blurring the lines of identity. “If cat mek kitten in an oven does that make it bun?” is a Trini saying our mothers might tell us if we dare suggest we are not really Trini. Is Cry You Cry’n? is about the dream this proverb aspires to make real.
DOUBLE COLUMN @ WILD PROJECT x SFX FESTIVAL 2025
written + directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
featuring Marissa Joyce Stamps, Deja Rion, + Robot X
One Night Only: January 11, 2025 @ 7:00pm | Wild Project | info here
I've been dreaming this one up for a while and I'm so happy that Lisa Clair was so generous to give me to space to get it out of my head and into real space! | double column is a performance piece with text and live music that looks to strings—those of the heart, those of rope play, and those of stringed instruments—to explore Marissa’s relationship to love (in all of its forms). The harmonies. The dissonance. The knots. The tuning. The rigging. The surrendering.
DIRECTED NECK DOWN @ WE ARE HERE x EXPONENTIAL FESTIVAL 2025
by Nic Adams + directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
January 9-12, 2025 | We Are Here | tickets and info here
Full circle moment here directing my buddy Nic Adams' new play, Neck Down, which made its start during our time in Brooklyn College's MFA Playwriting program! | It’s the morning before an ancient coin auction in NYC and early-career artist Ciel is stuck working yet another menial temp assignment. An old money collector arrives early to inspect the legal tender he wants to bid. So begins a daydream about lottery winnings, caskets, sex fantasies, delulus of grandeur, and Big Oil Banks. Inner thoughts take center stage, mounting a tragicomic class stand-off and a toast to the relentless spirit of artists living on the brink of precarity.
SELECTED FOR ROUNDABOUT'S DIRECTORS GROUP (COHORT 6)
I'm happy to share that I was selected for Roundabout's Directors Group (Cohort 6). RDG was created to offer resources and provide career assistance to the next generation of directors for the American Theatre... RDG creates an RDG creates an artistic community for directors at similar stages of their work, fostering camaraderie, lateral mentorship, access to expanded professional networks, and insight into the workings of a large not-for-profit institution.
