UPCOMING + NEWS
NAMED A 2026-2027 VAN LIER NEW VOICES FELLOW @ RATTLESTICK THEATER
I'm happy to announce that I've been named a Van Lier New Voices Fellow at Rattlestick Theater! My co-fellow is Stefani Kuo 郭佳怡. I'll be working on a new play of mine titled Cadalydic Converduh, which will have a public presentation in May 2027. I will be spending my fellowship year under the mentorship of playwright Jeff Augustin. The Van Lier New Voices program provides substantial financial and artistic support to two emerging playwrights of color annually. Said Artistic Director Will Davis, “We’re thrilled to welcome Stefani and Marissa as our newest Van Lier New Voices Fellows. Both are multihyphenate artists whose work moves across culture, language, and place, with a rigor and intimacy those subjects demand." Read about it here.
SELECTED AS A CLUBBED THUMB 26/27 NEW PLAY DIRECTING FELLOW
I'm thrilled to be back at Clubbed Thumb, but this time as a director through the New Play Directing Fellowship! I'll be collaborating with playwright Aaron Ricciardi on his new play, 12N. With co-fellows cricket brown and Jillian Jetton, we'll be mentored by directors Anne Kauffman and David Aukin. We'll be presenting our respective pieces in January 2027 for Winterworks; stay tuned for more info!
NAMED A 2026-2027 BALDWIN FOR THE ARTS FELLOW
I'm so hype to share that my mother, Marie Flore Stamps, and I have been selected as 2026-2027 Baldwin for the Arts Fellows! Together, we'll be in residency in Spring 2027 in Brewster, NY collaborating on our research on Black women and femmes, Afro-Diasporic movement practices, and healing.
SHOWCASING AT IAAPA ORLANDO 2026 WITH IDA
November 19, 2026 from 12:30-2:30pm | Young Professionals Hub, OCCC W203 | info here
After 11 months of an amazing collaboration with my team (Knic Nak Studios) as Creative Director, I’m proud to announce we are finally, publicly sharing our concept for a water-based family experience based in Hong Kong. Drop-in anytime during Immersive Design Academy’s Final Showcase at IAAPA Expo 2026 in Orlando to explore exciting themed attraction concepts from all six multidisciplinary, international teams. More details to come!
LETICHE... NAMED A FINALIST FOR THE 2026 OJAI PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE
I'm happy to announce that Letiche and The [Wondrous] Pursuit of Elvis is a Finalist for the 2026 Ojai Playwrights Conference! Check out the full list here!
ST. NICHOLAS' ANNUAL WALK-BIKE-SKATE-A-THON NAMED A SEMI-FINALIST FOR THE 2026 SEVEN DEVILS PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE
I'm happy to announce that St. Nicholas' Annual Walk-Bike-Skate-a-Thon is a Semi-Finalist for the 2026 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference! Check out the full list here!
CO-EDITING LOVE LETTERS FOR QUEER AND TRANS CRIPS
I'm so excited to announce that SAJ, Wendy Moore O'Neal and I are co-editing a book, currently titled Love letters for Queer and Trans Crips—a collection of writings by and for queer and trans crips that documents our love and imagines more love into being. Building on the ideological foundations of [queer] Black feminists and queers of color (especially Audre Lorde, The Combahee River Collective, bell hooks) and disability justice frameworks (especially Sins Invalid's), this collection embraces the erotic bodymind.
NAMED 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 Combat. The premise is inspired by my experience as a child going to the YMCA’s financially 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 CREATIVE DIRECTOR FOR IMMERSIVE DESIGN ACADEMY 2026
It really is a Six Flags day knowing that I've been chosen as a Creative Director for Immersive Design Academy 2026, an "11 month-long educational programme [that] simulates a creative studio environment, whereby ~90 students work virtually in six multidisciplinary international teams to create a themed attraction in response to a client brief." Excited to share more in the coming months!
SELECTED FOR BREAKING & ENTERING'S LINE-UP
AND ARTISTIC PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
I'm so happy to share that I've been invited by Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective to be a part of their LINE UP (their resident artists program) and their Artistic Programming Committee! B&E is a near and dear org and I'm so happy for more collaboration with them!
RECENT
NAMED A 2025-2026 MACDOWELL FELLOW
We love writing in the woods! In fall 2025, I was in residency at MacDowell 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.
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."
DIRECTING CORNROWS EXCERPT @ LIT COUNCIL'S LIT UP FEST 2026
by Donovan Rogers + directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
September 19, 2026 @ 12pm | The Tank | info here
An unexpected princess is charged with saving a mysterious drought in a Cornrow, a village divided by Bronze and Brains, supernatural gifts of which he has none… or so he thinks. When things take a turn for the worse, Sir Princess Diana Don is sent to a softer reality of his village, meeting his ancestral grandfather who teaches him forbidden, ancient knowledge embedded in cornrow braiding in hopes of unlocking his God given authority to save his community… if only he can find love first.
VISIONARY COLLECTIVE'S ENVISIONS SALON: NÉGRITUDE
July 12, 2026 @ 6pm | The Dramatists Guild | info here
Hosted by Chloé Yasmine, Visionary Collective hosts a conversation with dope Black playwrights K'yana Faulkner- Smith, Darius M. Buckley and Marissa Joyce Stamps as they discuss how they use theatricality and genre-driven narrative to reflect the Black experience — exploring genre, style, and form as tools for authentic Black storytelling, world-building, and liberation. We'll engage directly with their work by reading excerpts of their scripts aloud together as a group.
DIRECTING NIGGA NATIVITY @ BREAKING & ENTERING'S 2025
ROOFTOP READING SERIES
by Kendall Wallace + directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
July 10, 2026 @ 7pm | Mark Morris | info here
An adaptation of Christ’s birth— retelling the story from the perspectives of a Black and homeless Mary, Joseph, and the three Wise Men—Nigga Nativity is a magically realist piece that examines the impacts of anti-homeless legislation/ ideology on some of the most marginalized identities in the country. Critiquing oppressive law enforcement systems, evil politicians, and more - The Nativity Play examines how we keep going in the midst of oppression.
DIRECTING COME NOW THE HEARTBROKEN AND THE HALF-SIBLINGS PLAY
@ SEVEN DEVILS PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE 2026
Come Now the Heartbroken by Ellen K. Graham | The Half-Siblings Play by Agyeiwaa Asante | directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
Friday, June 5 @ 7:30pm | Saturday, June 13 @ 7:30pm | The Alpine Playhouse in McCall, ID | info here
I have the pleasure of spending two weeks in McCall Idaho at Seven Devils Playwrights Conference! First, I'll be working with dramaturg Bob Bartlett and playwright Ellen K. Graham on her play Come Now the Heartbroken, where "sequestered jurors on a high-profile trial... gather on a shared hotel balcony, forbidden to talk about the case.... They testify, argue, and pass judgment on each other. Can their verdict heal a broken heart?" And after, I'll be working with dramaturg Alayna Jacqueline and playwright Agyeiwaa Asante on The Half-Siblings Play, her play about two half-siblings who go from NYC to Ghana to pay respects to their father and claim birthright. It's about about sisters, brothers, and absent fathers... [and] the mystery of family and what it means to come home.
WORKSHOP @ D/E - ENVIRONMENTS AS COLLABORATORS: LANDSCAPE DRAMATURGY FOR CREATIVES
Sunday, May 17 from 12-3pm | Prospect Park (exact location sent upon rsvp) | info here
Let the landscape around you be a collaborator in your work! In this outdoor workshop, we'll dive into spatial, scenic, and geo-cultural landscape aesthetics and dramaturgy, and different methodologies to apply them to your work as a generative artist. We'll be on the move, using the city's landscape around us as inspiration and a tool to create the seed of new work to leave with. Please bring a blanket and something to write on/with. Feel free to bring your favorite snack and something to sip on. And most importantly, come as you are.
DIRECTING IS CRY YOU CRY'N? @ MCC JUDITH CHAMPION PLAYLABS 2026
by Megan Ruoro + directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
Monday, May 11 @ 6:30pm | MCC | info here
Back at it again with the genius, Dhari Noel! | Grace is staging a green-card wedding: Tashie–recently coming from Trinidad with her son Likkle–is marrying her Americanized “cousin” Nap. Nap is bringing his “friend” as a witness. Four fraternity pledges are preparing for their last night of hell week before becoming full-fledged brothers: they make dances, crack jokes, and test one another. Both stories take place in the same basement, blurring the lines of identity, time, and belonging. “If cat mek kitten in an oven does that make it bun?” is a Trini saying our mothers might tell us when we dare suggest we are not really Trini. Is Cry You Cry’n? is about the dream this proverb aspires to make real.
DIRECTING MUD @ THE MAKERS' ENSEMBLE SHORT PLAY FEST 2026
by Megan Ruoro + directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
April 29, May 1, + May 3 | The Makers' Space | info here
An urgent tale of reconciliation and rupture unfolds between a daughter and her mother, who has been living alone with a mysterious watchman in an antebellum-era Whitt Hall for the past ten years. As they struggle to piece together the fragments of time, questions about their roots and ties to the past are unearthed on the manor's grounds.
PRESENTING NEW WORK IN THE NEW GEORGES JAMBOREE 2026
new work from The 2024-2026 Jam
May 1 + 3 at 7pm | CPR | info here
I will be presenting work with my collaborator, Deepali Mattoo Gupta Zeer! | Are you ready to Jam?! It’s time to JAMboree! New Georges’ artist-led, collaboration-based performance gym presents an evening of brand-new work: proof-of-concept experiments that demonstrate the vision and ambition each team has for their collaborative project. In other words: excerpts of Jam-generated works heading out for a test drive! The Jam is an artistic community in which members forge relationships with deep impact on work and careers. New Jam members are selected every two years in an open application process–new cycle upcoming, watch for that application!
LETICHE @ VINEYARD THEATRE'S WORK-IN-PROGRESS 2026
by Marissa Joyce Stamps + directed by Josiah Davis
Monday, April 20 at 7pm | Vineyard Theatre | info here
New York City mother-daughter duo, Imara and Kal, are on a swamp tour on their New Orleans vacation. They find themselves led by a white captain on an all-Black boat of tourists. What are the odds?! In the murkiness of their 90-minute tour, Kal finds herself itching and her psyche morphing in a place full of contradictions and turns to the alligators and their leader—the mighty alligator, Elvis—for some clarity.
DIRECTING KILLING JANET @ NEW YORK CITY FRINGE 2026
by Omalolu "OJ" Fiki + directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps
April 4, 9, 11 + 16, 2026 | The Chain | info here
Part stand-up, part cultural exorcism, Killing Janet follows a Nigerian-American woman who decides —on live TV— to “kill” her missionary-given name and everything it represents. A razor-sharp solo comedy play about faith, assimilation, and the cost of compliance staged as a surreal game show where the audience helps decide the verdict.
MOVEMENT DIRECTING 108 NOTES @ LPAC ROUGH DRAFT FESTIVAL 2026
written + directed by kanishk pandey | movement direction by Marissa Joyce Stamps
March 13, 2026 | LaGuardia Performing Arts Center | info here
Eve and Ava are currently testing to see if they can figure out what it means to know a person, with the help of some index cards. You're gonna help them too.
CURATING + CO-PRODUCING CENTER AT WEST PARK'S
FEBRUARY 2026 LAUNCHPAD READING SERIES
QUADRIA... by Brent Thomas Whiteside (February 27), SUNSET by Katryna Alexis (February 27), and PARIS. by Dhari Noel (February 28)
St. Paul + St. Andrew | info here
This has been a brainchild of mine for over a year and I'm so happy it's now a reality! This collaboration with Center at West Park’s Launchpad is focused on fostering a mentor/mentee relationship with Black playwrights at different stages of their careers, and to host these playwrights work together. I'm always invested in finding ways to create community and to break away from gatekeeping practices, especially for a community that is often left behind or is artistically confined collectively. And, I hope this is one of the many ways I can do that: giving mentee playwrights one of, if not their first, professional NYC reading, knowing that this is often a hard step without access to institutional support when you're an emerging artist (I know it was for me!). My hope with this program is that participating playwrights walk away with a sense of knowing that their work is absolutely necessary in this world (without having to prove their worth) and that their artistic community—new and old—can hold them abundantly. More to come with this series!
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. | Klondyke ! The Rubin ! 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
NAMED A FINALIST 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 finalists for The 2025 Yale Drama Series Prize! Congrats to this year's winner, Ariel Stess, and to fellow finalists Carolina Đỗ and Malena Pennycook!
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!
