DGI INSTRUCTOR & PLAYS IN PROGRESS MENTOR

FRANCE-LUCE BENSON

France-Luce Benson is the 2021 winner of the Lily’s Lorraine Hansberry Award, a 2022 Bay Area Playwright’s Festival semi-finalist, and was just awarded a new play commission from the Atlantic Theater Company, supported by NYSCA's Individual Artist Award. Additional honors include Sony Pictures Television Diverse WritersFellow, Zoetrope Grand Prize for Caroline’s Wedding; Miranda Family Foundation grant recipient for Detained, Alfred P. Sloan New Play Commission for The Devil’s Salt, Princess Grace Award runner-up for Boat People, Dramatists Guild Fellow 2016-17, Sam French OOB Festival Winner, and NNPN Award for Risen from the Dough. Residencies include The Camargo Foundation in France, Sacatar Institute in Brazil, Djerassi Foundation, and Space on Ryder Farm. Her plays have been produced and/or developed by The Fountain Theatre, The Ensemble Studio TheatreNYCwhere she is a company member, Atlantic Theatre Company, The Billy Holiday Theatre, The New Black Fest, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Crossroads Theatre Company, City Theatre of Miami, Juggernaut Theatre, and The Playwrights Center, among others. Publications include Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, and Routledge Press. She has also worked as a television staff writer forViacom/CBS. Request France-Luce as a PIP Mentor.

Plays by and about the global majority -particularly across the Afro-Diaspora. I'm a first generation Haitian-American with a pan African sensibility. I am always interested in nuanced depictions of the Black American experience, but I have a special place in my heart for plays that offer a more expansive perspective of the Black American narrative. However, what interests me most are compelling stories by and about ALL humans, with dynamic characters tackling family dynamics, examining complicated relationships, using humor (dark or otherwise), grounded in truth and real emotion. I also teach a course about creating theatre that challenges revisionist history, and many of my plays are set against a historical back drop. If either of those describe your play -I could be especially useful