Alexa Derman, Berkeley College
Alexa Derman, a theater and performance studies major, was the recipient of the 2018 Marina Keegan Award for Excellence in Playwriting. Using a fine balance of dramatic monologues and dark humor, Ms. Derman brilliantly explores and critiques urgent themes that are at the forefront of societal dialogue. Ms. Derman has been committed to writing plays since she was a high schooler. While at Yale, her work has gotten stronger and more impressive with each new play. Like Marina, she possesses a precocious talent. Alexa has made gender and popular culture her playground, finding new ways to explore the role of women in today’s challenging world of technology and media. Her award-winning plays are about themes of individuality, sexuality, gender, and societal pressures that young people, especially women, are confronted with on a day-to day basis. Whether taking on American Girl dolls (as in Girlish) or American Psycho (as in Psychosexual), Alexa has demonstrated a preternatural sense of the exciting possibilities of writing for the theater.
A prolific creator, Ms. Derman’s work has already been featured at the Cutting Ball Theatre, Fresh Ink, the Yale Playwrights Festival (2018, 2017), Runaways Lab Theatre, The Blank Theatre (3-time national winner), Young Playwrights Inc. (2-time national winner), Yale Dramatic Association, and the Yale Drama Coalition. As well as receiving the Marina Keegan Award, Ms. Derman has been recognized with the following honors: she was the 2015 and 2017 O’Neill NPC Semifinalist; the Jane Chambers Student Awardee for Feminist Playwriting Honorable Mention; Stage Left Downstage Left Residency Semifinalist; Echo Young Playwrights in Residence Finalist; Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semifinalist; Sanguine Project Playwrights Finalist; Kitchen Dog New Works Festival Finalist.