Tanya O'Debra is a New York City-based playwright and performer originally from the gutters of Quincy, MA. Her play Shut UP, Emily Dickinson won the Jill Cummins MacLean Prize, the Ada Comstock Magic Grant for $25,000 (which funded a three-week run at Abrons Arts Center), and was presented by the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA. Her play Them What Brung You won The Denis Johnston Playwriting Award and The Elizabeth Wanning Harries Prize. Co-written with the late Diane O'Debra, The Secrets of Avondale Falls was presented by the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Published by Original Works, her play Radio Star has been produced internationally, receiving numerous awards and accolades. Her television pilot Bad Dentist was a Semi-Finalist for both the Humanitas David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award and the Final Draft Big Break Award. She is a graduate of Smith College where she won The Elizabeth Drew Prize. Performance credits include Patrice O’Debra in Straight Up Vampire (Joe’s Pub), The Evil Queen in Snow White (New Acting Company), and Amanda McCloud in The Ultimate Stimulus (Dixon Place, The Brick), as well as being one half of the long-time comedic sister duo, The O'Debra Twins (Village Voice Best of New York Award, NY Mag Approval Matrix: Highbrow/Brilliant). She has a shiny new MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts' Department of Dramatic Writing, and she’s hoping that with enough degrees and prizes no one will notice she’s actually a dumpster rat in a wig and a ballgown.

SELECTED PLAYS

Hockey Wives

Them What Brung You

2021    Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semi-Finalist            

2019    The Denis Johnston Playwriting Award, Smith College Theater Department                

2019    The Elizabeth Wanning Harries Prize, Smith College English Department 

2019    Reading – Smith College

Shut UP, Emily Dickinson 

2022    Production – Abrons Arts Center (New York, NY) 

2019    Ada Comstock Magic Grant ($25,000), Smith College and the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation

2019    Production – The Academy of Music (Northampton, MA)

2018    Workshop – The Kraine Theater (New York, NY)    

2018    The Jill Cummins MacLean Prize, Smith College Theater Department                                    

2018    Reading – Smith College (Northampton, MA)

2013    Production – Cincinnati Fringe Festival                                                         

2013    Production – Orlando Fringe Festival                                                

2013    Workshop – UNDER St Marks (New York, NY)                                                      

2013    Workshop – Dixon Place (New York, NY)                                                   

2012    Reading – Re/Mixed Media Festival (Brooklyn, NY)                                   

The Secrets of Avondale Falls  (Co-written with Diane O’Debra)

2016    Production – Cincinnati Fringe Festival

2016    Workshop – The Celebration of Whimsy (New York, NY)                                      

2013    Reading – Dixon Place (New York, NY)                                                       

RADIO STAR 

2016    Production – Edmonton Fringe Festival

2014    Production – The Academy of Music (Northampton, MA) 

2013    Production – OBERON (Cambridge, MA)                                        

2013    Production – Horse Trade Encores (New York, NY)                                    

2012    Production – New Orleans Fringe Festival                            

2012    Production – Cincinnati Fringe Festival                                                         

2012    Production – Joe’s Pub (New York, NY)                                                                   

2012    Production – Horse Trade Encores (New York, NY)                        

2011    Production – Redhouse Arts Center (Syracuse, NY)                         

2011    Production – San Francisco Fringe Festival (Best of Fest Winner)

2011    Production – Festival St-Ambroise Fringe de Montréal (Just For Laughs Best Comedy Nominee, Best English Language Production Nominee)                                

2011    Production – Orlando Fringe Festival                                    

2011    Production – Horse Trade Encores (New York, NY)

2010    Outstanding Full Length Script Nominee, New York Innovative Theatre Awards   

2010    Production – Ars Nova’s ANTFest (New York, NY)                                                

2010    Production – Horse Trade Theater Company (New York, NY)                                

2009    Production – Edinburgh Fringe Festival                  

PUBLICATION

2023-Present   WERRRK.com Freelance Contributor

2010                  RADIO STAR, Original Works Publishing     

2006                  “Puppet Love” – Bowery Women, YBK Publishers, Inc                                                        

 

HONORS / AWARDS

2024    NYSCA Support for Artists Award, Judith

2024    ScreenCraft Horror Competition Quarterfinalist, The Little Death

2023     Austin Film Festival Second Rounder, Bad Dentist

2023     The Orchard Project Short List, Bad Dentist 

2022    Final Draft Big Break Half-Hour Pilot Semi-Finalist, Bad Dentist

2022    Humanitas David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award Semi-Finalist, Bad Dentist

2021    Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award Semi-Finalist                         

2019    The Elizabeth Drew Prize, Smith College English Department      

2015    Doric Wilson Independent Playwriting Award Finalist, New York Innovative Theater Awards

   

EDUCATION

New York University, Tisch School of the Arts: Master of Fine Arts, Dramatic Writing; 2023

Smith College: Bachelor of Arts, English Language and Literature major with a Theatre minor; 2019

Borough of Manhattan Community College: Associate of Arts, Liberal Arts; 2016