Meet the Playwrights

Jon Ayala
Name of Play: Order of the Gatekeepers

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
My play is about life, death & choices.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
The inspiration behind my play was that I myself had a life & death experience.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
This will be my fourth year with theater works.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
A fun and interesting fact about myself is I’m a jack of all trades.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
I’m looking forward for people to have an understanding, to be inspired & to have fun!

Anthony Delfi
Play Name: Try Anyway

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
It’s about learning when to fight and when to let go. It’s about accepting that sometimes a good fight has to end.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
It’s a work inspired by our shared nature to strive for the betterment of our loved ones. “Look Back” by Tatsumi Fujimoto was a bit of an inspiration as well.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
I have! This is (I believe) my 6th year with the program.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
It was once customary for family members to shave off their eyebrows as a sign of mourning after the passing of a family cat… oh me, I have 17 screws in my face and the story behind that is terribly mundane and lacking any drama.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
I’m looking forward to experiencing all the beautiful art my colleagues have been working on alongside me and seeing them appreciated for all that they’ve created.

Shi Greene
Name of Play: Exploitation

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
For many years the criminal justice system had worked toward the detriment of black and brown people, even after being released from prison. My play sheds light on what it’s like in the job field being a felon released back in to society after incarceration. Many opportunities are lost and doors are closed but there is hope by way of construction unions.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
I am a product of a broken system and found unimaginable success because of union construction opportunities.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
This is my first time.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
I have a nonprofit organization called A Mothers Love, A Mentors Touch that was inspired by and named after a poem I wrote when I was 11 years old in foster care.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
Our stories being heard by those who would have never been in a position to hear our truths. I hope to capture the attention of the audience to evoke change to an unforgiving system.

John Dennis David Keane
Name of Play: On the One Road

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
A working mother struggles to find balance in her life. Forced to support her family she fears her absence could be detrimental to her children’s well being.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
Working mothers and the sacrifices they make.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
This is my fourth year.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
As a teenager in the 1980s I wrote graffiti on NYC subway trains. I’m writing a play about it.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
Hearing all the wonderful plays my classmates wrote this year.

Pete Mergel
Name of play:Entrance Exam

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
The things that a parent will do for their child.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
The college entry scandal where Lori Loughlin and others lied to get their kids into specific colleges.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
This is my 7th yr. of participating in TheaterWorks.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
I am most looking forward to hearing and participating in the plays of my fellow talented playwrights.

Daniela Poveromo
Name of Play: A Head Full of Dreams

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
The play revolves about Celeste, a young nun that works in the Church of Incarnation in Manhattan, who needs to find 200 new attendees or her church will shut down. While speaking with a prospective new member, Celeste grapples with her vocation and her head full of dreams.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
I live right across from a church, and everytime I stare at this church, I like to make up a story.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
No, this is my first time.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
This is actually my first acting class, and I have a bit of stage fright, but I’ll do my best during the play!

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s performance and how the public is going to react to my story.

JC Rodriguez
Name of Your Play:The Couch

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
The Couch is a slice of life of a married couple’s communication barriers.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
The inspiration for this piece was couples around me who are struggling with communication due to outside factors such as the iPhone.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
No, this is my first time, and I am looking forward to next season!

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
I am REALLY into Legos and I am building a Lego city in my home.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s child delivered to a live audience.

Deanna Tinglin
Name of Play: Million Dollar Friendship

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
This I play is about 2 guys that have been best friends since childhood. Even though they don’t speak much they are still best friends. Their 20 year plus friendship is tested, when a milling Dollar money making opportunity surfaces that can either develop their relationship or break their relationship.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
The inspiration behind this piece is an accumulation of the many jobs that I have worked at and the many friendships that I have continued continued or ended along the way.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
This is my 3rd year and the theater works workshop. I love it,and I feel that it is a great outlet to share share many ideas that I have in the theater world and to share the life of a person that works 9 to 5.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
A fun fact about myself is that even though I’m 38 years old, I still love adventure parks, museums, the zoo, and Disney world. I also really love snorkeling and is cling and cliff diving.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
What I am looking forward to the most at the final performance is an audience that can share their perspective of their own version in the theater world, and basically just love our plays.