Pravin Wilkins

Pravin Wilkins

Pravin Wilkins is an internationally produced and published playwright, poet, and screenwriter from San Diego, California. In 2018, he received the Eric Bowling Award from the UC San Diego Department of Theatre & Dance for his site-specific one-act protest piece, #takebackgraffitihall; in 2020, his first full-length play, Moreno, was recognized as an O'Neill National Playwrights' Conference...
Pravin Wilkins is an internationally produced and published playwright, poet, and screenwriter from San Diego, California. In 2018, he received the Eric Bowling Award from the UC San Diego Department of Theatre & Dance for his site-specific one-act protest piece, #takebackgraffitihall; in 2020, his first full-length play, Moreno, was recognized as an O'Neill National Playwrights' Conference Finalist and subsequently awarded as the winner of the 2020 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award. Pravin was recognized as a semi-finalist for the 2020 Ucross + The Blank Theatre Future of Playwriting Prize.

Pravin's plays typically deal with race and class struggle and the many intersections between; in line with the mission to confront these issues as more than just topics of discussion, readings & performances of his works have raised revenue for numerous liberation-centered organizations.

Pravin received his MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University in May of 2020--shortly after, he was selected as a City Books Writer-in-Residence for Fall 2020. Pravin currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he is continuing his work as a writer, educator, and activist.

Plays

  • Moreno by Pravin Wilkins
    Recommendations: 9
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama, political
    Genre: drama, political
    Luis Moreno, superstar running back and former league MVP, joins a new team after having recovered (mostly) from a season-ending injury he sustained the previous year. While he struggles to overcome this malady and prove he still has what it takes to be a top-tier (and top-salaried) running back, the league is shaken by Colin Kaepernick’s monumental decision to sit down during the national anthem at multiple...
    Luis Moreno, superstar running back and former league MVP, joins a new team after having recovered (mostly) from a season-ending injury he sustained the previous year. While he struggles to overcome this malady and prove he still has what it takes to be a top-tier (and top-salaried) running back, the league is shaken by Colin Kaepernick’s monumental decision to sit down during the national anthem at multiple pre-season games in protest of police violence against black people. When one of Luis’s new teammates—a no-nonsense veteran of the league named Ezekiel Williams—joins Kaepernick’s fledgling protest movement and challenges Luis to use his platform to take a stand as well, the question arises: is he willing to take that risk? More than that, does the movement have room for him and the issues he wants to bring to the table?
  • Organized Chaos by Pravin Wilkins
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    7
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    Genre: drama, political
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    Keyword: Labor and Unions, workers' rights + 2 more
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: Labor and Unions, workers' rights, university, labor strike
    A university is shaken by a battle between workers, their union, and their bosses, over a new contract. Meanwhile, students in the university theatre program begin to question their responsibilities to the workers, as indirect beneficiaries of their labor. As workers begin to face reprisal for organizing, and faculty face unexpected consequences for aligning with the movement, each character must ultimately...
    A university is shaken by a battle between workers, their union, and their bosses, over a new contract. Meanwhile, students in the university theatre program begin to question their responsibilities to the workers, as indirect beneficiaries of their labor. As workers begin to face reprisal for organizing, and faculty face unexpected consequences for aligning with the movement, each character must ultimately pick a side: to strike or not to strike. Organized Chaos explores the intersections between workers’ struggle for fair wages and benefits at a university hospital and the exploitation of graduate students and adjunct professors at that same university. By centering the perspectives of union workers, students, and faculty, this piece calls into question the positionality of those within the academic world when it comes to conversations & actions about capitalism and labor rights.
  • Bars by Pravin Wilkins
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama, political
    Genre: drama, political
    In Oklahoma City, a light-blue island in the middle of a deep-red state, a group of activists have been arrested for protesting the construction of a new oil pipeline. The harshest sentence of all has been reserved for a young, recently resettled refugee named Robi. This incendiary case triggers the covert homecoming of Dae, a recently-deported icon in the spoken word & underground hip-hop community. As...
    In Oklahoma City, a light-blue island in the middle of a deep-red state, a group of activists have been arrested for protesting the construction of a new oil pipeline. The harshest sentence of all has been reserved for a young, recently resettled refugee named Robi. This incendiary case triggers the covert homecoming of Dae, a recently-deported icon in the spoken word & underground hip-hop community. As prosecutors--led by District Attorney Alex Long--attempt to enforce the newly minted law behind the arrests, Dae launches an undercover campaign to earn Robi’s freedom.

Recommended by Pravin Wilkins

  • Strange Men by Will Snider
    16 Apr. 2021
    “ As an Indian American, this is the first play I ever saw that centered someone who looks like me. A gripping exploration of the relationship between race & nationality as well as the politics of violence that surround sexuality, 'Strange Men' is a piece that I continue to think about years after seeing it. An exceptional play for a globalizing world where people of disparate backgrounds all end up in the same room. ”
  • Monsters of the American Cinema by Christian St. Croix
    15 May. 2020
    “ "Monsters of the American Cinema" is a truly special piece. It invites the audience in with honest & unapologetic narration, knife-sharp one-liners & asides, and an abundance of energy from its two stars--then it delivers so much more. A genuine exploration of grief, parenthood, and growing up, this play poses a complicated and heartbreaking question familiar to many immigrant parents, gay parents, and adoptive parents, which is: how do you raise a child who is being taught, overtly or covertly, to hate people like you? ”