The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced EXCEPTIONAL as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We found this to be powerful piece that doesn't shy away from the heightened constrast of joy and pain, performance and heartbreak. We feel the writer's voice was confident, with intimate knowledge of the world these characters live in, and the pacing, tone and themes are all there. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

It's unreal how great this play is. "Unreal" feels like the exact right word to describe a piece that traffics in memory, reality, naturalism, surrealist moments ... but the whole thing feels complete and ACCURATE. Really, really wonderful writing of sharp characters finding themselves in tense and hilarious situations. Woot.

The Workshop Theater is pleased to recognize May Shealy as a playwright selected out of a competitive pool of applicants for our Fall 2021 Writer’s Intensive. The Writer’s Intensive is an eight-week long, playwright-driven process geared towards revising an existing play. Exceptional is not afraid to look pain in the face, whether that be the pain of pageantry, the pain of losing a friend and love, or the pain of being a teen. May handles this dark queer epic with grace and a deft hand. Our congratulations and thanks to Mak.