Aysha Zackria

Aysha Zackria is a dramatist, writer, and musician studying dramaturgy at Carnegie Mellon University. She amplifies opportunities for societal growth through creation. She was the dramaturg for Carnegie Mellon’s production of You on the Moors Now, supporting the creative team and audience toward a nuanced understanding of gendered violence. She received the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 2 Student Dramaturgy Award for her work on the production. She has written plays that examine social issues, including Pillow Fortress, Proximity, and Natural Law, which she produced at CMU. Her playwriting accolades include a commission by Horizon Theatre Company, an excerpt reading at City Theatre, and a national One Earth Award from Scholastic Arts and Writing. She has served as...

Aysha Zackria is a dramatist, writer, and musician studying dramaturgy at Carnegie Mellon University. She amplifies opportunities for societal growth through creation. She was the dramaturg for Carnegie Mellon’s production of You on the Moors Now, supporting the creative team and audience toward a nuanced understanding of gendered violence. She received the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 2 Student Dramaturgy Award for her work on the production. She has written plays that examine social issues, including Pillow Fortress, Proximity, and Natural Law, which she produced at CMU. Her playwriting accolades include a commission by Horizon Theatre Company, an excerpt reading at City Theatre, and a national One Earth Award from Scholastic Arts and Writing. She has served as Script Editor at Lovewell Institute for the Creative Arts. In the last five years at this non-profit, she encouraged high school students to make their voices heard by devising works of musical theatre. In 2019, she won the Miami Herald’s Silver Knight Award in English and Literature for her work as a tutor and advocate for improving access to literature in carceral facilities. Aysha is also an accomplished musician with a background in music theory. She has played bass in fourteen musicals and on an album, Cosmic Caravan by Fox. On campus, she is Co-Chair of the Library Student Advisory Council, Secretary of the Thrifty Mellon, and Representative for the upperclassmen dramaturgs. She was named one of forty senior Andrew Carnegie Society Scholars for her outstanding engagement and academics.

Scripts

Natural Law

by Aysha Zackria

Synopsis

A woman is the victim of sexual violence by a man who is more powerful than her. Years later, she must testify before the entire country to prevent that man from getting a seat on the Supreme Court for life. ​Natural Law​ tells that story, which belongs to both Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Professor Anita Hill, although 27 years apart. Using found words from the hearings of Thomas and Kavanaugh, but framed as a...

A woman is the victim of sexual violence by a man who is more powerful than her. Years later, she must testify before the entire country to prevent that man from getting a seat on the Supreme Court for life. ​Natural Law​ tells that story, which belongs to both Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Professor Anita Hill, although 27 years apart. Using found words from the hearings of Thomas and Kavanaugh, but framed as a Greek tragedy, ideas of fate and circularity emphasize the repetition of this inequity in women’s destinies.

Proximity

by Aysha Zackria

Synopsis

Clara Rockmore, the first master of the newly-invented theremin, faces moments in her past before giving one of the most important concerts of her life.

Clara Rockmore, the first master of the newly-invented theremin, faces moments in her past before giving one of the most important concerts of her life.

Hell and High Water

by Aysha Zackria

Synopsis

As greenhouse gases accumulate and global warming reaches new heights, string instruments are consistently flat and trumpets are unable to reach the low end of their range. Franklin, a violin maker and climate change denier, refuses to reengineer his instruments or his perspective. Faced with significant criticism from his customers and the subsequent jeopardy of his livelihood, will he still ignore reality?

As greenhouse gases accumulate and global warming reaches new heights, string instruments are consistently flat and trumpets are unable to reach the low end of their range. Franklin, a violin maker and climate change denier, refuses to reengineer his instruments or his perspective. Faced with significant criticism from his customers and the subsequent jeopardy of his livelihood, will he still ignore reality?