Ali Skye Bennet

Ali Skye Bennet

Ali Skye Bennet has been writing, performing, and creating theatre since childhood. As a playwright, she has been awarded residency to the HBMG Foundation’s 2018 National Winter Playwrights Retreat, and her first full-length play, RAFETUS, was a 2017 Finalist and 2018 Semi-Finalist for the National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, a Finalist for the 2018-19 Woodward/Newman Drama...
Ali Skye Bennet has been writing, performing, and creating theatre since childhood. As a playwright, she has been awarded residency to the HBMG Foundation’s 2018 National Winter Playwrights Retreat, and her first full-length play, RAFETUS, was a 2017 Finalist and 2018 Semi-Finalist for the National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, a Finalist for the 2018-19 Woodward/Newman Drama Award, a Finalist for the 2019 Blue Ink Playwriting Award, a Finalist for the 2019-2020 New Light New Voices Award, and a Semi-Finalist for the 2019 Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award (Barrington Stage).

As an actor and dancer, Ali has appeared on stages all over NYC and in dozens of commercials, short films, and guest star roles on TV. She was the official spokesperson for global technology company, Infragistics, and host of the online culture & lifestyle magazine, ChangeUpMag. She was a member of Labyrinth Theatre Company’s 2012 Summer Intensive Ensemble, collaborating under the guidance of Stephen Adly Guirgis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and David Anzuelo, and interned for Elevator Repair Service (GATZ, THE SOUND AND THE FURY) during the creation of THE SELECT (THE SUN ALSO RISES).

As Associate Producer of the Tony Award-winning, off-Broadway company Vineyard Theatre, Ali has had a hand in bringing to life critically acclaimed works by Paula Vogel & Rebecca Taichman (INDECENT, which transferred to Broadway in April 2017), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins & Evan Cabnet (GLORIA), Michael Mayer & Peter Lerman (BROOKLYNITE), Colman Domingo & Susan Stroman (DOT), Jordan Harrison & Oliver Butler (THE AMATEURS), and the team that created THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, Susan Stroman, John Kander, and David Thompson (THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE), as well as new work in development by Antoinette Nwandu, Tori Sampson, Kate Tarker, Christopher Chen, Lee Sunday Evans, Boo Killebrew, GT Upchurch, Clare Barron, Jenny Schwartz, Moritz von Stuelpnagel, and Robert O’Hara, to name a few.

Other select past projects include: former Producing Coordinator & Company Manager for Transport Group Theatre Company; Associate Producer (and star) of the short film "Sináptica," which has garnered 6 awards and 37 selections in film festivals around the world; Artistic Producer of the multimedia theatrical adaptation, THE UNTITLED GINSBERG PROJECT – a 21st Century response to Allen Ginsberg’s groundbreaking poem, “Howl”; Company Producer for PuppetCinema's PLANET EGG (Washington Post Editor's Pick, Capital Fringe 5-star "Best of the Fringe" selection); and Company Producer for classical-experimental company, American Centaur.

Ali is also an award-winning photographer with international publication (Image International, Photolife Magazine), and has traveled all over the world documenting her adventures and the people she meets through her photos and journals. Proud member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the Drama League, and graduate of the Commercial Theater Institute's 14-week program in 2014.

Upcoming: an episodic documentary series exploring the power of service, in development with CompassNeedle.

Learn more at www.aliskyebennet.com.

Plays

  • RAFETUS
    AWARDS: Finalist, 2019 Blue Ink Playwriting Award; Finalist, 2018-19 Woodward/Newman Drama Award; Finalist, 2019-2020 New Light New Voices Award; Semi-Finalist, The Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award (Barrington Stage); Selection, 2018 National Winter Playwrights Retreat (HBMG Foundation); 2017 Finalist & 2018 Semi-Finalist, National Playwrights Conference (Eugene O'Neill Theater Center)....
    AWARDS: Finalist, 2019 Blue Ink Playwriting Award; Finalist, 2018-19 Woodward/Newman Drama Award; Finalist, 2019-2020 New Light New Voices Award; Semi-Finalist, The Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award (Barrington Stage); Selection, 2018 National Winter Playwrights Retreat (HBMG Foundation); 2017 Finalist & 2018 Semi-Finalist, National Playwrights Conference (Eugene O'Neill Theater Center).
    In a near-forgotten corner of the Suzhou Zoo in China, the last male and female Yangtze giant softshell turtles unknowingly find themselves in the spotlight when suddenly thrust into confinement by a team of scientists, who are prepared to rewrite the laws of science to get the Turtles to breed and the species to perpetuate. But when the lovestruck Turtles finally grasp the full implications of their circumstances, the line between responsibility and self-preservation starts to blur… In the animal kingdom, held in captivity in a race against the biological clock, at what point does nature’s instinct finally overpower free will? In RAFETUS, “freedom of choice” takes on a whole new meaning -- or perhaps is rendered meaningless.