Kira Rockwell

Kira Rockwell

Kira Rockwell (she/her) is a neurodivergent playwright from the heart of Texas. She is an Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing with the Mass Cultural Council, a recipient of the Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, three-time finalist for the O’Neill NPC, two-time finalist for the Princess Grace Award, two-time semi-finalist for the Blue Ink Playwriting Award, semi-...
Kira Rockwell (she/her) is a neurodivergent playwright from the heart of Texas. She is an Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing with the Mass Cultural Council, a recipient of the Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, three-time finalist for the O’Neill NPC, two-time finalist for the Princess Grace Award, two-time semi-finalist for the Blue Ink Playwriting Award, semi-finalist for Bay Area Playwrights Festival, The Working Farm at SPACE on Ryder Farm, and more.

Her plays include OH TO BE PURE AGAIN (current world premiere: Actor's Express); THE TRAGIC ECSTASY OF GIRLHOOD (workshop premiere: Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, a Boston Globe Critic’s Pick, and Elliot Norton Nominee); NOMAD AMERICANA (world premiere: Fresh Ink Theatre); WICKED BITTER BEAST(S) (developed with The Theatre School at DePaul University); and WITH MY EYES SHUT (now available through Original Works Publishing). Rockwell is currently under commission with Ensemble Studio Theatre, and previously with Moonbox Productions.

Her work has been developed with The Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, MFA Playwrights' Workshop, Great Plains Theatre Commons, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, and Third Culture Theatre in partnership with HBO and Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network, among others. Rockwell holds an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University.

Before graduate school, Rockwell worked at the intersection of mental health, youth development, and arts education. Through a trauma informed, healing centered lens, she aims to nurture communal spaces that disrupt passivity and empower agency.

Feel free to explore her full Artist Statement.

Plays

  • oh to be pure again by Kira Rockwell
    Recommendations: 11
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    Cast: 
    8
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    Genre: comedy, drama
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    Keyword: purity culture, teenage girls + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: purity culture, teenage girls, spirituality, Summer Camp, nature, coming of age, Female Cast, high school, good roles for college performers
    Set during one hot Texas summer at a Neo-charismatic Christian church camp, an idealistic young counselor works to shepherd the campers in the senior girls’ cabin through a delicate phase of self- discovery, only to be confronted with challenges to her own faith. In this visceral, funny, heartfelt drama, we follow their journey to make an authentic connection with something bigger than themselves. An ode to...
    Set during one hot Texas summer at a Neo-charismatic Christian church camp, an idealistic young counselor works to shepherd the campers in the senior girls’ cabin through a delicate phase of self- discovery, only to be confronted with challenges to her own faith. In this visceral, funny, heartfelt drama, we follow their journey to make an authentic connection with something bigger than themselves. An ode to female desire, submission, rebellion, and growing up in a religious culture that's obsessed with purity.
  • Wicked Bitter Beast(s) by Kira Rockwell
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: deconstructing faith, Sisters + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, experimental, pageant
    Keyword: deconstructing faith, Sisters, daughters, fathers, morality, cancel culture, healing from religious trauma, prodigal daughter, female protagonist
    (this play is in early development)

    A latter-day morality play about (un)forgiveness that reverberates through time, space, and realms. Estranged from her pastoral family, Zoey is a prodigal daughter on the run from her Evangelical past and the Hellmouth she must fight her way through. An unruly parable that beckons you to face the wicked bitter beast(s) in your own life, especially the one looking back in the mirror.
  • The Tragic Ecstasy of Girlhood by Kira Rockwell
    Recommendations: 6
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: chosen family, foster care + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, tragedy
    Keyword: chosen family, foster care, communal healing, survivor, C-PTSD, coming of age, resilience, teenage girls
    After the sudden death of their housemate, four teenage girls living in a group home try to combat their grief and their guilt. A poetic drama about the chrysalis of female adolescence that demands our attention be on the youth of America who are raising themselves in the shadows of a broken system.
  • Space Bound by Kira Rockwell
    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: drama
    Genre: drama
    Rapidly expanding through the farm fields of central Texas is SpaceBound’s Rocket Development and Test Facility. This tender drama follows four siblings across the span of four Sunday mornings as they navigate their proximity to the billion-dollar commercial industry.

    SPACE BOUND was originally commissioned in 21/22 by The Ensemble Studio Theatre / Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project
  • Nomad Americana by Kira Rockwell
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: adventure, comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: blended families, ritual + 5 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: blended families, ritual, coming of age, trauma, southern, autism, female leads
    For years, Bridgette has been avoiding painful memories by traveling the country with her eccentric yogi family in an old RV selling soap. When they stop in a small Texas town, she strikes up a romance with a young dreamer who ignites her to question responsibilities to her family, and to herself. A new coming of agency tale about healing the wounds that holds us back from living out our destiny.
  • With My Eyes Shut by Kira Rockwell
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama, experimental + 2 more
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    Keyword: autism, non-linear + 2 more
    Genre: drama, experimental, movement/physical, romantic comedy
    Keyword: autism, non-linear, stylized, fringe
    Now available through Original Works Publishing

    ONE ACT PLAY: In this neurodivergent love story, Naomi and Cole will push the boundaries of compliance to find authentic connection and shatter the complacency of the disembodied voices running the show.