Playwright and director Aaron Mays is an award-winning theatre artist based in Chicago. His latest play BLACK SANTA was one of four finalists to receive its world premiere at the 2024 Obsidian Theatre Festival. The play's Southeast premiere will take place at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center and City Theatre in December 2024.
His other plays include HUSH HUSH, PASS ME OVER, GOODNIGHT and an adaptation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, which was commissioned by South Bend Civic Theatre. STICKS AND STONES, a coming-of-age story about faith, trauma and bullying, was named a semi-finalist for Stage Left Theatre’s 2012-2013 Downstage Left Playwright Residency.
In 2024, Aaron adapted THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW into a radio play, which aired on Buffalo’s NPR station in conjunction with the...
Playwright and director Aaron Mays is an award-winning theatre artist based in Chicago. His latest play BLACK SANTA was one of four finalists to receive its world premiere at the 2024 Obsidian Theatre Festival. The play's Southeast premiere will take place at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center and City Theatre in December 2024.
His other plays include HUSH HUSH, PASS ME OVER, GOODNIGHT and an adaptation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, which was commissioned by South Bend Civic Theatre. STICKS AND STONES, a coming-of-age story about faith, trauma and bullying, was named a semi-finalist for Stage Left Theatre’s 2012-2013 Downstage Left Playwright Residency.
In 2024, Aaron adapted THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW into a radio play, which aired on Buffalo’s NPR station in conjunction with the University at Buffalo’s Department of Theatre and Dance. In March 2021, his first fictional audio series Deep Shadows, co-written with Collette Cullen, premiered as part of Eclectic Full Contact Theatre (EFCT)’s podcast network. The Hear Now Audio Fiction and Arts Festival awarded the series with a Silver Selection. Other audio projections include audio adaptations of HUSH HUSH and BLACK SANTA. The audio version of BLACK SANTA was selected and produced for Possibilities Theatre Company's inaugural 12 Days of Holiday Festival in 2020.
As a director, Aaron focuses on stories of the African diaspora and marginalized voices. Some of his directing credits include MASTER HAROLD...AND THE BOYS (Irish Classical Theatre Company), AMERICAN SON (Ujima Theatre Company), TWISTED TALES OF POE (AstonRep Theatre), GEM OF THE OCEAN (South Bend Civic Theatre), 2 X 2 (Haven), WAITING FOR GODOT (Tympanic Theatre) with an all-Latinx cast and TUG OF WAR (CIRCA Pintig), a series of short plays on war, trauma and immigration. In addition, he has worked with Chicago’s top directors, serving as the assistant director for such productions as SWEAT (Goodman Theatre), MOSQUE ALERT (Silk Road Rising), TWO TRAINS RUNNING (Goodman Theatre), WAITING FOR GODOT (Court Theatre), SEVEN GUITARS (Court Theatre) and Kristoffer Diaz’s PEACE/WAR (American Blues Theater’s Ripped Festival). In 2022, he won two Artie Awards, presented by Buffalo Toronto Public Media, for his direction of AMERICAN SON: outstanding production of a play and the Katharine Cornell Award for outstanding contribution by a visiting artist.
Aaron has worn other hats throughout his artistic career. He worked as a teaching artist, serving as a playwright-in-residence for American Theater Company’s Bridge program. In 2013, he devised a play titled THE WATCHERS with high school students. He was also the community program manager at Chicago's Court Theatre. One of his main duties was producing the Spotlight Reading Series, a citywide program which presents readings of rarely produced plays by BIPOC writers as a way to redefine the classic theatre canon.
His love for playwriting developed in high school under the guidance of his high school English teacher. However, it wasn’t until his college years at Northwestern University that he fully formed a passion for stage writing and theatre. While at Northwestern, Aaron penned several plays including THE SONS OF TENNESSEE, which was selected as a semi-finalist in the Agnes Nixon Playwriting Competition. His early work was widely recognized on campus, and he was commissioned to write a new play for the school’s African American Theatre Ensemble titled THE STREET CORNER.
Aaron is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.