Daysha Veronica

Daysha Veronica

Daysha Veronica is a playwright, author, viral spoken word artist, veteran digital media producer and an alumna of the prestigious Television Academy Foundation internship program. Her plays have been workshopped/performed at UC San Diego, UCLA, Meet Cute LA, Celebration Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop (in collaboration with UCLA), IAMA Theatre and PlayGround-LA.

Her digital work has appeared...
Daysha Veronica is a playwright, author, viral spoken word artist, veteran digital media producer and an alumna of the prestigious Television Academy Foundation internship program. Her plays have been workshopped/performed at UC San Diego, UCLA, Meet Cute LA, Celebration Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop (in collaboration with UCLA), IAMA Theatre and PlayGround-LA.

Her digital work has appeared on Hulu, AppleTV, Amazon Prime, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, and The Huffington Post. Her 5 poetry videos that she produced while at BuzzFeed have amassed over 90 million views across YouTube and Facebook, with What I Wish Someone Told Me About Having Safe Sex at over 1 million shares on Facebook.

She resides in Los Angeles, and can be found blogging on her female self-confidence building platform, Yes Queen (www.yesqueenlife.com). She is currently under commission with PlayGround-LA for the second time and received her MFA from UCLA ('21).

Her playwriting accolades include:

2022
- The 2022 Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award (1st Place) of The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts (The Deliverance)

- The 2022 Rosa Parks Playwriting Award (1st Place) of The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts (The Deliverance)

- Semi-Finalist for The 2022 Eugene O'Neill Playwright's Conference (The Deliverance)

- Semi-Finalist for Playwright's Horizons' Bay Area Playwright's Festival 2022 (The Deliverance)

2021
- PlayGround-LA 2021 New Play Commission (Waiting For Umoja)

- 2021 Top 30 Finalist for Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival (Mother Earth Day)

- Semi-Finalist for Playwright's Horizons' Bay Area Playwright's Festival 2021 (The Write Choice)

- The 2021 Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award (Distinguished Achievement) of The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts (The Write Choice)

- The 2021 Rosa Parks Playwriting Award (Distinguished Achievement) of The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts (The Write Choice)

- Best of PlayGround-LA Season 9 Winner (Waiting For Umoja)

2020
- People’s Choice Award for PlayGround-LA Monday Night Reading Series December 2020 (Waiting For Umoja)

- People’s Choice Award for PlayGround-LA Monday Night Reading Series October 2020 (The Beds We Make)

- PlayGround-LA 2020 New Play Commission (Mother Earth Day)

- Best of PlayGround-LA Season 8 Winner (Mother Earth Day)

- People’s Choice Award Winner for PlayGround-LA & Planet Earth Arts New Play Festival 2020 (Mother Earth Day)

- Top 40 Finalist for University of Central Florida’s Pegasus Playlab 2020 (19/20 Vision)

- Semi-Finalist for Playwright's Horizons' Bay Area Playwright's Festival 2020 (19/20 Vision)

Pre-2020
- Winner of University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Dr. Floyd Gaffney National Award in Playwriting (Sisters/Sistahz)

- Finalist for Kentucky Women Writers Conference’s Prize for Women Writers (Sisters/Sistahz)

- 2x Winner of UCLA's Dini Ostrov Award in Playwriting (Sisters/Sistahz and What Happened To The Taco Truck On Santa Monica and Vine?)

- UCLA's Judith and Milton R. Stark Scholarship recipient for playwriting

- UCLA's Beverly Robinson Scholarship recipient for playwriting

Plays

  • BreathLESS by Daysha Veronica
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: COVID 19, 21st century African American drama + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, mystery/thriller, period, political, tragedy
    Keyword: COVID 19, 21st century African American drama, American slavery, trayvon martin, racial profiling, African folklore
    Jah, a black male college student decides to go home with his white liberal girlfriend when colleges across the nation shut down for two weeks, because of the new, deadly COVID-19 virus spreading across the globe at a rapid pace.
    But during his stay as secrets are revealed and tensions run high, Jah decides to go for a walk in the nearby forest, and is sent back to the slavery era in place of an...
    Jah, a black male college student decides to go home with his white liberal girlfriend when colleges across the nation shut down for two weeks, because of the new, deadly COVID-19 virus spreading across the globe at a rapid pace.
    But during his stay as secrets are revealed and tensions run high, Jah decides to go for a walk in the nearby forest, and is sent back to the slavery era in place of an ancestor trying to escape from the plantation. In the past, he is forced to confront a timeless question for black people in this country: where are we most safe?
  • The Deliverance by Daysha Veronica
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    8–12
    ·
    Genre: drama, fantasy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: family drama, African American family + 6 more
    Genre: drama, fantasy, tragedy
    Keyword: family drama, African American family, Farming, climate change, sustainability, racism, feminism, coming of age
    A family in a shrinking black farming community in Texas have a deep spiritual and historical connection with the land that is being disrupted by climate change. So, when a land investor takes interest in buying their land, they must weigh which option is best for their future and their freedom.
  • Waiting For Umoja by Daysha Veronica
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, holiday + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: black family, Kwanzaa + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, holiday, political
    Keyword: black family, Kwanzaa, Quarantine, christmas, American politics
    After finishing up desert on Christmas night 2020, a young black liberal feminist tries to enlist her opinionated, conflicted family in celebrating Kwanzaa with her for the first time.
  • The Beds We Make by Daysha Veronica
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Roe v. Wade, 2020 Presidential Election + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: Roe v. Wade, 2020 Presidential Election, mother daughter relationship, church, abortion, abortion rights, Supreme Court
    In a world where Trump is re-elected as president, the Supreme Court becomes conservative leaning, and Roe v. Wade is swiftly overturned, a competitive Christian mother and her mouthy, sarcastic daughter struggle with how to face the messy beds they have made after a long-kept secret is finally brought to light.
  • The Write Choice by Daysha Veronica
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: American race relations and racism, oppression + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: American race relations and racism, oppression, African-American family, ghosts, black love, the pursuit of fame
    An insecure, early career, black playwright is flown out the night before a highly produced staged reading of her first play when she discovers upon arriving that her cast wasn't exactly what she had in mind.
  • Mother Earth Day by Daysha Veronica
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: climate change, farm + 6 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: climate change, farm, family, African-American family, African American, Black America, family legacy, a rivalry between brothers
    In the midst of the most harrowing trade war the American farming community has ever seen, an aging and injured black farmer and his two sons struggle with how to best pass on their family's legacy to the next generation while awaiting the long anticipated news of Mother Earth's yearly delivery.

  • Legacy by Daysha Veronica
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: family, African-American family + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: family, African-American family, LGBTQ, family legacy, mother's legacy, HBCU, Adolescence
    A black teen struggles to find the right words to explain to their overzealous mother why they are no longer interested in attending their family's legacy HBCU.
  • 19/20 Vision by Daysha Veronica
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    4–5
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: family, domestic violence + 5 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: family, domestic violence, alcoholism, mother daughter relationship, abuse, childhood trauma, Therapy
    A young black woman in college, whose trauma of growing up in an abusive household has begun to leak out of the depths of her subconscious, and deeply affect her interactions with unknowing loved ones, must decide in school sponsored therapy if she will return home for winter break (or ever) after learning of her mother’s new engagement.
  • Olivia's Last Night in Venice by Daysha Veronica
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: based on Shakespeare, LGBTQ + 1 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, drama
    Keyword: based on Shakespeare, LGBTQ, interracial relationships
    The night before returning home Othello's sister, Olivia, decides to pay a visit to his lover, Desdemona, to make one final plea.