The Foundry at PlayPenn, Philadelphia's preeminent playwrights collective for emerging professional writers, welcomes Rayne, Siddarth Anand, and Monica Flory as new Foundry members and its Class of 2028.
Playwrights L M Feldman (hand foot hand) and R. Eric Thomas (Xtravaganza) will continue to lead the workshop in their fifth year as the Foundry’s Lead Artists.
Rayne, Siddarth, and Monica join current members of The Foundry who include Natyna Bean, Lulu Duffy-Tumasz, Aly Gonzalez, August Hakvaag, Nick Jonczak, and Pravin Wilkins.
The Foundry at PlayPenn provides three years of free mentorship and early-career support, cultivating a remarkable community of playwrights and artistic leaders who began their careers in Philadelphia. Its alumni include Chris Davis, Emma Goidel, Sarah Mantell, MJ Kaufman, R. Eric Thomas, Erlina Ortiz, MK Tuomanen, Iraisa Ann Reilly, Chaz T. Martin, Lex Thammavong, and Zahra Patterson along with the more than 60 playwrights who have participated in the program since 2012.
By nurturing talent, fostering collaboration, and championing bold new voices from Philadelphia, The Foundry at PlayPenn has become an essential launching pad for many of our nation’s theatrical innovators.
Formed in the summer of 2012 by Philadelphia-based playwrights and educators Michael Hollinger, Jacqueline Goldfinger, and Quinn D. Eli, PlayPenn welcomed The Foundry in 2016 as one of its core artistic programs.
2025 Kilroys List playwright and Foundry Lead Artist, L M Feldman reflects, “In a moment like this — locally, nationally, globally — places like The Foundry at PlayPenn are RARE and VITAL and SACRED. I can't overstate the value of and need for committed spaces for early-career support, mentorship, expansion, and enrichment for playwrights. And I mean that both within the Philly theater ecosystem, and more broadly as well. The world is quick to consume (and dispose of) the CONTENT of the arts, without offering any real societal or systemic support for the health, vitality, or longevity of those who CREATE the content (i.e. the artists).”
I’m honored that @elemfeld nominated me for the @thekilroys web this year. And thank you @cheraeadams for nominating L - hope to meet you soon as that is what this web is all about… reminding us that every person we meet, every project we work on is all indeed interconnected one thing spilling into the next scaffolding the process bolstering the idea keeping us alllllll going.
also I included here the connections between @newgeorges board president @rachel.karpf who nominated #ngaffiliatedartists @juliamayjonas@scameronh and @mjkaufmanster whose projects I was lucky enough to be a part of… allllllllll connected!
/2025/10/01/signs-of-life-in-another-kind-of-silence/
AKOS got published in American Theatre magazine!!
ANOTHER KIND OF SILENCE
by L. M. Feldman (Philadelphia, PA)
Director: Kim Weild (SODA) (PA)
DASL: MoMo Holt* (NYC)
Assistant DASL: Meg Dippold *(PA)
GSL Specialist: Evanthia Plachoura* (Athens, Greece)
Lighting Designer: Annie Wiegand* (DC)
* = Deaf
Photo: from L to R:
Amelia Hensley* - Evan's Chorus
Hope Anthony (hearing)- Ana's Chorus
Kaia Fitzgerald (HH) - Chap
Thomas DellaMonica (CODA) - Chap's Chorus
Monique Holt* - Peter's Chorus
