Shaughn Clutchey is a Canadian writer and performer based in Vancouver. Born and raised on the shore of Lake Superior in small-town Northwestern Ontario, his writing explores outdoor mores in Canada inspired by the distinct natural and cultural landscape of his home. Shaughn graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre where he specialized in performance creation and research, playwriting, and directing. His first full length play, BLANKET FISH, premiered in audio-drama format at the 5290 New Play Festival in August 2021. Shaughn is currently working to complete his MFA at the University of British Columbia and fights wildfires in his spare time.

Matt grew up in Vancouver and studied Theatre in New York at the New Actors Workshop under directors Mike Nichols and George Morrison. He is an actor, director, writer and producer of Theatre in Vancouver. Highlights include writing and co-creating Division Infinity Saves the World! (2023 Neworld) a puppet show exploring kids' experience of the pandemic; producing and starring in the Stories Written by Kids project (2020-2024) - a collaborative project between youth authors and professional actors presented annually at The Cultch Historic Theatre, directing the original superhero satire The Antagonist at The Cultch (2016 Vancouver Fringe), serving as dramaturg for several Fringe-touring plays like Playing for Advantage (2012/2013 Edmonton & Vancouver Fringe) and Jack the Ripper (2012 Vancouver Fringe), working as a youth mentor and acting coach with The Roundhouse Youth Theatre Action Group since 2016, and producing the Vancouver premiere of Anne Washburn's Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play in April 2018 with his company Little Mountain Lion Productions (www.littlemountain lion.com). He has written and directed two iterations of Kurt Vonnegut's The Euphio Question (2012 & 2017), and created and adapted many plays for youth performances at festivals and in schools. Matt is a Theatre, Acting, Improvisation and Writing instructor with various institutions in Vancouver such as Arts Umbrella and Crossamaneuver, and has degrees from UBC in English Literature and Nordic Studies. He is currently in the Master of Arts in Children's Literature (MACL) program at UBC studying theatre for young audiences and theatre for young performers.

Born and raised a dreamer, Creative Writing BFA Stephanie Ionescu often finds her head in the clouds rather than on her shoulders. She is excited for her second play ever written to be part of Brave New Play Rites, and is greatful for this opportunity.

Nina Legesse (she/her) is a playwright, actor, and musician. Nina wrote and co-directed Free Hilda for Bottom's Up Theatre in Glasgow, UK. As a teen, she performed as Lil Inez in Hairspray (Mayfield Dinner Theatre) and starred in several Theatre Picarts productions, including Amadeus and In The Heights.

Maia Dueck is a BFA creative writing student at the University of British Columbia with a focus on children's and YA fiction and screenwriting. She grew up performing in youth musical  theatre and has a certificate in acting from Capilano University. Her favorite book trope is probably enemies to lovers.

Lois L.K. Chan (she/her) is a BFA Creative Writing student at UBC. Her fiction has been published in Flash Fiction Magazine and Gingerbread House Literary Magazine. As a lifelong comics nerd, she is interested in writing about how superheroes act as metaphors for marginalization and transgressing limitations. 

Ayda (she/they) is a Qashqai-Irani queer femme currently residing on the unceded, stolen territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (so-called “Vancouver”). She is the poetry editor for PRISM International, was a finalist for The Bridge Prize (2024), and has work forthcoming in an anthology by Guernica Editions (“Woman, Life, Freedom: Poems for the Iranian Revolution"). Her work explores Iranian diasporic subjectivity, love, and relational autonomy. She is currently completing an MFA in Creative Writing at UBC and also holds an MA in Philosophy from UC San Diego.

Lava Alapai is a playwright and director, born in Okinawa, Japan, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She has been creating theatre in Portland, Oregon, for almost two decades, and some of her recent directing credits include School Girls, or; the African Mean Girls play for Portland Center Stage, The Chinese Lady, The Revolutionists, and An Octoroon (co-direction) for Artists Repertory Theatre, King of the Yees for Profile Theatre, Is God Is for Washington Ensemble Theatre, Columbinus, Charlotte's Web and Locomotion (Drammy award - Direction) for Oregon Children's Theatre. Writing credits include Middletown Mall (Eugene O'Neill NPC semi-finalist), The Event for Artists Repertory Theatre's Mercury Festival, T.I.N.A for 48-hour Film Festival, redline for 24-hr Theatre Festival, and Mutt for Many Hats Collaboration. She is a proud member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society (SDC) and Dramatists Guild. 

Kristos is based in xwilkway and is pursuing BA Honours Theatre and BFA Creative Writing degrees as UBC. A multihyphenate artist, Kristos is a produced playwright, voice and theatre actor (including in BNPR), exhibited fine artist, scenic painter, recording artist, nad published singer-songwriter who has toured across North America.

Izzy (she/they) is a third year UBC student double-majoring in CRWR and AMNE. She has written multiple award winning stories, and several novel manuscripts. She loves trains and theatre and couldn’t help combining the two for ‘End of the Line,’ her first experience writing for the stage. 

Elysia is in her first year as an MFA candidate in the Creative Writing department at UBC. She  is a part of the Belfry Theatre’s Creators Circle and Incubator Project in Victoria, where she will  be workshopping and producing her full length play, Four Children. She loves to write  dramadies infuenced by Jewish tradition and culture. She is a graduate of UVic's Phoenix  Theatre. 

Dalia Currie (she/her) is getting a BFA in Creative Writing and minor in Romance Study’s at UBC. Her passion for theatre began performing in Carousal Theatre’s “Teen Shakespeare Program” and directing/writing for TES Theatre. Her short play “The Coolest Ghost” was staged as a part of Festival Dionysia in 2023.

Ciel is autistic, two-spirit, Métis, queer, and a storyteller. They currently live in Vancouver while attending UBC for Creative Writing. They started collecting vintage cookbooks a little over two years ago, and now have a collection of over a hundred vintage cookbooks. Outside of writing and cooking, Ciel enjoys reading, cosplay, video games, dungeons and dragons, classical music, folklore, and scary stories. They dream of publishing their writing and having a big fluffy dog.

Chance was born in the foothills of Alberta and has lived on and off in Vancouver for over a decade now, avoiding his true calling as a Sasquatch somewhere in the rockies.

Ash Wahking is a BFA Creative Writing student at UBC. Novels have always been their first love, but they also enjoy dabbling in screenwriting, comics, and most recently, playwriting. Their essays have been published in The Ubyssey, UBC Magazine, and Young Adulting.

Aliya (she/her) is a BFA student of creative writing at UBC. Although she is primarily a prose and poetry writer, Aliya is excited to try a new medium and experiment with playwriting. Muddled Minds, Madness and Other Misfortunes is Aliya’s first play, and she’s thrilled to participate in BNPR this year.

Acadia (she/they) is an essayist and Facebook marketplace fiend in her final year of a BFA in Creative Writing. For Acadia, plays are like big mouths full of sharp, spiky teeth. She has been published in The Fiddlehead, Plenitude Magazine, and Best Canadian Essays 2023.