2026 State of the Art Prize, Illinois

About Ariel Stess

Evanston, IL

Ariel is an Obie Award–winning playwright, director, screenwriter, and producer originally from Santa Fe, NM. Her play KARA & EMMA & BARBARA & MIRANDA won the 2024 Obie Award for Playwriting and the 2025 Yale Drama Series Prize. She is a resident playwright of New Dramatists and a New Georges Affiliated Artist. Her work has been developed or produced by Playwrights Horizons, The Playwrights’ Center, Clubbed Thumb, The Bushwick Starr, New Georges, Mabou Mines, and Rivendell. Recent productions include KARA & EMMA & BARBARA & MIRANDA (produced by Ariel, directed by Meghan Finn, NYC), The World My Mama Raised (produced by Clubbed Thumb, directed by Kip Fagan, NYC), Heartbreak (produced by The Bushwick Starr and New Georges, directed by Ariel, Brooklyn), I’m Pretty Fucked Up (produced by Clubbed Thumb, directed by Kip Fagan, NYC), and He Ate Quietly into the Wall (produced and directed by Ariel).

Ariel is an Obie Award–winning playwright, director, screenwriter, and producer originally from Santa Fe, NM. Her play KARA & EMMA & BARBARA & MIRANDA won the 2024 Obie Award for Playwriting and the 2025 Yale Drama Series Prize. She is a resident playwright of New Dramatists and a New Georges Affiliated Artist. Her work has been developed or produced by Playwrights Horizons, The Playwrights’ Center, Clubbed Thumb, The Bushwick Starr, New Georges, Mabou Mines, and Rivendell. Recent productions include KARA & EMMA & BARBARA & MIRANDA (produced by Ariel, directed by Meghan Finn, NYC), The World My Mama Raised (produced by Clubbed Thumb, directed by Kip Fagan, NYC), Heartbreak (produced by The Bushwick Starr and New Georges, directed by Ariel, Brooklyn), I’m Pretty Fucked Up (produced by Clubbed Thumb, directed by Kip Fagan, NYC), and He Ate Quietly into the Wall (produced and directed by Ariel).