2026 State of the Art Prize, Missouri

About Zachariah Ezer

St. Louis, MO

Zachariah Ezer is a playwright and an Assistant Professor of Performing Arts at WashU in St. Louis whose work animates theoretical quandaries through theatrical forms. His plays include “The Freedom Industry” (Playwrights Horizons’ New Works Lab, Playwrights Center, New York Stage & Film), “Address the Body!” (UT Austin’s UTNT Festival, Kitchen Dog Theater’s New Works Festival, Echo Theater Company’s National Young Playwrights-in-Residence), and “The Single Raindrop” (The Civilians’ Findings Series, Rorschach Theatre’s Magic in Rough Spaces, Ensemble Theatre Reading Series), among others. He’s a Dramatists Guild Foundation Catalyst Fellow and a member of the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s Confluence Writers Project. He’s received commissions from The Atlantic, Manhattan Theatre Club, Theater J, and American Conservatory Theatre. He has attended residencies at The New Harmony Project, Ryder Farm, and Aunt Karen’s Farm. He’s an alumnus of UT Austin’s James A. Michener Fellowship, The Civilians’ R&D Group, Playwright Center’s Core Apprenticeship, Liberation Theatre Company’s Writing Residency, Hi-ARTS’ Critical Breaks Residency, and more. Zachariah is also a dramaturg (who worked with The National Black Theatre, Breaking the Binary, WP Theater, Keen Company, and others), an essayist (published by UT Austin’s E3W, Gizmodo/io9, HuffPost, and elsewhere), and a performer (in rock band Harper’s Landing).

Zachariah Ezer is a playwright and an Assistant Professor of Performing Arts at WashU in St. Louis whose work animates theoretical quandaries through theatrical forms. His plays include “The Freedom Industry” (Playwrights Horizons’ New Works Lab, Playwrights Center, New York Stage & Film), “Address the Body!” (UT Austin’s UTNT Festival, Kitchen Dog Theater’s New Works Festival, Echo Theater Company’s National Young Playwrights-in-Residence), and “The Single Raindrop” (The Civilians’ Findings Series, Rorschach Theatre’s Magic in Rough Spaces, Ensemble Theatre Reading Series), among others. He’s a Dramatists Guild Foundation Catalyst Fellow and a member of the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s Confluence Writers Project. He’s received commissions from The Atlantic, Manhattan Theatre Club, Theater J, and American Conservatory Theatre. He has attended residencies at The New Harmony Project, Ryder Farm, and Aunt Karen’s Farm. He’s an alumnus of UT Austin’s James A. Michener Fellowship, The Civilians’ R&D Group, Playwright Center’s Core Apprenticeship, Liberation Theatre Company’s Writing Residency, Hi-ARTS’ Critical Breaks Residency, and more. Zachariah is also a dramaturg (who worked with The National Black Theatre, Breaking the Binary, WP Theater, Keen Company, and others), an essayist (published by UT Austin’s E3W, Gizmodo/io9, HuffPost, and elsewhere), and a performer (in rock band Harper’s Landing).