Ken Urban

Ken Urban is a playwright, screenwriter and musician. His play A Guide for the Homesick recently closed its extended run at the DR2, directed by Shira Milikowsky. His plays have been produced by Huntington Theatre Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Trafalgar Studios in the West End, Studio Theatre, 59E59 Theatres, London’s Theatre503, First Floor Theater, and The Public Theatre/Summer Play Festival. He is a four-time recipient of the prestigious MacDowell Fellowship and his audio play Vapor Trail was selected for the 2022 Tribeca Festival’s Audio Storytelling series then released as part of Playwrights Horizons’ Sound Stage. Awards include Venturous Theater Fund Finishing Commission, EST/Alfred P. Sloan Science & Technology Project Commission, Weissberger Playwriting Award, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Independent Reviewers of New England’s Award for Best New Script, Headlands Artist Residency, Millay Arts Residency, Dramatist Guild Fellowship, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship. He was recently awarded the 2024 Blue Ink Playwriting Award by Chicago’s American Blues Theater and was one of three winners of the 2023 A is For Playwriting Contest for plays about reproductive justice. He is a resident playwright at New Dramatists and an affiliated writer at the Playwrights’ Center. Ken wrote the screenplay for the feature-film adaptation of The Happy Sad, directed by Rodney Evans. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service/Broadway Licensing. He leads the band Occurrence and their latest album Real Friend comes out this month. His first TV pilot The Art of Listening was optioned by ITV and Madison Wells Media. He is currently writing a feature film. Ken is the Senior Lecturer of Theater Arts and Director of Dramatic Writing at MIT. He lives in Washington Heights with his partner Johnny. www.kenurban.org