a.k. payne

a.k. payne wrights plays. They make art & theatre, freedom dream and theorize from the hills & valleys of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—where her people have carved home since the early 20th century. Her plays love on Black pasts, presents and futures. They hold a B.A. in English and African-American Studies from Yale College & an MFA in Playwriting under Tarell Alvin McCraney from fka Yale School of Drama.

Named one of Variety Magazine's Top Ten Storytellers to Watch, her work has been a 3x finalist and 2025 winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the oldest and largest international prize honoring women+ playwrights. Their work has been developed and workshopped broadly including: at the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, The New Harmony Project and Breaking The Binary Theatre Festival. Her work has been produced in theaters across the country in NYC (Off-Broadway), Atlanta (Alliance Theatre), Los Angeles (Geffen Playhouse), DC (UPC. 2027, Wooly Mammoth) and beyond. They are currently the inaugural Artist in Residence at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre and part of National Black Theatre’s I AM SOUL Playwright Residency.