Introducing our Cycle 4 Fellows

Rattlestick Theater, in partnership with the Terrence McNally Foundation and Tom Kirdahy Productions, is excited to announce the Cycle 4 Terrence McNally New Works Incubator fellows. This Incubator will support three emerging playwrights by awarding each of them critical financial support, personalized mentorship, and a three-week incubation period, followed by a one-week developmental workshop culminating in a presentation of their work.

The Cycle 4 Fellows were selected from a pool of 500 applications, in consultation with the Playwrights Advisory Council, which includes: Eboni Booth, Sheila Callaghan, Sarah Ruhl, and Chay Yew. This year's Incubator Finalists include Borna Barzin, Benjamin Benne, Caitlin Saylor Stephens, Regan Moro and Abigail Onwunali.

Katie Bender

Katie Bender is a playwright, performer, and theater maker. Her solo show, Instructions for a Séance, has been produced at The Alley All New Festival, Amphibian Stage, Oklahoma City Rep Theater, Fusebox Festival, and will be at Milwaukee Rep in the fall of 2026. Other plays include The Optimizers, which was part of the Playwrights’ Center public season in 2025, and Judith, which premiered at Urbanite Theater in 2024. She was a Jerome Fellow and a Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center. She received her MFA in playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin.

Beth Hyland

Beth Hyland’s plays and musicals include SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA (Geffen Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival), FIRES, OHIO (Alliance Theatre, Goodman New Stages), BABY SHOWER KATIE (Primary Stages Liff Lab, Round House Theatre), SEAGULLS (Wilbury Theatre, Oak Park Festival Theatre, Octagon Theatre), CANCELINA, and ANNA K. She received a 2026 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, the 2025 Alliance/Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award, and the 2024 Weissberger Prize. She holds commissions with MTC/Sloan, Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Steppenwolf Theatre, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. MFA: UC San Diego. Representation: Jamie Kaye-Phillips, Paradigm; Benjamin Blake and Anthony Ippolito, Heroes and Villains Entertainment. bethhyland.com

Orlando Hernández

Orlando Hernández is a playwright, tap dancer, and actor based in NYC. He helped to develop Teatro en el Verano, a bilingual theater collaboration between Trinity Repertory Company and Rhode Island Latino Arts in Providence, RI, and his play La Broa' (Broad Street) premiered in January 2024 on Trinity Rep's main stage. Orlando has presented his dance-theater work at New York Live Arts, On the Boards, Joe’s Pub, and Jacob’s Pillow, and he is a 2025-2028 Jerome Fellow in Dance. He lives in Washington Heights.

About the Terrence McNally New Works Incubator

As a continuation of Terrence McNally’s singular legacy of mentorship, and his commitment to fostering bold new voices in the American theater, the Terrence McNally New Works Incubator is designed to support ambitious early-career playwrights by giving them time and space to develop their work, professional mentorship with veteran playwrights, and access to the community of artists and work being developed at Rattlestick and Tom Kirdahy Productions.

McNally fellows are selected by a panel of renowned American playwrights. Past panelists include Sheila Callaghan, Christopher Chen, Halley Feiffer, Madeleine George, David Henry Hwang, Mike Lew, Donja R. Love, Rehana Mirza, Lynn Nottage, and Paula Vogel.

Elements of the program:

Stipend
Each McNally fellow will receive a one-time stipend of $10,000 to be used as the playwright sees fit to best further their goals.

Mentorship
In consultation with Rattlestick Theater and Tom Kirdahy Productions, each McNally Fellow will be paired with a veteran playwright mentor who will read a minimum of two drafts and offer one-on-one feedback, in addition to attending a workshop rehearsal and/or final presentation subject to their availability.

Three-Week Incubation
After the initial mentor meeting, the playwright will revise and develop their play for three weeks. This is time for rigorous thinking, dreaming, and writing outside the constraints of a product-oriented rehearsal space.

In addition to mentor feedback, the playwright will meet with the literary teams at both Tom Kirdahy Productions and Rattlestick to discuss their work and process.

McNally fellows will be invited to participate in additional Rattlestick events where they will have the opportunity to get to know the teams at Tom Kirdahy Productions and Rattlestick as well as the other McNally Fellows and other industry professionals.

29-Hour Workshop
The second part of the incubator will take the form of a developmental workshop culminating in a industry presentation. Core collaborators (director, dramaturg, actors) will be chosen in consultation with the selected playwright, Tom Kirdahy Productions, and Rattlestick and will be compensated for their time.

“Terrence McNally was an integral part of the Rattlestick community from the very beginning, and the value he placed on ambitious and innovative new play-making remains at the core and ethos of the company. Our three inaugural fellows embody the creative ambition and bold experimentation that has always been central to Rattlestick’s mission and a signature of Terrence McNally’s work. Rattlestick is grateful for the opportunity to honor Terrence McNally’s singular legacy through the Terrence McNally New Works Incubator and is thrilled to partner with Tom Kirdahy Productions and the Terrence McNally Foundation to offer crucial support and resources to early career playwrights.”

- Will Davis, Artistic Director of Rattlestick Theater