Ariel Stess

Ariel Stess is a Chicago based playwright and director originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her plays have been produced and/or developed at Playwrights Horizons, The Bushwick Starr, New Georges, Clubbed Thumb, Mabou Mines, and The Playwrights’ Center. She is an affiliated artist with the Playwrights’ Center, a resident playwright at New Dramatists, and a New Georges Affiliated Artist. Her plays include Tranquil, KARA & EMMA & BARBARA & MIRANDA (The Tank 2024), The World My Mama Raised (Clubbed Thumb), Heartbreak (The Bushwick Starr, co-produced by New Georges, Time Out NY Critics’ Pick), and I’m Pretty Fucked Up (Clubbed Thumb, Five Stars, Time Out NY). Ariel received her BA from Bard College and her MFA from Brooklyn College where she studied under Mac Wellman and Erin Courtney. Her writing has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail and Culturebot. She has taught at NYU, Brooklyn College, BMCC, and SUNY Purchase. She is an Assistant Professor of Instruction teaching playwriting and screenwriting in the Radio/TV/Film Department at Northwestern University.