Born and raised in California’s Central Valley, A. Zell Williams writes to get people talking about the way they live their lives and question beliefs in order to bring light to ignored topics. Zell’s passion for sparking a dialogue has won him Philadelphia Theatre Company’s Terrence McNally Award, Marin Theatre Company’s David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize, the National New Play Network’s Smith Prize for Political Theatre, New York University’s Rita & Burton Goldberg Playwriting Prize, Reverie Productions’ Next Generation Playwright’s Award, and the 2014 Barrymore Award for Best New Play (Down Past Passyunk, InterAct Theatre Company.) He has been nominated for the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s L. Arnold Weissberger Award by Playwrights’ Horizon and is a two-time nominee for the Playwright of New York (PoNY) Fellowship. He was a finalist for the Yale Drama Series for Emerging Playwrights, Aurora Theatre's Global Age Project Award, Kitchen Dog Theatre's New Works Festival, and the Van Lier Fellowship at the Lark Play Development Center, as well as a semifinalist for the Princess Grace Award, the Ashland New Play Festival (Ashland, OR), Centre Stage Theatre's New Works Festival (Greenville, SC), and Victory Gardens Theatre's Ignition Festival. Zell holds a BA in theater arts from Santa Clara University and earned an MFA in dramatic writing under instructors such as Suzan-Lori Parks, David Grimm, and Charlie Rubin. He was the 2013 National New Play Network Playwright-in-Residence at Philadelphia's InterAct Theatre Company, a member of both The Civilians' R&D Group and Ars Nova’s Play Group, and is currently a resident playwright with New Dramatists, the Tow Foundation’s Emerging Playwright-in-Residence at the Public Theater, and a staff writer on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.