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Donna Hoke

Donna Hoke is a playwright, blogger, advocate, and Dramatists Guild Council member based in Buffalo, New York.

Western New York regional representative for the Dramatists Guild, award-winning playwright Donna Hoke’s work has been seen in 46 states and on five continents. Her full-length plays include THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR (currently entering its third year in Romania, Princess Grace semi-finalist), SEEDS (Artie award winner), FLOWERS IN THE DESERT (AACT finalist), SAFE (winner Todd McNerney National Playwriting and Naatak National Playwriting Contests, Great Gay Play and Musical Contest), ELEVATOR GIRL (2017 O’Neill, Princess Grace finalist), SAFE (winner of the Todd McNerney, Naatak, and Great Gay Play and Musical Contests), and BRILLIANT WORKS OF ART (winner, HRC Showcase and Firehouse Festival of New American Plays, top ten Woodward/Newman finalist); she’s also authored more than two dozen short plays that have had hundreds of productions.. She has been nominated for both the Primus and Blackburn Prizes, and is a two-time winner of the Emanuel Fried Award for Outstanding New Play (SEEDS, SONS & LOVERS). Donna is also a New York Times-published crossword puzzle constructor; author of Neko and the Twiggets, a children's book; and founder/co-curator of BUA Takes 10: GLBT Short Stories. She has also received an Individual Artist Award from the New York State Council on the Arts to develop HEARTS OF STONE, and, for three consecutive years, she was named Buffalo's Best Writer by Artvoice, the only woman to ever receive the designation. 



Donna also serves on the Dramatists Guild Council and is a blogger and moderator of the 12,000+-member Official Playwrights of Facebook, as well as a New York Times-published crossword puzzle constructor; author of Neko and the Twiggets, a children's book; and founder/co-curator of BUA Takes 10: GLBT Short Stories. Speaking engagements include Citywrights, Kenyon Playwrights Conference, the Dramatists Guild National Conference, Chicago Dramatists, the Austin Film Festival, and a live Dramatists Guild webinar. Her commentary has been seen on #2amt, howlround, The Dramatist, the Official Playwrights of Facebook, Workshopping the New Play (Applause, 2017), and at donnahoke.com.

The Grief Dialogues
Essay

The Grief Dialogues

Using Theatre to Start the Conversation

17 June 2016

Playwright Donna Hoke writes about Elizabeth Coplan’s The Grief Dialogues project, which uses theatre to start conversations around death and grieving.

Perfect Partnership
Essay

Perfect Partnership

Workshopping a New Play with a University

25 April 2016

Playwright Donna Hoke writes about an opportunity that allowed her to develop a new play on its feet in advance of a world premiere.

I Wrote a Play with a Male Rape, But Readers Didn’t Want to Call it That
Essay

I Wrote a Play with a Male Rape, But Readers Didn’t Want to Call it That

19 February 2016

Playwright Donna Hoke discusses her play The Way It Is, which includes the rape of a male character, and the response she got from readers.

What I Learned from Interviewing Ten Successful #PLONY (Playwrights Living Outside New York)
Essay

What I Learned from Interviewing Ten Successful #PLONY (Playwrights Living Outside New York)

27 January 2016

Playwright Donna Hoke writes about the big takeaways from interviews she did with ten playwrights who don’t live in New York.