​Two new plays concocted by three writers
in celebration of independent theater and community
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Playing in repertory Spring 2026
Maggie Cino​​
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Maggie Cino has been described as “a writer of extraordinary versatility and imagination.” Her playwrighting credits include: Warm Enough for Swimming (FringeNYC Encore Series, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference semi-finalist, excerpts appear in the Smith & Krause Best Men’s and Best Women’s Monologue series), Decompression (FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for Playwrighting, Chain Theater Minor Variations Series, published by Indie Theater Now) and Ascending Bodily (published in the Plays and Playwrights series). She recently had a prose published in the broadsheet slips slips.
She directed an environmentally staged production of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, winning two Innovative Theater Awards, nominations for Outstanding Revival of a Play, and three-star recognition from Time Out New York. She received a Women In The Arts and Media Coalition Collaboration Award for developing and directing the workshop production Ophira Eisenberg's (Ask Me Another) one-woman storytelling show, Scars. In her capacity as Senior Producer for Peabody and MACEI Award-winning media platform, The Moth, she served as lead director at internationally recognized venues including Lincoln Center, BAM, and The Sydney Opera House.
Montserrat Méndez
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Writer. Director. Professional Troublemaker. Born in Puerto Rico, raised on Jersey grit, and baptized in the raw, unfiltered chaos of New York’s indie theater scene. His play The Importance of Being Earnest Part Deux: Thoroughly Stupid Things won Outstanding Playwriting at FringeNYC 2008. His chamber musical El Fuego Y Su Heredero, centered on Lolita Lebrón’s armed uprising in the U.S. Capitol, was a finalist for the Perelman PAC’s Democratic Cycle—because nothing says “revolution” like a musical.
In 2024, he joined the Playwrights Unit at The People’s Theatre, where he developed Sombraluz O La Presencia, later named a Terrence McNally/Rattlestick New Works Incubator Finalist and recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Grant.
A Core Work member of Flux Theatre Ensemble, he’s developed Rebecca Roman Redd at the Most Dangerous Hour, A Full Blown Horror Story, and the upcoming Portal Project, a Flux company-devised piece that received a MAP Fund grant.
On the screen side, his screenplay A Trial of Spies about the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg was a Top Ten Finalist for the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Upcoming Film Projects - A Game of Cunning and Zone of Death.
Dramatists Guild member.
Retro Productions company artist.
Instagram: @TheRicanteur
Website: MontserratMendez.com
Scott C. Sickles
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Scott Sickles (he/him) is an LGBTQ+/ neurodivergent/ American-born Mixed Korean writer. His plays have been performed in New York City, across the U.S., and internationally in Canada, Australia, the UK, Hungary, Singapore, Indonesia, Lebanon, and Dubai.
Full-lengths: Nonsense and Beauty (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis – Edgerton New Play Award, ATCA Steinberg Award Finalist; Theatre22, Seattle; Next Stage Press); Marianas Trench (Leviathan Lab; O’Neill finalist; readings at Portland Stage and Road Theatre Company;); Pangea (Garry Marshall Theatre, reading); The Known Universe (Mixed Asian Media Fest); Playing on the Periphery: Monologues and Scenes for and About Queer Kids (Whim Productions, KCMO); Perfecting the Kiss (Capital Fringe).
Next Stage Press: Composure (Lambda Literary finalist); Intellectuals; Hairdresser on Fire, From the Top, Moonlight & Love Songs, Hellish Delights.
Published shorts: Beautiful Noises (Smith & Kraus), Turtles and Bulldogs (Applause); Badger and Frame (Applause).
Emmy and five-time Writers Guild of America awards for General Hospital.
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Part curated performance, part open-mic, part all-around good time, this evening of creative camaraderie serves as a haven for artistic development and community-building in a casual setting.
Over the coming months, you'll have a chance to see excerpts of our Season Two plays at each installment of our Drop-In Salon series, bringing our full community into the development process of new, original works built for the indie theater world of NYC.
The next Drop-In Salon will take place on Saturday, September 27 at The RAT NYC. Check back here for more details and RSVP info soon!