Introducing the Blixt Playwriting Fellowship Program

In late 2020, after receiving generous support from Ayars & Ayars, Humanities Nebraska and Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and The Cooper Foundation, BLG decided to create an incubator for a small group of local talented playwrights, who would become our first class of Fellows. This year, you'll see samples of the extraordinary work they're creating, and in June 2021, Lincoln audiences will be able to experience the excitement of participating in workshopped staged readings of selected new works. 

Meet the BLG Team who works hands on with the Playwriting Fellows:

Becky Boesen
Blixt Executive Director

Marie Amthor-Schuett
Associate Artistic Director, Blixt Playwriting Fellowship

DeWayne Taylor
Blixt Vice President and Mentor, Blixt Playwriting Fellowship

To learn more about our team, click here:

Meet the Fellows

Ryan Furlong

Ryan J. Furlong is a playwright, actor, and filmmaker from Omaha, Nebraska. He began his writing career as an author of short stories before transitioning into writing poetry, scripts, and screenplays. He has experience directing, producing, and acting in his own work; he loves to do everything he can to share the stories in his heart with the world.
 
After graduating from Millard North High School in 2018, Ryan was primarily intent on becoming an actor. During his time at Nebraska Wesleyan University, however, his passion for writing and creating new stories was reignited through the medium of writing scripts. Often inspired by the films and plays he had watched and performed in, Ryan soon got to work on building his resume of written works.
 
Ryan’s first-ever fully-produced work was the short film “N.A.R. Polls: The Movie” which premiered on July 7th, 2019. The film was created as an homage to his friends from Millard North High School who inspired him to pursue the arts in his adult life.
 
Ryan continues to frequently both act and write, and his appreciation for the art of telling heartfelt and engaging stories permeates throughout every aspect of his life. He cites his friends and his family as his biggest inspirations for creating art, and he continues to dedicate all of his hard work to the people that he loves most.
 

Mary Sinclair

Mary Sinclair is a playwright based in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. She made her playwriting debut with Captain Soapman, a children’s zoom play about a young boy who learns how to fight off germs. It was directed by Becky Boesen and produced by Blixt Locally Grown in May of 2020. Captain Soapman was selected to be a part of the National Library of Medicine’s permanent digital coronavirus collection.

Sinclair’s second produced work was The Color of Your Eyes, directed by Emma Evenson and produced at Nebraska Wesleyan University in November of 2020. Mary Sinclair studies at Nebraska Wesleyan University in pursuit of a B.F.A. in Theatre Studies. She plans to work to legitimize children’s theatre, making it respectable and impactful for children of all ages.

​While Sinclair plans to further her career in children’s theatre, she also plans to write with adult themes in work. Sinclair is continuing to produce work that tackles her personal beliefs and experiences.

Rico Santana

I am excited to be working with Blixt as a current fellow for the 2021-2022 year! I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to create dynamic works and collaborate with this talented group of artists. I want to thank Becky and Petra for their guidance and dedication to spreading new works throughout the theatre community, as well as the general community at large.

This fellowship has allowed a young Latinx artist like myself to write a new chapter for striving BIPOC artists who struggle to find their true voice. I want to write stories that portray the pain of struggling in a poverty-stricken community where chaos is the norm. Stories for the suburban, young teenager who is faced with their own future. Stories for the old who have walked in our shoes and can remember when art was the most treasured and sought after commodity.

I want to just write stories.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” - Maya Angelou

Ann Truka

Ann Truka (she/they) is a junior (soon-to-be senior) Acting major at Nebraska Wesleyan University with minors in Math, Physics, and Writing. She loves to perform and has been in many shows at Wesleyan including As You Like It, The Wolves, and Much Ado About Nothing, but they’ve developed a strong passion for writing during their time at Wesleyan too. Their interest in playwriting began during her first year at NWU when she took Playwriting 1 with Becky Boesen, and it’s grown ever since! When the pandemic first started in March of 2020, she wrote a short play for an assignment in Becky’s playwriting class and then produced it over Zoom with her friends as a means of staying connected and creating art.

Ann uses her work to show more representation of women and the queer community that isn’t always found in well-known plays.  She loves raw, unabated language-- whether it’s crass, kinda gross, or just plain mean, it’s honest, and it’s that honesty that carries through her work… that and the complete awkwardness occasionally experienced by the human race.

Outside of theatre, Ann is taken by the art of drag and performs as a drag king with the name Andrew Genius. This has become an influential part of their life and provides another outlet for creative expression! Ann also works with Blixt as a Teaching Artist for Branching Outward and appreciates the opportunities that Petra and Becky have offered.

​She greatly looks forward to the Blixt Playwriting Fellowship and cannot wait to continue working with Becky and Petra as well as many more professionals she will meet along the way!

This program is made possible by the generous support of the following: