Playwriting
Catherine Epstein’s plays include Oxbow (Huntington Theatre Company's 2023 Summer Workshop - dir. Megan Sandberg-Zakian), Arbor (Grand Prize Winner of the 2023-2024 Emerging Artists New Play Festival at the Renaissance Theatre - dir. Michael Thomas; Huntington Theatre Company's 2022 Breaking Ground Festival - dir. Morgan Green; Semi-Finalist for the 2023 Ashland New Plays Festival), Orchard (2022 Dream Boston Commission - dir. Dawn M. Simmons), and Allemansrätten (Forward Theater's 2023 Monologue Festival - dir. David Pausch).
Catherine is a recipient of a 2025 Interdisciplinary Residency from the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, and she was a Finalist for the 2024 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting. She is a Huntington Playwriting Fellow from the 2019-2022 cohort, and she was a 2023 Tennessee Williams Playwriting Scholar at the Sewanee Writers' Conference. She was a 2022 resident at the Catwalk Art Institute and has workshopped her plays at Bard’s Institute for Writing & Thinking, the Phillips Exeter Writers’ Workshop, and GrubStreet. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
As a young actor in Massachusetts, she trained at Walnut Hill School for the Arts. She has directed plays by Tony Kushner, Jaclyn Backhaus, Theresa Rebeck, Thornton Wilder, Arthur Miller, William Shakespeare, and Christopher Durang at the secondary and college levels, and she has mentored high school directors and led several youth playwriting workshops. She holds a B.A. in English with Honors from Vassar College.
Recent News
Awarded Residency at Oak Spring Garden Foundation – May-June 2025
Oak Spring Garden Foundation – Upperville, VA
Finalist for Princess Grace Award in Playwriting – 2024
New Dramatists – New York, NY
ARBOR selected as Finalist – Water’s Rising Festival of New Climate Action Plays 2024
Gloucester Stage Company – Gloucester, MA
ARBOR is Grand Prize Winner – Emerging Artist New Play Festival 2023-2024
The Renaissance Theatre – Mansfield, OH: Artistic Director Michael Thomas
Awarded Tennessee Williams Scholarship at Sewanee Writers’ Conference – July 2023
Sewanee, TN – Workshop Faculty: David Adjmi and Talene Monahan
OXBOW selected for Huntington Theatre Company’s Summer Workshop – July 2023
Huntington Theatre Company – Boston, MA. Director: Megan Sandberg-Zakian
ALLEMANSRÄTTEN produced in Out in this World Monologue Festival – May 2023
Forward Theater Company – Madison, WI. Director: David Pausch
ARBOR selected as Semifinalist – Ashland New Plays Festival – 2023
Ashland, OR
ARBOR selected for Breaking Ground Festival of New Work – July 2022
Huntington Theatre Company – Boston, MA. Director: Morgan Green
ORCHARD Commissioned for Dream Boston Audio Series – May 2022
Huntington Theatre Company – Boston, MA. Director: Dawn M. Simmons
Awarded Artist Residency – Catwalk Art Institute – February-March 2022
Catskill, NY
Creative Residency Semifinalist – SPACE on Ryder Farm – Summer 2020
Brewster, NY
Awarded Huntington Playwriting Fellowship – Huntington Theatre Company – 2019-2022
Huntington Theatre Company – Boston, MA
Honors & Awards
Interdisciplinary Residency – Oak Spring Garden Foundation
May-June 2025
Tennessee Williams Scholarship – Sewanee Writers’ Conference
July 2023
Huntington Playwriting Fellowship – Huntington Theatre Company
2019-2022
Catwalk Artist Residency – Catwalk Art Institute
February 2022
Creative Residency Semi-Finalist – SPACE on Ryder Farm
Summer 2020
