A black biracial and transracially adopted daughter and sister raised in Central, PA, Megan Schumacher is a Philadelphia based playwright, director, and dramaturg. She is a graduate of The Foundry at PlayPenn, a current member of the PlayPenn Cohort, and former member of Simpatico Theatre’s Jouska PlayWorks. She received the 2021 Sue Winge Playwriting Award from Villanova University for Laundry. Her play Lowndes debuted at the Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival in the fall of 2020, and her adaptation of Euripides’ The Bakkhai, titled Dionté and Khai Do Dinner, premiered virtually as part of Villanova Theatre’s 2020-21 season. Her play Superlosers was produced for the 2018 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and Monster Mash was performed as part of the Going Viral Festival on Facebook during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic of 2020, she served as a production dramaturg for Quintessence Theatre’s beautiful performance of Angelina Weld Grimké’s Rachel directed by Alexandra Espinoza. She directed Marissa Kennedy’s solo piece Out of the Shadows for the 2019 Philadelphia Fringe Festival and has directed several readings, including Daf James's On the Other Hand, We're Happy and Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children at Inis Nua Theatre and Alexandra Espinoza’s Homeridae during the 2019 Philadelphia Theatre Week. She served as an Education Dramaturg Consultant for Villanova University and has taught theater at Temple University, Montgomery County Community College, and Friends' Central School.

 

Worried about the world in which she lives --- the hatred that brews in all its corners, the cruelty behind policies that keep people from growing, developing, advancing, and the fear that drives this hatred and cruelty --- Megan's work straddles the notions of pessimism and optimism. Often starting from a place of pessimism, she is entrenched in hope and optimism that good will prevail, that our best human selves will persevere. And when she can in her work, she celebrates her love of joy and laughter.