J.C. Pankratz (they/them) is a proud queer, non-binary, and transgender playwright writing genre-defying work about their community’s relationships to the body, power, and the more-than-human world.

Their plays are this is a face (O’Neill Finalist; National Queer Theatre’s Cherry Picked Fire Island series), Mortals (Playwrights’ Center 2024-25 Public Season, Pridefest at The Tank), All’s Well (Barrymore Award nominee; production, Shakespeare in Clark Park), Eat Your Young (Playwrights Realm INK’D Festival; workshop production, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre), Little Kingdom (2nd Place, Mark Twain Playwriting Award; Distinguished Achievement, Paula Vogel Playwriting Award), Seahorse (2021 FMM Fellowship for Works in Heightened Language), and Redeemer Mine (Finalist, O’Neill Playwrights Conference). Beloved collaborators also include Shakespeare in Clark Park, CompanyOne, Kitchen Dog Theater, and Lily + Joan Theatre Company. They have been a Playwrights’ Realm Writing Fellow, a Core Apprentice with the Playwrights’ Center, and a Visionary Playwright with Theatremasters.

They recently graduated with their MFA from Boston University, and have interned at New Dramatists and Clubbed Thumb.

Please check out their plays on the New Play Exchange.

ABOUT

NEWS

2025

  • this is a face, directed by cara hinh, will be part of New Harmony Project’s 2025-2026 PlayFest at Indiana Repertory Theatre.

  • All’s Well was nominated for a Barrymore Award for Best Outdoor Production!

  • this is a face, directed by dominique rider, was part of National Queer Theatre’s Cherry Picked Fire Island reading series

  • this is a face is a finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference.

  • All’s Well, directed by Shamus, had its world premiere as part of Shakespeare in Clark Park’s season this summer, with five shows in locations around Philadelphia. You can read a review here!

  • Mortals, directed by Shamus, was featured in the Playwrights’ Center’s 2024-2025 Public Season as part of the Ruth Easton New Play Series.

  • this is a face, directed by dominique rider, had a reading with Ten Toes Collective at HERE Arts Center.

  • Little Kingdom, directed by Cooper Howell, had a reading as part of The Workshop Theater’s Workshop Labs.