Each month on The Subtext, Brian speaks with a playwright about life, writing, and whatever itches we are scratching.

This month he talks with Sarah Mantell, who won the 2023 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot. Mantell discusses studying illustration at RISD, where they found themselves in a class for illustrators and playwrights with Paula Vogel, and how they began to gravitate more toward writing. Mantell also highlights experiences after graduating from Yale School of Drama that allowed them to flourish as a playwright, the joy of writing, the impact of the Kilroys and pain of watching the pendulum swing back and forth, application barriers for playwrights, and a free service to advise playwrights. They also remember the light and magic of Diana Oh, who Mantell worked with before Oh died on June 17. 

Mantell is longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize for The Good Guys (Second Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival), was first runner-up for the Leah Ryan Award for Everything That Never Happened (Baltimore Center Stage, Boston Court Pasadena, The Folger), and is a current finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Their plays include Tiny (Seven Devils, Seattle Rep), and Fight Call (Breaking the Binary, Artists Rep.) They have been awarded residencies with MacDowell, Yaddo, Wildacres, Hedgebrook, Fresh Ground Pepper, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and SPACE on Ryder Farm as well as a Toulmin grant, an Edgerton Foundation grant, and a Playwrights Realm Writing Fellowship. They are also currently a resident with Colt Coeur. They have taught, dramaturged, and worked in literary offices across the country. They run the independent workshop Five Weeks to a First Draft as well as Free Application Help for historically underrepresented writers.