Saviana Stanescu

Saviana Stanescu was born in Bucharest, Romania, on a cold February morning during Ceausescu’s dictatorship, and “reborn” in New York in the hot days of 2001.

Her plays have been widely presented internationally and in the US.  Recent New York productions include "Waxing West" (2007 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Full-length Script) and "YokastaS Redux'’ at La MaMa Theatre, “Flagstories” at TBG Theatre (part of Myth America Project co-written with Arthur Kopit, Theresa Rebeck, Israel Horowitz, Jason Grote, Matt Olmos, Loyd Suh), "Suspendida" at the Ontological Theatre, "Balkan Blues" at the NYC Fringe Festival and Manhattan Theatre Source, and the site-specific "I want what you have" at the World Financial Center.

Saviana won the 2007 Marulic Prize for Best European Radio-drama for “Bucharest Underground”. Her short play “Aurolac Blues,” performed at HERE Arts Center, was published in the anthology “Plays and Playwrights 2006”. Two monologues have been published in the Playwrights’ Center’s “Monologues for Women” and “Final Countdown" was translated, produced and published in France.  She has also published six books of poetry and drama including "Google me!" (poetry), "Black Milk" (four plays) and "The Inflatable Apocalypse” (Best Romanian Play of the Year UNITER Award in 2000).

Her plays have received readings and workshops at Voice&Vision, Lark, New York Theatre Workshop, New York Stage&Film, Playwrights' Foundation, Traveling Jewish Theatre, Immigrants Theatre Project, Martin Segal Theatre Center, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Odeon Theatre, Act Theatre, Theatre Gerard Philipe de Saint-Denis, Gare Au Theatre, etc

She was a 2005-2007 TCG fellow with the Lark Play Development Center, where her plays “Waxing West” and “Lenin’s Shoe” had barebones productions. Currently Saviana is a NYSCA playwright-in-residence with Women’s Project and writer-in-residence for East Coast Artists.

Saviana holds an MA in Performance Studies (Fulbright fellow) and an MFA in Dramatic Writing (John Golden Award for excellence in playwriting) from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, where she now teaches in the Drama Department.

Fellowships/Awards:

Innovative Theatre,  NYSCA playwright-in-residence with Women's Project, TCG (Theatre Communications Group), Fulbright, Goldberg, Antoine Vitez, Marulic Prize for Best European Radiodrama, Best Romanian Play of the Year 2000.