Alyssa Haddad (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based playwright and teaching artist of Lebanese and Italian descent. Her plays have been presented throughout the Tri-State area. She was a 2019 Artist-In-Residence and Guest Lecturer at Adams State University’s Rare AIR program. A 2019-2020 artist-in-residence at Art House Productions INKubator Play Lab and a writer at the Workshop Theater’s Winter 2021 Intensive. She is a winner of the Athena Project Plays in Progress 2021 series, a 2021 and 2022 Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semi-Finalist, and a 2021 Finalist for The Playwrights Realm’s Writing Fellowship and Youngblood EST. She is currently a member of The Road Theatre’s Under Construction Cohort. She has taught writing workshops with Art House Productions, Circle World Arts, and In Full Color Productions. holds a BA in History and Writing from The College of Saint Rose and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America.
TAP Work:
I’m in a transitional career phase. At TAP, I’ve been exploring not only why I’m passionate about teaching theatre and writing to others, but also who am I teaching? How can I help them learn this craft and find their voice? It’s been enlightening to not only have a home to discuss these ideas, but to put them to use. To find strategies to apply this energy to real world classrooms. I came into the program with extremely limited knowledge of teaching to younger children and how to create a longer term lesson plan. While we still have more time to go and are building on this topic, TAP has laid that groundwork for me. I’ve been working with my Care Team, and they’ve been an incredible support group and resource during this time.
Most Memorable TAP Moment:
It’s hard to pin down my most memorable TAP moment, but I think what jumps out at me the most is when we made art with whatever items we could find in our home. I’m not a visual artist, but I had a blast creating a painting out of blush and za’atar. I don’t think it’ll hang in the Louvre anytime soon, but seeing the incredible art the other members of the cohort came up with, especially the visual artists, was astonishing. It was a good reminder that art and teaching doesn’t have to be expensive or created in a specific way. That we can teach our skills at all levels, anytime, anywhere.
Find out more about Alyssa here:
Sample of work/ Recently Published Piece
Additional Materials (inspiring quote, image, etc.)
I’m a writer, so it’s hard to find a photo of artwork that doesn’t involve the images of other people. The above is a photo of me, who is not at all an actor, stepping in a role for a male character of a monologue I wrote for The Kraine Theatre. I use it as a reminder to never take yourself too seriously, and to be open-minded to new opportunities.
