SWAY
BY SMJ
Social media influencer Shay is launched into the spotlight while documenting the death of her father. This catches the eye of uber-popular influencer Madison, also dealing with the death of her father. Madison invites herself over to Shay's studio apartment and then brings Teegan (Madison’s collaborator and Shay's OnlyFans crush) and Paige (an impressionable Twitch streamer) to stay. Over the course of 40+ days, Madison does everything she can to entrench herself in their lives: paying for Shay’s apartment, leaning on Teegan’s blind loyalty & friendship, and taking over Paige’s revenue streams. As the days pile up with no end date in sight, Shay must fight her temptation to let these influencers pull her into the fantasy world and scratch back her power. SWAY is a queer thriller comedy that explores the exploitation of the need for human connection on social media.
THE PLAYWRIGHT
SMJ (they/them) is an NYC-based, mixed-Latiné, and Trans non-binary playwright, musical theater writer, educator, & theatermaker originally from Mount Vernon, OH. They were a 2022 - 2023 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. They are the Executive Director of Andy’s Summer Playhouse in Wilton, NH. They create work that centers femme collaborators and is designed to highlight & challenge collaborators. Informed by their uneasy upbringing in the heart of Ohio, their plays primarily focus on individuals living in poverty and their relationship to pop culture.
Their work has been seen in various forms throughout the US including Ars Nova, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, New York Stage and Film, Lincoln Center, National Queer Theater, Latinx Playwrights Circle, The Orchard Project, Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, Carnegie Mellon University, Otterbein University, Wright State University, Art House Productions, University of Texas-El Paso, The Road Theatre Company, The Workshop Theater, The 24 Hour Plays, The Center at West Park, The Flea Theater, Northern Sky Theater, Open Jar Studios, Andy’s Summer Playhouse, American Theater Group, Live Arts, CRY HAVOC, The Tank, The Uptown Collective and DR2 Theatre. SMJ also writes for the serial podcast, University Radio. SMJ has been a semifinalist for the O’Neill’s National Playwrights Conference (five times), the 2022-2023 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting/Fellowship at New Dramatists, Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, and The Civilians R & D Group (two times) as well as a Finalist for the 2024-2025 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting/Fellowship at New Dramatists, 2024 June Bingham New Playwright Commission, 2023 Parity Development Award, Write Out Loud Contest, 5th Avenue Theater's First Draft Commission, and the Doric Wilson Playwright Award.
SMJ is a graduate of Otterbein University and the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.They’re a member of the Dramatists Guild and Ring of Keys. They are a member of The Line Up with Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective.
CAST + CREATIVE
PLAYWRIGHT: SMJ
PRODUCER: KRISTEN ELIZA BROCK
CO-PRODUCER: ANNIKA BURLEY
LITERARY MANAGER/DRAMATURGY ASSISTANCE: REESE LEIF
COLLABORATIVE PARTNER: MACKENNA GOODRICH
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: IZZY TEDESCO
ANNA SHERIDAN
MADISON
ISABEL JULAZADEH
SHAY
ANDREA TOVAR
PAIGE
STEPHANIE ORTA-VAZQUEZ
TEEGAN
THE DETAILS
This reading process took place throughout the month of May 2026 and consisted of a table reading on May 11th, a few weeks for SMJ to do some rewrites, and a final invite only industry reading on May 30th.
WHEN AND WHERE
MAY 11TH READING AT DRAMATISTS GUILD FOUNDATION
MAY 30TH READING AT AMDA STUDIOS
