All of us are all of us. -Gilbert M. Fletcher
“Nia’s plays tackle fresh themes effecting the Black experience. Her offbeat humor is alternately shockingly arresting and/or has me on the floor laughing — and it is then that I best appreciate the unique power of her work.”
-Tanya Barfield
(Bright Half Life, Blue Door, Of Equal Measure)
"Nia is a fearless, authentic and truly singular writer. Her plays are funny and painful, and profoundly human. Her dynamic work consistently takes my breath away."
-David Lindsay-Abaire
(Rabbit Hole, Kimberly Akimbo, Fuddy Meers)
Nia Akilah Robinson (she/her) is a playwright and actor who reps Harlem with all her might. Upcoming: Soho Rep U.S. Off Broadway Premiere (February- March 2025). She is a 2024 Relentless Award Semi Finalist. Recent Productions include The Great Privation (Theatre503, London), which has been recently published and made for purchase by Concord Theatricals UK & Push Party (The Hearth, NYC), which had a Sponsored Performance by the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation and brought together The Birthing Place, Maroon Theatre Project, Exodus Transitional Community, and Hour Children community members to a night of conversation post show about “artivisim” and Calls to Action. In 2025 she has an upcoming production of From 145th to 98th Street (Urbanite, Sarasota). Her work has been seen and developed with Steppenwolf Theatre, The Hearth, The New Group, Theatre503 (UK), The Ground Floor: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Great Plains Theatre Conference, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Waterwell, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Urbanite, and New Georges. She has been a MacDowell Fellow, Travis Bogard Eugene O'Neill Foundation Fellow, and a writer for PEN America and EST/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (short play). Nia has had residencies at NYSAF and The Pocantico Center through YoungArts. Nia’s work will be featured in the 2024 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival, 2024 The Fire This Time Festival, was featured in the 2023 SPACE JAM @ Roundabout Theatre, and the 48th Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival. She participated in the National Black Theatre Soul Series and received the 2023 Film & TV Mentorship by Mitzi Miller. She has been awarded 1st Place for the 2023 A is For Playwriting Contest, the Next Wave Initiative Lorraine Hansberry Writing Scholarship, a Miranda Family Fund Commission, and the NYSCA Grant (CCCADI). She is shortlisted for the 2023 Theatre503’s International Playwriting Award. She was a finalist for the Audible Commission, the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Blue Ink Playwriting Award, OJAI Playwrights Conference, Jane Chambers, and The Leah Ryan Fund. She is a member or alumna of Ensemble Studio Theatre's Youngblood, I-73 at Page 73, The Orchard Project NYCGreenhouse, The Wish Collective, and TheBlackHERthePen. She is proudly represented by Alex Gold at Creative Artists Agency.
Education: Yale (DGSD- MFA Playwriting Candidate) & Juilliard ‘24 (Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program)