Mona Z. Smith Plays

Mona Z. Smith is a playwright, author, and artist-in-residence at the Paramount Theater in Peekskill, NY. Mona co-wrote Fire in a Dark House with Traci Mariano, one of their many collaborations during the past 30+ years, including three other co-written plays: Strange Company, Throwing Stones, and Northern Lights. Traci has directed the premieres of many of Mona’s plays including Sightings (Depot Theater, Garrison, NY), All That Remains (Kumu Kahua Theatre, Honolulu), and Borderlands (SoHo Rep, NYC). Borderlands was awarded the national Berilla Kerr Prize and was later seen at the Rose Theatre (Los Angeles), LiveArts (Charlottesville, VA), and Orange Tea Theatre (Amsterdam). Mona's play Becoming Something, about events in the life of the pioneering Black actor and activist Canada Lee, premiered at the Kraine Theatre (NYC, dir. Traci Mariano). Mona later wrote a social biography of Lee under the same title that details how his career and accomplishments were virtually erased as a result of the McCarthy-era blacklist. (Faber & Faber). Mona was commissioned by Hudson Valley Shakespeare (Garrison, NY) to adapt Shakespearean works and literary classics into plays for young audiences, which toured schools and community venues throughout the tri-state region.