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Alumni Achievements

Sarah Gubbins (MFA ’08) created the Amazon Prime show I Love Dick. She currently writes for the TV series Better Things.

Will Arbery (MFA ’15) had his play Corsicana produced off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons. He is currently a writer on HBO’s Succession.

Sofya Levitsky-Weitz (MFA ’15) is a writer for Gaslit (Starz) and The Dropout (Hulu).

Chico Mattoso (MFA ’13) is the head writer and co-creator of Pico da Neblina (Joint Venture) on HBO Latino. He has written and created television series for HBO Brazil and Globo.

Marisha Mukerjee (MFA ’11) has written for The Bridge, Quantico, and Titans. She has a show in development at Netflix.

Ethan Kass (MFA ’12) has written for Murder in the First.

Terrance Brown (MFA ’11) has written web series and taught at The Second City. He is an Assistant Professor at Notre Dame.

Milta Ortiz (MFA ’12) runs Borderlands Theatre Company, which has also produced several of her plays.

Jen Spyra (MFA ’12) writes for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Erik Gernand‘s (MFA ’09) films have screened at festivals around the world. He is a Senior Lecturer at Northwestern.

Caitlin Kunkel (MFA ’09) coauthored New Erotica for Feminists, launched the first-ever Satire and Humor Festival in New York City, cofounded the Belladonna comedy website, and writes for Public Radio International’s Live Wire. She additionally teaches satire writing at The Second City.

Lily Mooney (MFA ’11) writes and performs for the Neo-Futurists.

Jenny Hagel (MFA ’09) writes for Late Night with Seth Meyers and the Golden Globes.

Kendall Sherwood (MFA ’11) is a writer and producer for Major Crimes and The Code.

Farhan Arshad (MFA ’10) is a writer on Man with a Plan on CBS.

B.J. Tindal (MFA ’18) won the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition in 2018/19 with Goodnight, Tyler.

Meridith Friedman (MFA ’10) writes for Chicago Med and her plays have been widely produced around the country.

Alvaro Saar Rios (MFA ’10) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Andy Miara (MFA ’11) was the head writer for the Onion News Network and has developed pilots for Comedy Central, Adult Swim, and TruTV. He teaches at The Second City and Emerson.

Taylor Rankin (MFA ’19) is a Core Apprentice at the Playwrights’ Center

Nayna Agrawal (MFA ’15) is a staff writer for ABC’s Baker and the Beauty

Exal Iraheta (MFA ’19) has a play in Victory Garden’s 2019-2020 Ignition Festival.

Gabrielle Fulton Ponder (MFA ’10) is a staff writer on Ambitions.

Jennifer Rumberger (MFA ’13) will have her new play The Locusts produced as part of The Gift Theater’s 2022/2023 season.

Alexander Phillips’ (MFA ’16) film All Jacked Up and Full of Worms (which he wrote and directed), was awarded Special Jury Mention for Best Debut Feature at Fantasia Film Festival, and is screening at multiple festivals across the country, including the Chicago International Film Festival.

Dolores Díaz’s (MFA ’19) play Man of the People, inspired by the true story of a charlatan doctor John Brinkley, is playing at Stage Left Theatre.

Tony Mantia (MFA ’22) is producer and head writer of People Every Day, a daily pop culture news podcast from People Magazine.

Clara Deak Leone (MFA ’21) is a writer on The Forgotten Valley, the first Brazilian horror show on HBO Max.