Six Playwrights Included Among Amtrak's 2016-17 Residency Writers

The romance of writing great works of literature while traveling long distances via rail has become a nearly lost art in today's high-speed world.

But last year Amtrak sought to bring some of that old magic back with their first Amtrak Residency program, where selected authors are invited to work on writing projects of their choice in the unique workspace of a long-distance train.

This year's second group of twenty-three residents offer a diverse representation of the writing community and hail from across the country. Six of them, noted below, are playwrights.

Abigail Taylor-Sansom is a New York City actor, playwright, and screenwriter whose plays have received over thirty productions or workshops at theaters throughout the United States and Canada. Her play FINE ART is published and licensed by Heuer, and a monologue from DON'T CALL US (WE'LL CALL YOU) will be anthologized in a collection by Smith & Kraus in 2016.

Alexandra Petri is a columnist for the Washington Post where she writes for the opinion page and the ComPost blog. Her work for the stage includes RARE MEDIUM WELL DONE, ONE ROOM OVER and MISS EMMA'S MATCHMAKING AGENCY FOR LITERARY CHARACTERS.

Lucile Scott is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor who has written and/or directed plays that have been featured at numerous New York City venues, as well as at the Edinburgh and Hollywood Fringe Festivals.

Natalie Zutter is a playwright, aspiring TV writer, and pop culture critic based in New York City. A current member of the EMG Playwriting Workshop, Natalie writes plays about female superheroes, sex robots, and time travel.

Erlina Ortiz is resident playwright with Power Street Theatre Company (PSTC) in Philadelphia. Upon graduating from Temple University with a degree in theatre, Erlina had her first two full length plays produced with PSTC in 2013 and 2014. SHE WORE THOSE SHOES, a movement play about rape culture in the military will have a full production at the Iron Factory October 2016 with PSTC.

Jeffrey Sweet's plays and musicals have been produced in New York, Chicago and on stages around the country and internationally, including WHAT ABOUT LUV?, THE VALUE OF NAMES, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE and I SENT A LETTER TO MY LOVE.