Nazareth Hassan

Nazareth Hassan is an American playwright known for their Off-Broadway plays Bowl EP at Vineyard Theatre, for which Hassan was nominated for the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and Practice at Playwrights Horizons, both in 2025.

Early life

Hassan is from Atlanta, Georgia, where both their father and grandmother were musicians, which introduced them to music at a young age. They got involved in musical theatre, but found more interest in directing. Hassan has spoken about growing up without much financial support, and how it was a large risk to pursue playwriting. In 2018, they graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drama and directing. They then attended Brooklyn College for creative writing and playwriting, graduating with a Master's of Fine Arts in 2020, as a Truman Capote Fellow.

Hassan notes they began writing plays to supplement their directing experience, calling their artistic model "always the director as the lead artist."

Career

Hassan's first play, VANTABLACK, premiered while attending NYU at the Playwrights Horizons Theater School. The play explored what would happen in African-Americans in modern-day America were paid reparations that were promised in the 19th century—40 acres and a mule. For their work, they received the 2017 Dramatists Guild Young Playwright Award, followed by a staged reading at Theatertreffen in Berlin, Germany in 2019. They also received the Himan Brown Writing Award.

Their next play, Untitled (1-5), premiered as part of The Shed's Open Call Selection in 2020. Hassan co-directed the production with Talia Oliveras there in 2021, calling the piece an "exploration of opacity" involving rhythm and physicality.

In May 2025, their next play, Bowl EP, debuted Off-Broadway at Vineyard Theatre in a co-production with National Black Theatre. The play followed two teenage friends with aspiring rap careers and a love for skateboarding. Navigating queerness and masculinity, the play took place in a skate bowl. Hassan themself directed the production, which starred Essence Lotus, Oghenero Gbaje and Felicia Curry with original music by Free Fool. The production received critical acclaim, with The New York Times calling it a "messy, poignant and memorable new work" and TheatreMania praising it as "magnificently imaginative."

The show was nominated for the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, along with three Lucille Lortel Award nominations, an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination, and four Dorian Award nominations, with Hassan receiving a 2026 Obie Award for Outstanding New Play.

The same year, their play Practice premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, running October 30 through December 19, 2025. The play followed a play-within-a-play, with a company of actors working to make meaningful art. Directed by Keenan Tyler Oliphant, the production received positive reviews, with The New York Times calling it "shocking, darkly witty, and visually stunning" and naming it a Critic's Pick. The production was nominated for a 2026 Lucille Lortel Award for Oliphant's direction.

Their next play, Kat, is due to premiere in March 2027 at Theatre503 in London, England. The play follows a woman living at home with her ultra-conservative parents who sneaks out at night to cosplay as a cat.

Hassan has also performed in their own works, appearing in Memoria A in 2022 in Mexico City at Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, and All this newness in 2024 at The Barn at Lee.

Personal life

Hassan uses they/them pronouns. They currently live in Brooklyn, New York.

Plays

Source:

• VANTABLACK (2018)
• Untitled (1-5) (2021)
• Bowl EP (2025)
• Practice (2025)
• Kat (2027)

Awards and nominations