Arlene Hutton is the author of Letters to Sala , which received development at Rollins College and the College of Charleston before premiering off-off-Broadway at The Barrow Group and presented in a concert version at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.  Over 110 high schools, universities,  and local repertory theatre companies have now produced Letters to Sala.  

 

A distinguished playwright, she is best known for The Nibroc Trilogy, which includes Last Train to Nibroc, See Rock City and Gulf View Drive, all published by Dramatist Play Service and recently seen in award-winning revivals in Chicago, Washington, D.C, and LA. Her plays have been presented Off- and Off-Off-Broadway and at theatres across the US, in London, Edinburgh, and throughout the world. Other works by Hutton include Happy Worst Day Ever (commissioned by Cincinnati Playhouse and winner of the Macy’s New Play Prize), Three Sisters Brontë, As It Is In Heaven, and I Dream Before I Take the Stand, which has appeared in textbook anthologies.

Born and raised in the south, Hutton attended Rollins College and received an MFA from FSU’s Asolo Conservatory. Before she began writing plays, she was an actor, director and costumer, and worked for ten years in the wardrobe department at Saturday Night Live. 

Twice named a Tennessee Williams Fellow at the University of the South, Hutton is a three-time winner of the Samuel French Short Play Festival, nine-time finalist for the Heideman Award, finalist for the Francesca Primus Prize and recipient of the Lippmann Award, the Calloway Award, an EST/Sloan Commission for Maria Sibylla, a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship and a Fellowship from the South Carolina Arts Commission. She is an alumna of New Dramatists and member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, New Circle Repertory and the Dramatists Guild. Her plays have received development at the New Harmony Project, the Lark, The Barrow Group, and London’s Orange Tree Theatre. Residencies include the Australian National Playwrights Conference, Blue Mountain Center, MacDowell Colony, SPACE at Ryder Farm, VCCA, Yaddo, and The Writers Gathering in Israel. Her play for teens, Kissed the Girls and Made Them Cry, premiered in Edinburgh in 2015 and is published by Playscripts. Hutton’s short plays have been recorded for Playing On Air podcast starring Mamie Gummer, Amy Ryan and Michael Stuhlbarg. 

Hutton is the first playwright commissioned by The Big Bridge Theatre Consortium, a group of university theatre departments across the country committed to developing new plays dedicated to peace and interfaith dialogue. Hutton has been on the faculty at the Sewanee Writers Conference, Fordham University, the College of Charleston and Arts Workshop International in Italy, and taught workshops at colleges and conferences around the country. She lives in New York City and teaches playwriting at The Barrow Group.