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I’m a playwright, screenwriter and teacher from Venice Beach, CA. I just got my MFA in Dramatic Writing from the USC School of Dramatic Arts. My plays have been produced or workshopped at USC, NYU, Columbia University, Los Angeles Theatre Center, the Tank and Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre.

My short film ANNE was an official selection at over 30 film festivals in the US and Canada. ANNE was in consideration for the 2023 Academy Awards for Best Live Action Short. I was a writer's assistant on Steven Soderbergh's experimental HBO drama, MOSAIC. I was the recipient of the NYU Jewish Studies Grant, a member of The Civilians’ Field Research Team, and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild.

BA: NYU Gallatin (Class of 2015).

Screenwriter

 

ANNE

Directed by Desiree Abeyta

Written by Adi Eshman

Starring Samanthia Nixon and Natasha Roland

Two young actresses meet outside an audition room for the role of a lifetime. What could go wrong?

 

Selected PLAYS

60 - 90 minutes // 3 M, 2 W

“Look, Wade, what we have here is an issue with authenticity.”

A dark comedy about World War II reenactors.

Student Production at USC School of Dramatic Arts, 2023.

Long One Act // 3W / 2M“My name is Tess.”A dark, Jewish comedy about gentrification, identity and the cost of self-preservation. Open Fist Theater Company’s FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL.

Long One Act // 3W / 2M

“My name is Tess.”

A dark, Jewish comedy about gentrification, identity and the cost of self-preservation.

Open Fist Theater Company’s FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL.

Ten-Minute Short // 2W"Sorry, what role are you here for?"Before an audition, two actors must decide who has the right to play Anne Frank.Production (2019) — the Bowery Poetry Club

Ten-Minute Short // 2W

"Sorry, what role are you here for?"

Before an audition, two actors must decide who has the right to play Anne Frank.

Production (2019) — the Bowery Poetry Club

One Act // 2W, 2M“Can you um, introduce me?'“Due to the success of Bigger? Sugar? Figure? the Ethnomusicology Lab at Columbia University commissioned a longer piece based on similar themes.Workshop Production (2019) — Columbia University

One Act // 2W, 2M

“Can you um, introduce me?'“

Due to the success of Bigger? Sugar? Figure? the Ethnomusicology Lab at Columbia University commissioned a longer piece based on similar themes.

Workshop Production (2019) — Columbia University

 
One Act // 2W, 2M"I borrowed it from a book of North African recipes. It's got all these exciting spices like...cumin."Ezra, Shaina, Julian, and Kay are having a dinner party, toasting to their friendship. Until someone gets offended.An OFF TOP commission that blends freestyle rap, improv, and politics.Workshop Production (2018) -- The Tank

One Act // 2W, 2M

"I borrowed it from a book of North African recipes. It's got all these exciting spices like...cumin."

Ezra, Shaina, Julian, and Kay are having a dinner party, toasting to their friendship. Until someone gets offended.

An OFF TOP commission that blends freestyle rap, improv, and politics.

Workshop Production (2018) -- The Tank

Full Length // 3W, 1M"How much has she told you? About this, uh, relationship?"Tess, Landon, and Callie move in together. They want to break boundaries. But will they end up breaking each other?Reading (2017) -- Last Frontier Theater Conference Reading (2017) -- Primary Stages ESPA

Full Length // 3W, 1M

"How much has she told you? About this, uh, relationship?"

Tess, Landon, and Callie move in together. They want to break boundaries. But will they end up breaking each other?

Reading (2017) -- Last Frontier Theater Conference

Reading (2017) -- Primary Stages ESPA

Full Length // 1W, 6M"We're in the middle of the woods in California. Where are you going to run? Where are you going to hide?"When an unpopular boy gets accused of a crime, who gets to pass judgement? And what happens next? Set at a Jewish summer camp, King Lesbian takes a darkly comic look at masculinity in a vacuum.Selected for Jewish Plays Project (2019)Reading (2017) -- Los Angeles Theatre Center

Full Length // 1W, 6M

"We're in the middle of the woods in California. Where are you going to run? Where are you going to hide?"

When an unpopular boy gets accused of a crime, who gets to pass judgement? And what happens next? Set at a Jewish summer camp, King Lesbian takes a darkly comic look at masculinity in a vacuum.

Selected for Jewish Plays Project (2019)

Reading (2017) -- Los Angeles Theatre Center

Full Length // 1W, 2M"I'd just hate -- just fucking hate -- to move back in with my mom and not have any hope, you know?"After a wild party, three friends must paint over an apartment's walls before the movers arrive. They discover a scribbled message, a note that threatens to upend friendships and their futures.Workshop Production (2017) -- Self Produced Staged Reading (2016) -- Chelsea Studios

Full Length // 1W, 2M

"I'd just hate -- just fucking hate -- to move back in with my mom and not have any hope, you know?"

After a wild party, three friends must paint over an apartment's walls before the movers arrive. They discover a scribbled message, a note that threatens to upend friendships and their futures.

Workshop Production (2017) -- Self Produced

Staged Reading (2016) -- Chelsea Studios

Full Length // 3W, 4M"I don't know what it is about our Jews...they never die."At a Jewish middle school in Los Angeles, a reform-minded principle goes to war with a Conservative rabbi. Then a sex scandal erupts. And Bin Laden gets assassinated. A d…

Full Length // 3W, 4M

"I don't know what it is about our Jews...they never die."

At a Jewish middle school in Los Angeles, a reform-minded principle goes to war with a Conservative rabbi. Then a sex scandal erupts. And Bin Laden gets assassinated. A dark comedy about what happens when modernity meet tribalism.

Reading (2015) -- Rattlestick Playwrights Theater

Reading (2015) -- NYU

Recipient of the NYU Jewish Studies Grant (2015)

RESUME

selected full length plays

Golem (2021) Reading -- Open Fist Theater Company                          

King Lesbian (2019)     Selected for Jewish Plays Contest 2019                                  

Reading -- Los Angeles Theater Center (LATC)

                           Three-Body Problem (2017)                        Reading -- Primary Stages/ESPA

                                                                                                   Reading -- Last Frontier Theatre Conference

Painters (2016)                                               Reading -- Theater for the New City; Self Produced 

                           Ostropol (2015)                                              Reading -- Rattlestick Playwrights Theater 

  

Selected one-acts and short plays

COVID Play (2020) New Theatre for Right Now — USC School of Dramatic Arts

EMPACY (2019) Workshop Production - Columbia University

                          Bigger? Sugar? Figure? (2018)                   Workshop Production -- The Tank

                          ANNE (2017)                                                 Workshop Production -- The Tank

                          HOME (2017)                                                 Workshop Production -- Cherry Lane Theatre

                          ClassPass (2016)                                             Workshop Production -- Nuyorican Poets Cafe

education

                         NYU Gallatin (Class of 2015)                         American History, Sociology, and Dramatic Writing            

OTHER RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

                      Resident artist at the BRB retreat for Fresh Ground Pepper (2019)

 Co-founded The Greenroom, an event series focused around theater professionals and the theater community

                       Writer's assistant on Steven Soderbergh's new HBO drama, Mosaic

 

Journalism

 
 

Ice cream and bourbon at America’s concentration camps.

Published in the Forward.

A Georgia senate race phonebanker’s most important call.

Published in the Forward.

To stay or go? For Millennials, a dilemma of being alone vs. risking infecting parents

Published in the Forward.

 

 

Contact

 
 

adieshman@gmail.com