Playwrights Forum

Saturday, June 20, 2026
10:00AM-12:00PM  |  Main Stage Lobby

As part of this season’s Playwrights Festival, please join us on Saturday, June 20 for the Playwrights Forum, which includes multiple interactive panel discussions regarding the art and business of playwriting, providing helpful information and suggestions for local and regional playwrights.

Featuring Guest Playwright Trish Harnetiaux

With Dominique Betts, Carrie Bostick, Blake Anthony Edwards, Susan Hardie, Noelle Laffoon, Kathie Doyle-Lipe, Kaya Mallick, Jake Schaefer, and Adell Whitehead

2026 Festival Lineup

Meet The Playwrights

Carrie Bostick
One Sweat Short
Carrie is a reporter for the Coeur d’Alene Press and since moving to Spokane from upstate New York, she’s been ecstatic to become a part of the Spokane theatre community. She has acted in the 2025 Bryan Harnetiaux Playwrights’ Forum Festival and Civic’s Romeo and Juliet. Carrie is also a founding board member of Inland Classical Theatre.

Blake Anthony Edwards
We Know Where You Live
Blake Anthony Edwards is an actor/writer/director who currently serves on the Theatre Arts faculty at Gonzaga University. His plays have been produced across the country, including four works of Theatre for Young Audiences: Big Bad Wolf Tales, The Odyssey, The Quibbling Siblings, and The One and Only Sarah Stonely. His one-man show, Well Equipped, was hailed as “tough, unstinting, smart, nasty, vulnerable, awful, perfect work.” He holds a B.A. in English from Yale University, as well as an M.F.A in Acting (Ohio State University) and an M.F.A. in Theatre for Youth (Arizona State University). He spends his spare time collecting other degrees.

Sara Freedman
Crowbar, The Push
Sara Freedman’s short plays have been produced in Oregon, Washington, Kentucky, New York and West Virginia. Her play “Long Haul” was a finalist in the 2022 Tennessee Williams Literary Festival One-Act competition in New Orleans. Her short play “Horseshoe” was awarded third place in the 2025 10:4 Tenn National Playwright Contest. Sara grew up in Prineville, Oregon and currently lives in Bend. She has a master’s degree in writing from Portland State University.

Will Gilman
37 Origami Bees
Once upon a time there was an extremely huggable boy named Will Gilman. He is excited to be included in the Playwright’s Forum Festival again, as he always views it as an honor. He edits professional wrestling videos, chases whimsies, and encourages happiness. He wants to say hello to his wife, as she always encourages his.

David Golden
Fellow Traveler, My Bahian Tree Rat
David Golden is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter who lives in Seattle. He has had more than 70 productions of his plays performed in theaters in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and throughout the United States.

Jean Hardie
Double Bill
Actively involved at Spokane Civic Theatre since moving here in 1981, Jean has acted in, directed and choreographed many, many shows over the years, but is probably best known as Mother Superior in Nunsense I and II and Nuncrackers. She was the director of the Box ‘n’ Hat Players for 20 years, directed the Civic Summer Program for 14 years, has had several plays accepted for Civic’s annual Playwrights Forum and is a Civic Theatre Lifetime Achievement recipient. Most recently she directed Carousel, Merrily We Roll Along, co-directed Jersey Boys and worked as the Light Board Operator for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Best of all, she got to perform a duet with her son David in Civic’s Musical Revue Beat by Beat. Life is good. 

Bryan Harnetiaux
Office Hours
*Playwright-in-Residence non-competitive entry
Bryan Harnetiaux has been a Playwright-in-Residence at Spokane Civic Theatre in Spokane, Washington, since 1982.. Thirteen of his plays have been published, and his short play The Lemonade Stand is also anthologized in More One Act Plays for Acting Students (Meriwether Publishing Ltd., 2003). These works include commissioned stage adaptations of Ernest Hemingway’s The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Killers, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s Long Walk to Forever, all published by The Dramatic Publishing Company. Bryan’s work has been performed throughout the United States. His play National Pastime, about the breaking of the color line in major league baseball in 1947, has received many productions, including one at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena, California and the Stamford Theatre Works in Stamford, Connecticut. National Pastime is published by Playscripts, Inc. of NYC. 

Lily Johnson
WIP (Woman In Progress)
*Youth Division
Lily Johnson (they/she/he) is an actor and occasional writer from Spokane. At age 20, WIP is both their first-ever submission to Playwrights and their debut play (among many unfinished scripts). Their most recent acting credits include Ninetta in The Love for Three Oranges (2026) at SFCC and the Businessman in The Little Prince (2024) at Civic. In their spare time, Lily has been dabbling in 3D modeling and photo editing and hopes to one day get into film. They would like to thank Heather, Dawn, Caroline, and Mara for making the show the best it can be; Kemuel DeMoville for his initial feedback and encouragement, and their whole family for their enthusiasm and support. They hope you laugh. Please laugh. They’re desperate for validation. Please. Please!

Pam Kingsley
The Photograph
Pam Kingsley’s plays have been produced internationally and throughout the United States. Her play Mother’s Day was a 2019 finalist for the James Stevenson Prize for Short Comedic Plays and won the “Audience Choice Award” at the 31st Playwrights’ Forum Festival in the Pacific Northwest. Pam was commissioned by Stage Left Theater to write and perform a solo piece, Sleepwalking, which was featured in the EMPOWER WOMEN Festival and streamed online. Sleepwalking was also produced as part of Irondale Ensemble’s 2022 ON WOMEN Festival – New Media Library (NYC), streamed online and received an Audience Choice award. Sleepwalking was produced as part of the (NYC) Polaris North Invisibility: Women on the Verge. Pam’s short play Boxes won the “Audience Choice Award” at the 32nd Playwrights’ Forum Festival. Boxes was then produced as part of TheatreWorks 2022 Humanity Festival in greater Louisville. Boxes was a finalist for the national 2023 Susan J Westfall Prize and was selected by the William Inge Theatre Playwrights’ Lab 2025.  Her full-length work, Minister of Sorrow won the Appalachian Playwriting Festival in North Carolina (2023) and opened Parkway Playhouse’s 76th season (2024). Minister of Sorrow had its west coast premiere at Stage Left Theater in December 2025. Pam’s full-length Boxes was featured in New Works Women Showcase, April 2025. Her play A. Lee won the Audience Choice Award at the 35th Bryan Harnetiaux Playwrights’ Forum Festival. Pam holds a BFA and MA in Theatre.

Paul Lewis
Mr. Swain
Paul is a Seattle-based playwright and composer whose recent work includes The City and the Sea, A Musical; The Names; and Lost in the Hills, A Musical —all at Theatre 33 in Salem, OR; musical adaptations of The Runaway Bunny and Caps for Sale (Boston Children’s Theatre); The Crossing, A Musical (Theater Schmeater); and Jill Trent Science Sleuth (Cayuga College). His musical adaptation of the novel Wish won the 2023 AATE Distinguished Play Award.