Christina Anderson

With a passion for history and a keen ear for language, Christina Anderson is an American playwright with a global audience. Her plays, from Inked Baby (2009) to the ripple, the wave that carried me home (2022), explore ways to endure the struggles that arise from trying to find one's place in a willfully ignorant society. Good Goods (2012), for example, uses ghosts both literal and figurative to explore the theme of “possession” and what it might mean to own ourselves. In this play, Anderson’s love for research and far-ranging inspirations, including work by Black artists like Audre Lorde, Marlon Riggs, and Nina Simone, coalesce into a beautifully dream-like love story. How to Catch Creation (2019) likewise confronts the tragedies of the past while remaining open to the possibility of a more just future as it follows characters committed to their dreams despite economic inequality and a broken legal system. Through all her work, Anderson’s deep enthusiasm for linguistic delight—rhyming, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and more—runs true. Drawing on a youth immersed in the melodious rhapsody of spoken poetry and hip hop, Anderson has said, “Language is one of our biggest resources, so why not have fun with it?” The recipient of a Steinberg Playwright Award, among other honors, Anderson has taught playwriting at various institutions including her alma mater, the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University.