Judith Champion New Work Series

Judith Champion New Work Series

The Judith Champion New Work Series features public readings of exciting new plays from a dynamic group of visionary playwrights. Through the Series, playwrights are invited to develop a play early in its generative process with a team of professional collaborators and The Public Theater’s New Work Development staff.

The 2026 Judith Champion New Work Series will feature plays by Jasmine Sharma, Seayoung Yim, Sanjit De Silva, and Karina Billini.

Admission to the Judith Champion New Work Series is free, and seating is first-come, first-served.

The Judith Champion New Work Series is made possible through generous support from the Judith Champion New Work Development Fund and Mel Litoff. Judith Champion was a fierce arts advocate, who left a legacy of support for new voices in the American Theater.

RSVP FOR 2026 JUDITH CHAMPION NEW WORK SERIES

Playwrights

Jasmine Sharma

JASMINE SHARMA she/her is a South Asian-American performer/writer/activist. She aims to focus her work at the intersection of race/femininity/Americanness. Sharma is currently a Core Member of The Kilroys, a Playwrights' Center Core Writer, and resident with Colt Coeur. She is a 2026 Finalist for the 48th Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and included on “Women to Watch on Broadway: 2026” by Broadway Women’s Fund. Previous acting credits include Twelfth Night (The Public Theater), Love You More (Tank Core Production), you don’t have to do anything (HERE Arts, u/s perf.), Wives (Aurora Theatre), CALVIN BERGER: A Musical (Colony Theatre), The Wolves (McCarter Theater), and a lot of new work development. As a writer, full lengths include Pigeonhole (2026 SSBP Finalist, developed with NYTW, Center Theatre Group commission), PEACHY: a sorta chekhovian traumedy (developed with PWC, IAMA Theatre Company, taught/produced at Yale University, NPC Finalist), THE JAZMINES: a rage play - and for legal reasons, a parody (developed with PWC, NPC Finalist), Radial Gradient (World Premiere at Shattered Globe Theatre, Kilroys Web 2023), among others. Northwestern University. jasminesharma.org | @jasminesharmaa

Seayoung Yim

SEAYOUNG (SHEE-young) YIM is an NYC-based writer, originally from Seattle. She's the winner of the Dramatist Guild's Lanford Wilson Award, the Yale Drama Series Prize, and a recipient of The Venturous Playwright Fellowship from the Playwrights' Center. Yim is a resident playwright with New Dramatists and has taught at Brown University and RISD. Her play, Jar of Fat, has a forthcoming world premiere with Theatre Battery in 2026. Other honors: Kilroys Web selection, The Bruntwood Prize (shortlist), L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award (finalist), Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award (2nd place), and The Relentless Award (semi-finalist). Residencies and Fellowships: Clubbed Thumb's Early Career Writers Group, Colt Coeur's residency, Seoulful Productions’ Korean Writers Lab, Ma-Yi Writers Lab, Sewanee Writers' Conference Playwriting Fellowship, Hedgebrook's Residency, and the Stephen Sondheim Graduate Fellowship in Theater Arts. Commissions: The Powers Playwriting Fellowship (Old Globe), the Woolly Mammoth x Black List, and The Public Theater + CTG commission.

Sanjit De Silva

SANJIT DE SILVA is an Actor/Writer/Director/Teacher/Father. He received his M.F.A. from New York University’s prestigious Graduate Acting Program. He wrote, starred and co-directed the short film Time After. He’s written four plays with Deepa Purohit, the latest, Crushed Earth, was commissioned by People’s Light Theatre and his TV pilot, “Lankan,” was developed at the Orchard Project Episodic Lab. De Silva’s various stage credits include: Broadway: War Horse (Tony-Award Best Play, Lincoln Center Theater). Off-Broadway: Corruption (J.T. Rogers World Premiere, Lincoln Center Theater, Dir. Bart Sher), Elyria (World Premiere, Atlantic Theater, Dir. Awoye Timpo), Richard III (NYSF/Public Theater, Dir. Robert O’Hara, starring Danai Gurira), The Merchant of Venice (TFANA, Dir. Arin Arbus), An Ordinary Muslim (NYTW, Dir. Jo Bonney), Dry Powder (World Premiere, Public Theater, Dir. Thomas Kail, starring John Krasinski and Claire Danes, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critic's Circle Award Nominations for Best Featured Actor). De Silva has been in several films such as ReEntry, Afterparty, The Girl is in Trouble (produced by Spike Lee), The Company Men (with Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones), and the critically acclaimed Arranged. His television credits include shows such as “Inventing Anna,” “New Amsterdam,” “Evil,” “Tell Me A Story,” “Blindspot,” “Time After Time,” “Madam Secretary,” “Blacklist,” “Elementary”, “High Maintenance,” “Homeland,” “Blue Bloods,” “The Good Wife.” He is an Adjunct Professor at the College of Drama at The New School. www.silvadollarfilms.com

Karina Billini

KARINA BILLINI she/her is a Dominican-American playwright and educator from Brooklyn. She is a recent graduate of Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. She is a proud alum of the Public Theater’s 2023–25 Emerging Writers Group, New Harmony Project Conference, Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Youngblood, Pipeline PlayLab, among others. Her plays have been workshopped at La Jolla Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, among others. Billini holds an MFA in Playwriting from the New School and a BA from Marymount Manhattan College.