Mara Dresner

Mara Dresner of Rocky Hill is one of 16 playwrights accepted into The PlayOffs playwriting competition and festival, sponsored by Horse & Cart in Denver, Colo. More than 165 playwrights from around the world applied for the competition, which kicked off August 1 at Paris on the Platte in Denver.

Each week, playwrights will be asked to create an original work based on assigned parameters. As in a reality show, a certain number of playwrights will be “voted off” every week, either by an audience vote, online voting or a combination.

On August 29, the winner of the competition will be named. In addition to a cash prize, the winning playwright will be asked to create an original work for the theater. All of the pieces written for the competition will be included in an e-book anthology.

Dresner’s plays have been produced by theaters across the country, including by the American Theatre of Actors in New York City; DeVry University in Illinois; Muscatine Country Arts Council in Iowa; Center Stage Players in West Virginia; Evansville (Wisc.) High School; and Theatre Guild of Simsbury and Windsor Jesters in Connecticut. Her farce An Impeccable Larceny is published by Samuel French (samuelfrench.com). She is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

An award-winning journalist, Dresner is also author of Super-Charge Your Staff Meetings: 52 ways to create fun, meaningful, memorable meetings that your employees will love, a Grand Award winner from the 2012 Awards for Publication Excellence (APEX), and co-author of the second edition of Fast Forward: The Definitive Guide to Salon, Spa and Medspa Management.

She has voiced numerous radio commercials and corporate projects, and has appeared in a number of commercials and films, as well as performing in murder mysteries. She also teaches acting and public speaking in adult education programs.