Joan began telling stories early. By 13, she was winning poetry slams. By 16, her first short play was produced. By 18, she’d published two plays and earned a Merit in Playwriting from the National YoungArts Foundation. While studying at Southwestern University, she produced original works with the Mask & Wig Organization, founded the school’s first playwriting club, and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. After graduation, Joan apprenticed with Powerhouse Theater and New York Stage and Film, working on Beth Henley’s Lightning and premiering her satirical short Honey...She’s Home, later produced by TEDxAsburyPark and Paper Kraine. She returned to Powerhouse in 2023 as a guest playwright to develop You Know What’s Weird to Think About? with director Connor Ausman. Joan also co-founded the Citadel of Playwrights, a two-year virtual collective supporting female, trans, and nonbinary writers through workshops and readings of over 15 new play
SCREENWRITING
Joan began to experiment with screenwriting in 2021, and quickly fell in love. Her first horror feature Soporose received a reading with the Entry Level Series in 2024, and she is currently exploring its adaptation into a novel. In the winter of 2025, while on break from graduate school, Joan completed production on Marwood Murder House, the first short she wrote and starred in. Shortly thereafter, she began production on GIRL IN UR FEED, an intermedial short film exploring social media’s impact on mental health. GIRL IN UR FEED, along with accompanying writing, will serve as Joan’s thesis project for her MPhil in Digital Arts and Intermedia Practices.
