Rogue Machine Theatre Announces the
Inaugural Cohort of the Engine Room
Engine Room Director: Tanya Everett
Featuring: Anusha Shah, Joshua Labata, Kamila Boga, Zen Rame and Nariya Douglas
Rogue Machine Theatre is proud to introduce the inaugural class of the Engine Room, a new playwright development initiative designed to support emerging writers ages 18–25 who demonstrate exceptional promise but may not yet have access to the mentorship, professional connections, and artistic community needed to launch a career in the theatre.
Selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, this year's cohort is currently participating in an intensive eight-week program under the leadership of Tanya Everett. Throughout the summer, these writers will develop original one-act plays while working alongside professional directors, actors, and mentors, culminating in a public evening of staged readings on July 19 at 7PM.
The Engine Room was created in response to a clear need within the Los Angeles theatre community: a bridge between youth arts education and professional play development that helps talented young writers find a creative home. The program provides emerging artists with the opportunity to hear their work brought to life, build meaningful professional relationships, and develop the skills and confidence needed to pursue careers in the theatre.
The Engine Room Staged Readings will serve as the closing event of Rogue Machine's Playwrights' Roundtable Festival, offering audiences a first look at six exciting new voices and celebrating the next generation of Los Angeles playwrights.
Tanya Everett
Engine Room Director
Tanya Everett, Boston-born, long time aspiring New Yorker. She was a 2019-20 Playwrights Realm Fellow, and received her MFA for Playwriting from Brooklyn College.e She staffed the AMC+ show, Moonhaven. She has worked on several projects in development for MRC, Orion at MGM, Pacesetter, and LBI. Her play, “A Dead Black Man,” was a Finalist for the Dramatist Guild Fellowship in 2019. “And The Gods Walk Among Us” was also named Semi-Finalist for the Princess Grace Award in 2019. Her short play "Thousand Miles," was nominated for a Drama League Award with the AFO Shorts Festival.
She is a Kilroys member, and a proud Writers Guild Member. She is also an acclaimed educator, leading workshops at Loyola Marymount, Brooklyn College, and Union College to name a few. She is represented by Tim Philips and Luke Murphy at UTA.
Anushka Shah
Engine Room Playwright
Anushka Shah is a performer, playwright and dramaturg passionate about intersections in genre and form in her work. A, recent graduate from the The California Institute of the Arts’ acting program Anushka recently debuted her plays “Nomad Cookbook” and the “Silueta Museum” at the CalArts Coffeehouse Theater. Much of Anushka’s work as a theater artist is centered around her love for art pedagogy, and as a first-generation Indian American in the arts, she seeks to incorporate Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices into all of the spaces she curates.
When she’s not acting or creating, Anushka loves to crochet, cook, and clown!
Joshua Labata
Engine Room Playwright
Joshua Labata is a writer from Parañaque, Philippines. He writes stories that make you call your loved ones.
Kamila Boga
Engine Room Playwright
Kamila Boga (she/her) is an LA & NYC-based director, playwright, and actor. Fueled by the belief that creatives are first responders, she develops and directs expressive, ensemble-driven work that turns tension into art. Her plays have been developed by Ashland New Plays Festival, Boise Contemporary Theater, The Road Theatre, Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective, Horizon Theatre, Williams College, and Dartmouth College.
Kamila recently graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in Creative Writing and a minor in Drama and Theatre Arts.
Zen Rame
Engine Room Playwright
Zen Rame (he/they) is a Mexican-American playwright who was born and raised in LA and is proud to call it home. Over the summer, he had the privilege to refine his playwriting through the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and is currently pursuing a degree in Integrated Studies at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television (Go bruins!). In playwriting, he focuses his plays around queer and Latine/Chicane joy, humor, and love as well as exploring topics of masculinity in both communities. Plays include La Lucha y La Reina (Latine Film and Theater Association) and Squirrelvolution (Bruin Fringe Fest).
When they aren’t playwriting, you can catch him making banana bread, taking pictures of his dog, or playing Stardew Valley.
Nariya Douglas
Engine Room Playwright
Nariya Douglas is a storyteller from the Southside of Chicago, whose mediums span acting, writing, and directing. A graduate of the University of Southern California with a BA in Theatre, she is devoted to creating multidimensional characters and humanizing black women through exploring complex family structures and trauma.
This is her first collaboration with Rogue Machine Theatre as well as her first full-length play. She is excited and grateful for the opportunity.
Nariya Douglas
Engine Room Playwright
Nariya Douglas is a storyteller from the Southside of Chicago, whose mediums span acting, writing, and directing. A graduate of the University of Southern California with a BA in Theatre, she is devoted to creating multidimensional characters and humanizing black women through exploring complex family structures and trauma.
This is her first collaboration with Rogue Machine Theatre as well as her first full-length play. She is excited and grateful for the opportunity.