Phanésia Pharel

(Bio as of April 2026)

Phanésia Pharel is a Haitian-American playwright and screenwriter from a dragon fruit farm in Miami. She is the daughter of an immigrant teacher and farmer. She recently made her Off-Broadway debut at the WP Theater with her play The Waterfall. She is the Playwriting Fellow (2025-2027) at Emory University, where she serves as a visiting professor and has a new play produced by their repertory company. Her plays have been developed at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, New Harmony Project, Playwrights’ Center, New York Stage and Film, SolFest, Thrown Stone, Shattered Globe and Echo Theater Company. She has received commissions from the Atlantic Theater, Lucille Lortel (Alcove), La Jolla Playhouse, Miranda Family Fund, Hero Theatre, City Theatre Miami and the Latinx Playwrights Circle. Pharel is a member of the Obie-winning EST/Youngblood group and The Wish Collective. As a screenwriter, she is a member of Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Screenwriting Lab. Her honors include The Kilroys Web, five awards from the Kennedy Center, and an A is For Playwriting Award recipient. She holds a BA in Urban Studies from Barnard College of Columbia University and an MFA in Playwriting from the University of California San Diego.