a.k. payne (they&she) is a playwright, artist-theorist, and theatermaker with roots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by way of the U.S. South & the Black Atlantic.

upcoming

upcoming

FURLOUGH’S PARADISE

West Coast Premiere

@ Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles (April 16- May 18, 2025)

DIRECTED BY TINASHE KAJESE BOLDEN

“you will speak as you speak/ you will walk like you have a right to it./ you will have a right to it./ you will breathe easy…”

—SMITH

“so this is for us being pushed out and dying too young with brief extraordinary lives and images worthy of a hundred thousand poems.”

“if you combust, ain’t nothing left for me to lose, so you can’t combust, okay?”

—Sade

“in the fields, i have a lot of time to think”

—Callie