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
Rochester, NY; New Haven, CT; Denver, CO
(April 14- May 31, 2026)
THREE PRODUCTIONS DIRECTED BY
Jasmine Gunter (Geva Theatre)
abigail jean-baptiste (Yale Rep)
& Jada Suzanne Dixon (Curious Theater Company)
“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
