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

love i awethu further

a world premiere

directed by Tamilla Woodard

June 1-27, 2027

Wooly Mammoth Theater Company

Washington, DC.

BURNBABYBURN: an american dream

a WORLD PREMIERE

directed by Karla Payne

August 25-September 13, 2026

August Wilson House Backyard

(Pittsburgh Playwrights 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

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

—Callie