George Sapio is a mid-career playwright, director, producer, actor, and dramaturg. For the past 11 years, he has produced and hosted the podcast “Onstage/Offstage,” featuring interviews with theatre professionals from around the world and live readings of new short plays. He also founded and served as the artistic director of the Ithaca Fringe Festival from 2013 to 2017. His solo show, Night Witch, about the WWII all-female Russian fighter squadron will debut in Chicago in 2023.
His play Ghosts won the 2001 Panowski Playwriting Award. A later play, Oatmeal and a Cigarette, was awarded Critics' Pick at the 2008 Cincinnati Fringe and published by Broadway Play Publishing. Several of his shorter plays have appeared in recent “Best of” anthologies.
In response to colleagues asking him about his play development experiences, Sapio wrote the how-to book Workshopping the New Play: A Guide for Playwrights, Directors, and Dramaturgs (published by Globe Pequot Books).
At MacDowell, Sapio completed the first draft of a full-length stage play entitled Acqua Tofana, about Gironima Spana, a 17th-century Italian seer, midwife, alchemist, and professional poisoner. He also began a collection of interconnected short plays featuring the annual full moons as themes.
