OLIVIA MATTHEWS is a writer from Central Florida. Her ten-minute play Home Going was produced by Playwrights’ Round Table in Orlando and is published in The Best 10 Minutes Plays of 2015 by Smith and Kraus. Her other short plays have been seen in Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Vancouver, and New York City. Her full-length play Absentia received the 2020 Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award. That same year she participated in the Sesame Workshop Writers’ Room Fellowship where she developed an original children’s television pilot entitled Cate and Halle. In 2022, she was named a fellow of The Order of the Good Death, receiving a grant to develop and give an audio presentation of her play Here Lies Vivienne Greene.

Olivia has a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Rollins College and an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Ohio University. Her work often explores family dynamics, the complexities of young women and teens, and the oddities and magic of The South.

When she isn’t writing, Olivia can be found listening to the podcast You’re Wrong About, raving about Dua Lipa’s latest album, or scouring the internet for yet another pair of hoop earrings. If you ever catch her smiling to herself, she’s probably thinking about vegan Cuban picadillo.

Read her work here.

Photo Credit: Hershlay Raymond