Riley Elton McCarthy is an OFFIES, Brighton Fringe Awards, BroadwayWorld, and OFF-Fest award nominated playwright, lyricist, screenwriter, and performer. They are a member of the Dramatists Guild and Actors Equity Association. They sleep 8 hours a night and take antidepressants to be a functioning member of society. 

 

Riley's writing has been produced and developed off-Broadway, in London, Edinburgh, and Copenhagen. 

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They have won or been a finalist for many major playwriting awards and residencies; including the Eugene O'Neill National Playwriting Conference (4x), the Staltonhall Residency, the Dramatists Guild Fellowship (2x), SheNYC Arts (2x), Workshop Theatre's TGN2S+ Residency, ArtHouse Production's INKubator, Culture Lab LIC Emergence Residency, and the Juilliard Playwriting Program (2x).

 

They are finishing their MFA in Musical Theatre Writing at NYU, where they are writing a new musical adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla with Yuanji Qu. ​​They've taught playwriting at universities all over the United States, and as a guest artist in Copenhagen and London.

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Riley is proudly Irish & Danish, is from a family of immigrants, and lives with Hashimoto's and Lupus.

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A film adaptation of their play IVORIES is currently under option.