Brent Askari

Brent Askari is a Persian-American writer and actor. He is the winner of the 2019 National New Play Network Smith Prize For Political Theater for his play The Refugees. Other plays include American Underground (Runner-up winner Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award, produced at Barrington Stage Company 2019), Hard Cell (PlayPenn Conference 2017, produced at Geva Theatre Center in 2019), White Party (semi-finalist for O’Neill Conference, Finalist for Bay Area Playwrights Festival and Ashland New Play Festival), Digby’s Home (Semi-finalist O’Neill, produced at Mad Horse Theatre); Exiled Kings Of Persia (Finalist Bay Area Playwrights Festival); Cocktails and Travails (Winner of Neil Simon Festival’s National New Play Contest and produced at The Theater Project); Bending Reeds (Semi-Finalist Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Blank Stage Living Room Series). In addition, he has had plays produced at or developed by Ensemble Studio Theatre LA, Vital Theatre, Melrose Theatre, The 78th Street Theatre, The Boston Theatre Marathon, American Theatre, The Drilling Company, Choice Theatricals, Penobscot Theatre Company, The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, Swarthmore College, Eastern Connecticut State University, and the College of Southern Nevada. Brent has also been a finalist for the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville’s Heideman Award, the Reva Shiner Comedy Award, and the Mountain Playhouse International Comedy Playwriting Contest. 

He was part of HBO’s New Writers Project and has written screenplays for Paramount Pictures, Marvel Films, MTV, and Reveille Entertainment.

Brent is a National New Play Network affiliate artist and a member of Mad Horse Theatre Company. He is currently working on a new commission for Barrington Stage Company.