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BiographyAlison is a playwright, screenwriter, and essayist whose work was most recently seen in the Downtown Urban Arts Festival (DUAF) and at The Tank. She was featured on The Kilroys Web 2025 and is currently in developmental workshops for her full-length play, OK NO. Alison's essays, which include the series All the Times I Cried in Exercise Class, can be read on McSweeney's, the Hott Lettis Substack, and The Three Magazine. She previously wrote, directed, edited, and produced the webseries Janie is Sick, and her original comedy pilot, Mighty Mackerel, was a Second Rounder in the 2022 Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition. Along with Milo O'Connell, with whom she writes under the pseudonym Hott Lettis, Alison is the co-founder of Hott Lettis Productions Limited Liability Company. Alison has also worked as a copywriter, public safety reporter, script production assistant on workshops of Off-Broadway and Broadway musicals, and theatre captioner/accessibility services assistant. Born and raised outside of Baltimore, Maryland, she graduated from The New School for Drama with a BFA in Dramatic Arts in 2019 and is based in New York City.
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Artistic Statement
Fascinated by people and with empathy as my most core value in life and in writing, I write character-driven stories that examine dysfunctional relationships, desperation, spirituality, truth versus assumption, conjecture, or illusion, and the reality behind playing the victim.
I am interested in combining plots and dialogue grounded in reality with offbeat escapism and theatre magic. Tonally, my writing is an eccentric blend of comedy & drama, naturalism & absurdity, the realistic & the strange. I often obsess over syntax, word choice, and idiosyncrasies — searching for the perfect balance of real and relatable dialogue, distinctive voice, emotional truth, and those little details that light up your brain, create a sense of wonder, and pull you into a fantasy world.
Social-action writing has long been important to me, and I often address or incorporate themes surrounding topics such as gender roles and mental health in my work through an intersectional feminist lens. As a CODA, I am particularly passionate about featuring d/Deaf characters and ASL in my work and advocating for accessibility in theatre. It is important to me that my writing be relevant and reflective of the reality of the world around me. I believe that one of the biggest powers that theatre, television, and film hold — besides providing entertainment and escape — is the dispersion of ideas and social norms. What we see constantly in media is what we come to understand and reference as a society. If we consume diverse, inclusive, progressive, and empathetic stories that mirror the truth of society, the world will be a better, more interesting, more diverse, inclusive, progressive, and empathetic place. I don't think this type of writing necessarily needs to introduce its audience to an unheard philosophy; in fact, some of the plays, books, films, and TV shows that have impacted me the most have simply depiction of an experience that feels relatable, validating, unifying, and cathartic. I aim to emulate this in my own work.
Having a well-rounded education and perspective has always been important to me, and because of this, I have studied and continue to study as many disciplines in theatre, film, and television as I can. I want to have a true respect and understanding of other crafts. Not only do I find this vital to collaboration — one of my favorite aspects of theatre and filmmaking — but I also find the knowledge bleeds into and improves my writing, as I understand how other people do their jobs, what they need, and how they will approach my scripts. I am interested in taking on these learning experiences through observation, collaboration, and taking on new roles and challenges.
I am committed to listening and educating myself and acknowledge that not every story is mine to tell. Because of this, I also strive to produce and otherwise support theatre, film, and television that tells untold and underrepresented stories.
Alison in a flower pot, circa 1998