Washington Kirk – 2026 Cohort
I Am SOUL Playwright Residency
Washington Kirk is a writer-director-performer who creates for the stage and both the small and big screens. His work depicts Black life within contemporary frameworks, tinged with dark comedy and flashes of the absurd or surreal. Frederick Douglass Boulevard aka Food & Drink Boulevard aka F.D.B., his award-winning dark comedy about a Black married couple who scheme to de-gentrify Harlem, recently qualified for the 2026 Emmys ballot in the Outstanding Short Form category, and the 8-episode first season is currently streaming on Kinema. Kirk’s full-length play Heaven was a Semifinalist for the 2024 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference.
Filmmaking honors (selected): Sundance New Voices Lab Finalist, The Gotham Project Market selection, Urbanworld, ABFF, MVAAFF, Bushwick (Special Jury Prize), Harlem International (Spotlight Award), Black Harvest, Austin, New Orleans, SeriesFest (Best Drama, Best Performance in a Drama, Best Director), 2026 Webby nominee for Best Writing in TV & Film, 2026 Tellys Award winner (Comedy, Drama, Scripted).
As an actor (selected): NYC theater: Nollywood Dreams by Jocelyn Bioh, dir. Saheem Ali (Cherry Lane), Lower Ninth by Beau Willimon, dir. Daniel Goldstein, Classic Kitchen Timer by and dir. Adam Rapp (The Flea), Melanin Intervention by Chisa Hutchinson, dir. Elizabeth Van Dyke, Zoohouse by Aurin Squire, dir. Ebony Golden (NBT); Regional: The Brothers Size by Tarell McCraney, dir. Tea Alagic (ATL), In the Red and Brown Water by McCraney, dir. Greg Wallace (La Jolla/UCSD). TV: Divorce (HBO), The Breaks (VH-1). Film: A Ride to Remember (ALTFF Best Actor of Festival, Fall 2022). MFA, UCSD.