Juliette Carrillo Named Ojai Playwrights Writer-in-Residence

The award-winning director and playwright and professor of drama will develop new work at the July 30–Aug. 2 New Works Festival

Juliette Carrillo, head of directing in the Department of Drama at UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts, and award-winning director and playwright, has been named a Writer-in-Residence for the 2026 Ojai Playwrights Conference (OPC) Summer Conference & New Works Festival, July 30 through Aug. 2 in Ojai. The coveted conference and festival received over 1,000 submissions, marking Carrillo’s enduring impact in live theater regionally and beyond.

"As someone who is primarily known in the field as a director, it's incredibly affirming to have my playwright-self acknowledged in this way," Carrillo said. "I'm thrilled to be in the company of so many wonderful writers and look forward to digging deep — into the others' plays as well as my own."

At OPC, selected playwrights receive a two-week workshop to develop their new plays, culminating in public performances at the New Works Festival. Carrillo joins fellow Writers-in-Residence Zola Dee and Gregory S. Moss, alongside this year's festival playwrights: Jaclyn Backhaus (The Collectivists), Keith Bunin (The Loyal Opposition), Grace McLeod (Closing Costs), Harrison David Rivers (Except That It Is God) and Mat Smart (The Last Nun at Lake Leaf Monastery).

A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Carrillo has staged award-winning, critically acclaimed work at some of the nation's leading theaters, including Center Theatre Group, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre and Denver Center Theatre Company. Carrillo also serves as head of directing in the UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts Department of Drama. Known for visually striking, emotionally resonant work and a gift for developing new plays, she served for seven years as artistic associate at South Coast Repertory, where she ran the Hispanic Playwrights Project and collaborated with writers including Luis Alfaro, Nilo Cruz and José Rivera. A founding member of the Latinx Theatre Commons and a longtime Cornerstone Theater Company ensemble member, she has built work with communities across California, bringing voice to the underrepresented. Her honors include the NEA/TCG Directing Fellowship and the Princess Grace Award, and she was named a 2025 MacDowell Fellow.

The Ojai Playwrights Conference develops new work for the American theater, offering a rigorous, noncommercial haven for writers investigating the social, political and cultural questions of the moment. Set in a secluded natural retreat, the conference prizes collaboration over competition, gathering a deliberately diverse community of youth, early-career and established writers to reflect the many voices of contemporary American life.

To learn more about the 2026 OPC)Summer Conference & New Works Festival, visit ojaiplays.org.