04/02/2026
This just in!
We're proud to welcome ARI ROTH, MICHAEL WINDSOR, AND REMATA ELLER to this year's DC judges' table!
Learn more about these three industry professionals who will help determine this year's Monologue Madness DC Champion.
ARI ROTH is a Chicago-born, DC-based producer, playwright, dramaturg, and Founder of Voices Festival Productions (VFP) where he works in partnership with A. Lorraine Robinson to produce the series Voices From a Changing Nation and the longer-running Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival which began at Theater J (the resident professional company of the DC Jewish Community Center), where Roth served as artistic director for 18 years, building the troupe into the largest Jewish theater in North America, and what the NYTimes called in 2006 “The Premier Theatre for Premieres.
While at Theater J, Roth produced 129 productions, including 44 world premieres, and created “Locally Grown: Community Supported Art,” alongside discussion forums like The Peace Café. Following the abrupt cancellation of the Middle East Festival by the DCJCC in 2014 and Roth’s dismissal for protesting its closure, and buoyed by support from over 120 artistic directors from across the country, Roth established Mosaic Theater Company to expand a social justice mission and make Mosaic a model of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access. Mosaic's inaugural season was heralded by The Washington Post as "one of the most significant developments in Washington theatre in years."
From its first production, and over the next five seasons, Mosaic produced 36 full productions, including 9 world premieres, 50 staged readings, workshops, and “Mosaic on the Move” presentations, with over 600 post-show discussions, building a Fusion Community with audiences from all parts of the city. In November 2020, in the midst of pandemic-fueled controversies within the staff, Roth stepped down from Mosaic to return to a more generative role within a theatrical outfit, as VFP was founded to pursue both a more personal, and more dialogic programmatic vision. World Premieres at VFP as part of Voices From a Changing Nation have included Who Cares: The Caregiver Interview Project, , and Letters To Kamala/Dandelion Peace. Under the umbrella title “Losing/Finding Home,” VFP’s 2022 Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival produced The Gate (at Capital Fringe), Roth’s My Calamitous Affair With The Minister Of Culture & Censorship, and Home? A Palestinian Woman’s Pursuit Of Life, Liberty & Happiness (at The Corner at Whiman-Walker) and the virtual production of I, Dareen T. In 2023-24, at its new home at UNMC/Spooky Action Theatre, the Middle East Festival "At War/Before & After" presented Balfour, Almond Blossom at Deir Yassin, Stay Safe, How to Remain a Humanist After a Massacre in 17 Steps, and Live From Jenin. In 2025, the Festival's “How We Got Here/Where We Go Next” featured the World Premiere musical November 4, alongside 4-night workshop presentations of Imperfect Allies: Children of Opposite Sides and Apeirogon: Rami and Bassam, together with an updated version of The Admission (first produced at Theater J) in partnership with ViewFinder Pictures.
As a playwright, produced work includes: Who Cares... (co-written with A. Lorraine Robinson and Vanessa Gilbert), and A Calamitous Affair, both produced at VFP (the latter of which has been updated and workshopped in Chicago at the Steppenwolf Theater Garage, and in Arizona at The Bridge Initiative. Born Guilty (based on the book of interviews with children of N***s by Peter Sichrovsky) was commissioned and produced by Arena Stage, with more than 50 productions across the country; Peter and The Wolf (a sequel to Born Guilty) produced by Theater J, Jewish Theatre of the South; and fused as a diptych with Born Guilty for Epic Theatre at Manhattan Theatre Club and CUNY; and then a family prequel, Andy and The Shadows produced at Theater J; all of which are part of "The Born Guilty Cycle." Other produced work includes Oh, The Innocents; Goodnight Irene; Life In Refusal, Love and Yearning in the Not for Profits; Still Waiting (companion to Waiting For Lefty) and a dozen one-acts. His plays have been nominated for five Helen Hayes Awards, including Best Resident Production and two Charles A. MacArthur Awards for Outstanding New Play.
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MICHAEL WINDSOR is a freelance director and producer in the DMV, known for creating theatrical experiences that prioritize a fresh perspective, immersive storytelling, and dynamic visual worlds. He is the founder and Co-Artistic Director of Monumental Theatre Company, now in its tenth year of operation. There, he has produced and directed productions including American Psycho, Brooklyn, Daddy Long Legs, and tick, tick... BOOM!, with his work earning multiple nominations and recognition at the Helen Hayes Awards. Outside of Monumental, Michael has collaborated on a range of productions across the region, including work with Signature Theatre (Titanic, Light Years). He currently serves as the Director of Theater at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA, where he directs all mainstage productions—most recently Hadestown and The Tempest—and works to build bold, inclusive, and creatively ambitious spaces for young artists.
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RAMATA ELLER is an award-winning French-American writer, filmmaker, translator and educator of Malian origin and born in Tunisia! She grew up in Paris, France, her hometown. She has studied in Tennessee and Maryland and now lives in Washington, DC with her husband and their two children. She writes novels, poems, and screenplays in French, English and German. She has published her 1st French mystery novel "Meurtre au Labo" and her first short film "Midlife Crisis”, which she wrote, co-produced and co-directed, won Best Micro Short Award at YouFilmFest 2022 at the Kennedy Center in DC. She is a member of Women In Film and Video DC and is currently adapting her novel into a feature film.
Monologue Madness audience tickets are available online at www.MonologueMadness.net
