About Ned Dougherty

Plays and screenplays don’t come alive until there are collaborators ready to bring the words to life. That’s why I write for the stage and screen because these forms of storytelling create community. And I love writing because it means I must continually challenge what I think it means to be human, to be in community. My stories tend to be existential comedies centered around ordinary characters who are driven to leave an extraordinary mark on the world. I am inspired by the students I have taught in the remote reaches of New Mexico and West Virginia. I hope they see themselves in my work. I also cherish facilitating workshops to help writers access something new in their craft or something exciting about being alive for people who don’t see themselves as writers. I think everyone has a story to tell and I want to help people experience the power of telling that story on their terms. When I’m not writing at my desk or teaching my high school students, you can find me wandering around the Alleghany Mountains with my family.

Biography

In 2019, I completed my MFA in Playwriting from Augsburg University. My plays have been featured in theatre festivals from Dublin to Albuquerque and independently produced in my previous home of Taos, New Mexico. My work for the stage has been supported by ForgeNYC, SOMOS, the Taos Center for the Arts and Josh Wilder’s Playwrights Workshop. I have multiple pilots and screenplays that have placed in scriptwriting competitions or earned high marks on The Black List. I was a faculty member of the Taos Writers Conference in 2020. As a high school teacher, I was named New Mexico Charter School Teacher of the Year in 2015, and with my students I have presented at numerous national conferences for educators. I moved to West Virginia in 2021 and currently teach youth in the probation system for the WV Schools of Diversion and Transition.

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Other Creative Skills

Theater
Media Arts: Film