Faculty

Azure D. Osborne-Lee (he/they) is a multi-award-winning Black queer & trans theatre maker and screenwriter from south of the Mason-Dixon Line.  Azure is currently a PhD Candidate in Archiving for Disability Dance and Access Aesthetics (2029) at The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama in London. Azure holds a Certificate in Screenwriting (2025) from The New School, an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice (2011) from The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama as well as an MA in Women’s & Gender Studies (2008) and a BA in English & Spanish from The University of Texas at Austin (2005). He is a Lecturer at The New School's School of Drama in New York City.

Azure was a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Playwriting/Screenwriting (2025), GLAAD Black Queer Creative Summit Fellow (2025), Disability Belongs Virtual Entertainment Lab Fellow (2025), Still Standing Artist-in-Residence @StonehengeNYC (2021), recipient of Waterwell New Works Lab’s 2021 Commission, Kilroys List 2020 playwright, recipient of Parity Productions’ 2018 Annual Commission, Winner of Downtown Urban Arts Festival’s 2018 Best Play Award, and the 2015 Mario Fratti-Fred Newman Political Play Contest.

Azure’s full-length play “Crooked Parts” was published in The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays and was produced as part of the 2024 Obsidian Theatre Festival in Detroit, MI.

His full-length play “Mirrors” received its world premiere, produced by Parity Productions, at Next Door at New York Theatre Workshop in spring 2020. Unfortunately, this production closed early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Mirrors" has been published by NoPassport Press.

Azure's play "Red Rainbow," a semi-finalist for the 2022 National Playwrights Conference, received a production at Mt. Holyoke College in March - April 2022 and received a production at Tufts University in March 2023. "Red Rainbow" was published in The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays, Volume 2.

Azure is the founder of Roots and River Productions, and was a member of the inaugural Trans Theater Lab cohort. Azure’s work has been produced and/or developed by Trans Lab @ The Public and WP, Parity Productions, PRIDE Plays, The Tank, The Flea Theater, BAX|Brooklyn Arts Exchange, BAM, JACK, Rising Circle Theater Collective, The Fire This Time Festival, Horse Trade Theater Group, The Castillo Theatre, The New Ohio Theatre, National Black Theatre, Freedom Train Productions, Downtown Urban Arts Festival, Lambda Literary Foundation, The Helix Queer Performance Network, and regionally.

Finalist for New York Independent Theatre Awards' 2024 Everett Quinn Award and 2023 Artistic Achievement Award, 2023 Terrence McNally New Works Incubator, Theatre Viscera’s Queer Playwright’s 2022 Contest, VanguardRep’s 2019 Summer Production, BAX|Brooklyn Arts Exchange’s 2018 Artist in Residence, National Black Theatre’s I AM SOUL Playwrights Residency, and Soho Rep’s Writer/Director Lab; Semi-finalist for the 2021 Doric Wilson Award, 2019 Burman New Play Award, Ars Nova’s Play Group and New York Theatre Workshop’s Emerging Artists Fellowship.

Azure made his screenwriting debut in 2020 with his short film "Sundown Support," which was commissioned for #WhileWeBreathe: a Night of Creative Protest, produced by Prodigal Son Entertainment.

Azure’s full-length plays include: “Mirrors,” “Crooked Parts,” "The Beasts of Warren,” "The Crocus Eaters," “Glass," and "Red Rainbow."

Photo credit: Bronwen Sharp

Certificate in Screenwriting, The New School MA Advanced Theatre Practice, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama MA Women's & Gender Studies, The University of Texas at Austin BA English & Spanish, The University of Texas at Austin