about the playwright
vision: the liminal realm
The world demands we pick a clearly defined lane — one ethnicity, nationality, gender, identity.
But the space where those identities meet is a mess.
My vision is a world unafraid to explore that mess: the convergence of who we are between each other, where we love, hate, thrive, and fall apart.
This space is safe and alive, where we examine and honor that glorious, terrifying chaos — the liminal realm we call "human."
background
PL Krahnke’s plays include Humid; Asylum; Robbi at The Confluence; and Merry Christmas, Beauregard!—a musical currently in development.
Her work has received readings in New York, London, Chicago, San Francisco, and Bloomington, Indiana, and been developed at Chicago Dramatists, Telling Humans Playwright Studio, Goddard College, and the Jerwood Center UK.
Humid was a finalist for the Hinton Battle National Multicultural New Play Competition, placing in the top eight out of 3,000 submissions, and received readings in both New York and London.
She served on the Board of Directors of Chicago Dramatists, is a Founding Member of Telling Humans Playwright Studio—which spans Chicago, Atlanta, New Jersey, Indiana, and Wisconsin—and is a Chicago Dramatists Masterclass & Network Member. She is also a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Playwrights Center.
She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Goddard College.
Her continuing development includes classes at Chicago Dramatists with Spanish playwright Emilio Williams, work with director Kate Hendrickson of Trap Door Theatre (Chicago), and study with playwright Will Dunne.
Krahnke’s plays have been dramaturged by Jack Phillips Moore of The Public Theater (NYC), Martine Kei Green-Rogers, Dean of the DePaul Theatre School, and Chicago playwright Carson Grace Becker.
Her broader experience includes a teaching practicum in New York City and serving as a teaching assistant for Emilio Williams in both Chicago and Paris.
She also read and recommended plays for potential production for director Hal Scott at Crossroads Theatre and for George Street Playhouse in New Jersey.
As a producer, Krahnke produced the Telling Humans new-play reading series in Chicago in 2023 and 2024.
She is currently co-producing CONVERGENCE: A New-Play Reading Festival, scheduled for Spring 2027 in Chicago, featuring works that explore the spaces between cultures, beliefs, and political identities.
Krahnke is a member of Theatrical Resources Unlimited (TRU) in New York, and currently is completing the TRU Producer Development & Mentorship Program (PDMP).