In the words of the playwrights

Bay Area resident Freed, 50, has won acclaim with “The Beard of Avon” and “Freedomland” (both SCR commissions) as well as other nightmarish comedies and historical riffs.

Atlanta native Gunderson, 26, started acting when she was 10 and wrote her first play in high school.

New Yorker Kolvenbach, 42, creates what he calls “personal dramas that are some combination of funny and sad,” including “Love Song.”

Best known for the prize-winning “Intimate Apparel” (an SCR co-commission), Brooklyn-born Nottage, 43, spins imaginative tales that zip through time and space.

White, 37, grew up in Orange County and lives in New York.