Aysha Zackria

Aysha Zackria is a queer Pakistani-American dramatist, writer, and musician who recently graduated with a BFA in Dramaturgy from CarnegieMellonUniversity.She amplifies opportunities for societal growth through creation. Asyha was one of two Literary Fellows at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center during their 2024 Summer programming. She was the dramaturg for several Carnegie Mellon productions, includingYou on the Moors Now. She received the KennedyCenter American College Theater Festival Region 2 Student Dramaturgy Award and was named aNational Dramaturgy Fellow for her work on the production. She has written plays that examine social issues, includingPillow Fortress,Proximity, andNatural Law, which she produced at CMU. Her playwriting accolades include a commission by Horizon Theatre Company, an excerpt reading at CityTheatre, and a national One Earth Award from Scholastic Arts and Writing. She has served as Script Editor at Lovewell Institute for the Creative Arts. In the last five years at this non-profit, she encouraged high school students to make their voices heard by devising works of musical theatre. In 2019, she won the Miami Herald’s Silver Knight Award in English and Literature for her work as a tutor and advocate for improving access to literature in carceral facilities. Aysha is also an accomplished bassist with a background in music theory. She has played bass in fourteen musicals and on an album, Cosmic Caravan by Fox. On campus, she was the Co-Chair of the Library Student Advisory Council, Secretary of the ThriftyMellon, and Representative for the upperclassmen dramaturgs. She received the Michael Gifford Award and was named one of forty senior Andrew Carnegie Society Scholars for her outstanding engagement and academics