“A richly talented playwright…” - London Pub Theatres

“The steadiness of writing short, funny, gripping stories is a credit to Payne’s skill with a pen (or keyboard)…” - Adventures in Theatreland

Originally from Kentucky, Raegan Payne is a published playwright whose plays have been produced all over the world. She studied Shakespeare at the British American Drama Academy and improv/sketch writing at The Groundlings in Los Angeles. She is a member of Ammunition Theatre Company’s Writers Group, the Dramatists Guild, Actors' Equity, and SAG-AFTRA.

Her play “Sweet Nothings,” a series of four award-winning comedy shorts, debuted to sell-out crowds in London at The Barons Court Theatre in April 2024, and was called, “hilarious,” “brilliant,” and a “theatrical masterpiece.”

Raegan’s play “The Dying Declaration of Madge Oberholtzer” won the McNerney Playwriting Award, Long Beach Playhouse’s New Works Festival, was a Bay Area Playwrights Festival finalist, and an O’Neill semi-finalist.  Her play “Timeless: A Scientific Comedy” was picked by Pulitzer Prize Winner Martyna Majok to win the Kentucky Women Writers Conference Playwriting Prize, and was a finalist for the Reva Shiner Comedy Award.  She has been lucky enough to stay at Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore in Paris, participate in The Royal Court Theatre’s Peckham Writers Group in London, the Scripps Ranch Theatre’s New Works Studio, the HBMG Foundation’s Winter Playwrights Retreat in Colorado, The Lark’s Roundtable Reads, and Iceland’s Klaustrid Artists Residency. In 2019 she was awarded the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Grant. .

She unwinds by fostering kittens and practicing Aikido.

Something like a Bio:

Born in Murray, KY, Raegan grew up writing plays for my brothers and cousins to perform at our grandparents. She started school pre-med, but switched tracks because teachers saw promise in her comedy writing. Also, she took parasitology….

This is a picture of Raegan attempting to write a romantic comedy as a toddler. No one appreciated the avant-garde structure.