Write It Out! 2024

Hi, I am Donja R. Love - a writer based in the NYC area.

In 2008, after being diagnosed with HIV, I started writing plays. It was a healing and liberating practice. The more I wrote, the more I could understand and navigate through my status. My writing led me to places I'd never imagined, like a production of my play (one in two) that chronicled the first ten years of my living with HIV.

After that production, it became clear that visibility is survival (shoutout to the late author and AIDS advocate Joseph Beam!), and so is community. Wanting to provide space for community, I created Write It Out!

Write It Out! (WIO!) is a groundbreaking playwriting program and prize for people living with HIV and AIDS. WIO! takes pride in being created by community for community. Understanding the isolation one can feel when living with HIV, WIO! provides community and artistic tools as it amplifies the visibility of people living with HIV in the theatre and beyond.

The goal of WIO! is to use the power of imagination and healing to strengthen the voice of those living with HIV and AIDS and transform the theatre landscape into a more equitable and stigma-free space.

We do this through workshops and a free, 10-week virtual playwriting program that helps a cohort of 6-8 people living with HIV sharpen their playwriting skills and build a shame and stigma-free community. The program culminates in a final reading of the writer's work developed during their time at WIO!

As we embark on year 5 (wow!), we are asking for any donation you can offer to help WIO! grow and provide artistic resources for the Poz community in 2024! Any donation counts.

Thank you!