Evalena Lakin (née Friedman, she/her) is a Chicago-based playwright, librarian, educator, and bookworm. She received her M.S. in Library & Information Sciences from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and her B.A. in Theatre and Elementary Education summa cum laude from Northeastern University, where she helped launch the first-ever new play initiative on campus, producing dozens of student playwrights each year.
As a playwright, she has had the pleasure of working with Bramble Theatre Company (2024 Berry Award & Festival of Unfinished Work Winner), Great Plains Theatre Commons, Redtwist Theatre, Prop Thtr, The Annoyance, Chicago Dramatists, NoMads Art Collective, and many others. Her play, TOP GIRL, or the cheerleader play, was a semi-finalist for American Blues Theatre’s 2026 Blue Ink Award.
Evalena was part of the 2021-2022 Theatremacher Cohort with the Jewish Theatre Alliance and worked as a teaching artist with Lifeline Theatre for several years. She is currently the Library Assistant at the Poetry Foundation.
Evalena’s plays are available for download on the National New Play Network’s New Play Exchange. You can read her book picks for the Poetry Foundation here.
