About Martha

Martha King De Silva’s plays for children and adults have been produced at a variety of venues across the country including, Source Theatre Company, Horizons Theatre, and Charter Theatre (Washington, DC); Potomac Theatre Company (Potomac, MD); 2 Co’s Cabaret (Columbus, OH); ShadowBox Cabaret (Newport, KY); the Industrial Arts Theatre (Denver, CO); The Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival (New York, NY); Theatre at Lime Kiln (Lexington, VA); The National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC), Children’s Theatre of Charlotte (Charlotte, NC), Imagination Stage (Bethesda, MD), Synchronicity Theatre (Atlanta, GA) and The Growing Stage (Netcong, NJ).

Her work has been described as “hilarious” (Columbus Alwire); “moving, funny, often ironic always interesting,” (Denver Post); “gentle, disarming” (Washington Times), and a “big woof and more,” (Creative Loafing, Charlotte).

In 2002, her one-woman play, “Stretch Marks” (Charter Theatre) was nominated for the Charles MacArthur Award (Helen Hayes) for Outstanding New Play. In 2010, “Heidi” a musical that she co-wrote with composer and lyricist, Joan Cushing, received a Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding Production, Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA).

She has been a recipient of grants from the DC Humanities Commission and the DC Historical Society. She has been awarded the H.D. Lewis Award for New Play Development at the 1996 Washington Theatre Festival, was the winner of the Best New Play Award at the 1999 Maryland Theatre Festival, and won the 2022 Laurie Award at the Growing Stage. Her monologues have appeared in the Best Women’s Stage Monologues of 1996 and the Best Men’s Stage Monologues of 1998.

Martha lives and works in Washington, DC.

Photo credit: Jon Meadows