Noa Gardner (Playwright) ​thinks about the craft of playwriting deeply and often. He is a Native Hawaiian playwright born and raised in Kaimuki on the island of O‘ahu and a graduate of the MFA Dramatic Writing program at the University of Southern California (2020). Using August Wilson as a model, Gardner is interested in presenting a body of work through his plays that speak to different facets of Hawaiian culture, presenting to an audience (sometimes for the very first time) a glimpse into the deep interior lives of Hawaiian people. Hawaiian families in Hawaiian homes. Currently, he lives on O‘ahu and is a student at the University of Hawai‘i Manoa seeking a second undergraduate degree in both Hawaiian Language and Hawaiian Studies. He was a National Finalist for the Gary Garrison Ten Minute Play Award (2016), a finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival (2023), a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill, and has had his one-act and full-length plays read in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Son of Semele Ensemble, Los Angeles Theatre Company, Artists at Play and Pasadena Playhouse.