Robert Menna, Founder/Director of the Milken Playwriting Prize, has extensive experience working with playwrights. He served as Dramaturg/Literary Manager at Seattle’s Intiman Theatre, founded the Seattle Playwrights Alliance, and worked as co-director of the Ojai Playwrights Conference. He has written and directed dozens of plays, working with noted writers and receiving a commission from the Denver Center to adapt Newbery Award Winner Avi’s The End of the Beginning. As an educator, Menna taught in the MFA Acting Program at the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver as well as in various high schools. He has taught at Milken Community Schools for more than 8 years. He has also co-directed the Denver Center's Living History program, which reached more than 10,000 high school students annually with its mix of theater, history, ethics and literature. He holds an MFA in Directing from the University of Washington. www.robertmenna.com