Lesley Announces Maine Scholars Program
The Maine Scholars program gives students prioritization by Maine employers as well as opportunities for financial aid and scholarship benefits.

Cassie Seinuk

MFA in Creative Writing Faculty

photo of faculty member Cassie Seinuk in a jean jacket and glasses against a brown background

Cassie M. Seinuk is a playwright, AEA Stage Manager, visual artist and educator in Boston, MA. Her play, From the Deep, has won multiple awards, including The Pestalozzi New Play Prize and the Latinidad Playwrights Award at the Kennedy Center. It was also a recipient of the Boston University Jewish Culture Endowment, and it appeared on the 2015 Kilroys Honorable Mention List. The production of From the Deep received IRNE Award nominations and nearly sold out at 2016 FringeNYC Festival.

Eyes Shut. Door Open. or “ESDO” was a recipient of the Bob Jolly Charitable Fund Grant. ESDO won the 2016 OnStage Critics Award for an Outstanding New Work. Short play, Occupy Hallmark, won the 2015 National Ten Minute Play Award at the Kennedy Center. Her newest play, Dream House, was developed at New Repertory Theatre as part of Next Voices Fellows, and has earned her a Mass. Cultural Council Fellowship. 

Seinuk’s short plays have been produced nationwide. She is a member of Boston Public Works, The Dramatist Guild, and AEA, and is a 2017 Mass. Cultural Council Fellow Finalist. As a stage manager, Seinuk has worked with Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Central Square Theatre (The Nora and URT), Bridge Rep of Boston, SpeakEasy, and The Berkshire Theatre Group.

"Playwrights are given the gift of creating entire worlds for our audiences to experience with all five senses. We are able to make magic happen before their eyes with our words.  I want you to know what your character wants and what they will do to get what they want.  As a faculty mentor, I want you to dream wild, write imaginatively, and ask big questions from your plays and screenplays." - Cassie Seinuk

Productions and Development

New York International Fringe Festival, Boston Public Works Theater Company, Wax Wings Productions, The Nora Theater Company, New Repertory Theater, Wellesley Repertory Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, Nylon Fusion Theater Company, City Theater, Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival, The Boston Theater Marathon, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Live Arts Theater, NuVoices Festival, The Kenney Center American College Theater Festival

Selection of Awards

  • National Gary Garrison Ten Minute Play Award, Occupy Hallmark (Kennedy Center, 2015)
  • Winner of the Boston University Jewish Cultural Endowment, From the Deep (Boston production, 2014).
  • Latinidad Playwriting Award, From the Deep (Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, 2013).
  • Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellow Finalist in Dramatic Writing, Dream House (2017).
  • Bob Jolly Charitable Trust Grant winner, Eyes Shut. Door Open. (2016).