F. J. Hartland holds an MFA in Playwriting from Carnegie-Mellon University, where he was a Shubert Fellow and the recipient of the Bud Yorkin Playwriting Award. In August of 2019 his short play Tina was named Best Play in the Equity Library Theatre’s Summer Shorts Festival. His full-length comedy Games of the Mind won the Throughline Theatre’s Play Competition. His plays have been performed in New York City at the Quaigh Theatre, 13th Street Theatre, Lovecreek Productions, Lincoln Center Library Theatre, and GayFestNYC. Twice, he was the winner of the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival. Samuel French (now Concord), Next Stage Press, and Original Works have published some of his plays. In 2008, F.J. was awarded a Playwriting Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. F. J. has made a record-setting nineteen appearances in the Pittsburgh New Works Festival—winning “Best Play” four times. In addition to being a playwright, F.J. is an experienced stage director and a member of Actors Equity Association.