Andrew Saito
Playwright of "Evolve!"
Handful Players 2008/2009 and 2011/12 seasons

The lyrical play, Evolve!, was inspired by Barack Obama's presidential nomination and election and is set in prehistoric times. In 2009, Andrew received a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate for the World Premiere of "Evolve!," which was performed by Handful Players at seven community events, including at San Francisco's Yoshi's Jazz Club and at the Mayor's Youth Showcase in San Francisco's City Hall.

Andrew has also written nine imaginative short plays for Handful Players adapted from books from the students' school year curriculum and summer reading lists which the children have performed at various community events.

Andrew is a poet and playwright who has studied and lived in Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru. He is currently a resident playwright at the Playwrights Foundation. His plays include La Lechera, El Río, finalist for the Princess Grace Award, Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night, featured at Cutting Ball Theater's 2011 Risk Is This...Festival, and The Patron Saint of Monsters, selected for a 2012 Core Apprentice developmental reading at the Playwrights Center of Minneapolis. Other presenters include the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Brava! for Women in the Arts, Kearny Street Workshop, Asian American Theatre Company, La Peña Cultural Center, and Mixed Phoenix Theatre Company in New York. He has taught playwriting in rural Mayan villages in Guatemala, and with WritersCorps, Performing Arts Workshop, legendary Peruvian theatre collective Yuyachkani, and Montalvo Arts Center as a Teaching Artist Fellow. A two-time alternate for a Fulbright Fellowship in Creative Writing, as well finalist for as a Jerome Playwriting Fellowship, Andrew is a founding member of Cut the Rhino, a 5-member theatre collective formed by the 2011 graduating class of the Iowa Playwrights Workshop.