May 7th-16th, 2026 - Stay tuned for tickets!
The Big Bad is made possible in part with funds from Creative Engagement, a regrant program supported by the funding agencies The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) in partnership with the City Council and the Howard Gilman Foundation and administered by LMCC.
The Big Bad presented by Divine Riot and Healing TREE will be performed at the Abrons Arts Center’s Underground theater.
About the show
When Ash, the youngest of three adult foster siblings, has a mental health crisis, their family reunites in the New York City home that shaped them all.
As Ash uses their background in video game building to mire through layers of memory and myth, a battle ensues to overcome their soul-family’s unresolved wounds.
The Big Bad explores intergenerational trauma, and the supernatural - and asks the timely question, “What drives us to keep moving through despair?”
This groundbreaking full-length play is written by Lanford Wilson Award-winning and Showtime series staff writer Ren Dara Santiago.
We’re asking:
“What drives us to keep moving through despair?”
-Ren Dara Santiago
Yonkers & Harlem native. Eldest child. Fili-Rican storyteller and world-builder.
Awards: Dramatist Guild's Lanford Wilson Award (2022), TOW Fellowship (2020), MCC Alumni Award (2018), Playwright’s Week winner at The Lark (2019), Finalist for the National Playwrights Conference (2019), and the inaugural recipient of Rising Phoenix Rep’s Cornelia Street American Playwriting Award (2018).
Plays: The Siblings Play (Cherry Lane Theatre Mentor Project 2017, Ojai Playwrights Conference 2017, TOW Fellowship Recipient 2020, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater premiere 2020), Something in the Balete Tree (Winner: Lark Play Development Center Playwright's Week 2019, Finalist: National Playwright's Conference 2019), Subliminal (SUNY College commission), I’ll Write You Down in Brick & Mortar (The Theater Co commission), Gods Play (Bushwick Starr Reading Series).
Musicals: Ghosts in the Sky and Remember How, Librettist (BREATHE 2022), See/Unsee, additional material (a Lila Blue Musical 2023-2025).
Shorts (Virtual and Immersive Installations): Someone's Family and Building Models (Homebound Project), Hard as You Can (En Garde Arts commission), In the Shit (Radio Round), Same Shadow (2G Productions commission), Where We At (NY Rep commission), Heard You, Love & Animation.
Audio: MTA Radio Plays Showrunner (Rattlestick Playwright's Theater), See You In Your Nightmares Head Writer (iHeart Media).
Television: Let The Right One In Staff Writer (Showtime).
Upcoming: Ain’t It Though Writer/Actor (C-19 Screenwriter's Group), The Big Bad (Divine Riot and Healing TREE full-length play commission), The Knock Shadow (Healing TREE screenplay commission).
Teaching: Carnegie Mellon, The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Lincoln Center Theater, Williams College University, The Young Women’s Leadership School.
Residencies and Affiliations: The Lark, Middle Voice at Rattlestick, Rising Phoenix Rep, C-19 Writers Group, Clubbed Thumb, Gingold Theatrical Group, Labyrinth Theater, MCC, PLAYxPLAY, SPACE on Ryder Farm, The Theater Co, Ma-Yi Theater Company.
Ren Dara Santiago (they / them) | Playwright The Big Bad
Mack Brown (they / them) | Director The Big Bad
Mack Brown is a Brooklyn based butch director. They build precise new musicals and genre-defying theatre work about miracles happening to misfits. Transsexuality and the disciplined practice of hope are core tenets of their work in both form and content. They are especially steady when building ambitious theatre with ambitious artists — they love to herd cats. With a signature joyful rigor, they have developed work with Ars Nova, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, MCC, 24 Hour Plays, Hermitage Artist Retreat, and Fault Line Theatre. They are an Ars Nova Artist in Residence for the 2025-’26 season along with their collaborators Murphy and Emerson Smith. They were the Roundabout Directing Fellow for RTC’s 2022-23 season, and currently work as Lead Facilitator of the Roundabout Directors Group. Mack has been an associate and assistant director on and off Broadway to directors including Bartlett Sher, Trip Cullman, Jess McLeod, Connor Gallagher, and David Mendizábal. They are a recipient of the 2025 SDCF Abe Burrows Award for Assistant Directors. Mack is a current NYU Tisch Drama Gender Expansive Mentor, an NYCLU Artist Ambassador, and works at Convergence Magazine with grassroots organizers and activists to produce media that sharpens our collective practice. mack-brown.com
Timeline
Jan - Dec 2025 Ren develops the script with the company through interviews, improv sessions, table reads, and work sessions.
Dec 2025 Company begins workshopping the script
May 2026 Workshop production in NYC
2027 Prospective world premiere off-Broadway
GIVE TODAY
To achieve these goals, we are looking to raise $10,000 by March 31, 2025.
At a time when mental health resources, LGBTQIA+ lives, and work that doesn't cower to mainstream marketability but dares to ask the tougher questions are under attack, we hope you will join us in creating this crucial piece of art.
For $2500 donors receive Associate Producer credit, logo on red carpet backdrop and playbill, shout outs at the show and on social media and in our newsletter.
*Pitch deck available upon request.
For more information, or if interested in donating through a private foundation, please contact:
Cassidy Layton | Cassidy@divineriot.org
