Caitlin Saylor Stephens
Caitlin Saylor Stephens (born February 26, 1986) is an American playwright and performance artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Known for her darkly comedic, feminist, and formally subversive works, Stephens explores themes of beauty, labor, and gender performance. Her plays have been presented Off-Broadway, internationally, and at major American institutions.
Early life and education
Stephens was born in Baltimore and raised between there and downtown New York City. She attended Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied Experimental Performance and South American History.
Career
Since 2009, Stephens’ plays have been developed and presented at venues including Lincoln Center Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New Georges, The Tank, and internationally in Athens, Milan, and Rome.
In 2025, her play Five Models in Ruins, 1981 premiered at Lincoln Center Theater’s Claire Tow Theater, directed by Morgan Green and starring Elizabeth Marvel. The play is a dark comedy about a fashion photographer unraveling during a disastrous Vogue cover shoot.
Her 2023 play Modern Swimwear was described by The New York Times as “subtly gutting” and reviewed by The New Yorker and BOMB Magazine.
Her breakout work When We Went Electronic premiered Off-Broadway in 2018 and toured Europe in 2022 (Athens, Milan, Rome). Set in an American Apparel store, the play explores trauma, memory, and corporate control.
Her work has been supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Jerome Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre, and Headlands Center for the Arts.
Residencies
In 2018, Stephens was an artist-in-residence at Headlands Center for the Arts, where she developed the play Company Happy Hour. In 2019, she became a New Artist in Residence at LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater, where she began developing new work with institutional support.
Teaching
Stephens currently teaches in the MFA Visual Narrative program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where she focuses on character development across disciplines.
Selected works
- Five Models in Ruins, 1981 (2025)
- Modern Swimwear (2023)
- When We Went Electronic (2018; EU tour 2022)
References
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "nyt-five-models" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "arthouse" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "headlands" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "bomb" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "newyorker" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "nyt-swimwear" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "nyt-electronic" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "culturebot" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "newgeorges" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "sva" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "lct3" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "bww" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "bww-rehearsal" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
External links
- https://www.caitlinsaylorstephens.com Official Website
- https://www.headlands.org/artist/caitlin-saylor-stephens/ Headlands Center for the Arts – Artist Profile
- https://www.arthouseproductions.org/blogs/artist-profiles/caitlin-saylor-stephens Art House Productions – Artist Profile
- https://mfavisualnarrative.sva.edu School of Visual Arts – MFA Visual Narrative Faculty School of Visual Arts – MFA Visual Narrative Faculty
