Writer

Growing up in a family that loved books, Navida has always been an avid reader. She got her first library card when she was 4! Fascinated by the beauty of language and the power of the spoken word, Navida writes for storytelling and theatrical venues, as well as having been a regular reviewer and contributor to the online New York arts magazine StageBuddy.

As a playwright, Navida has written two full length plays and several adaptations, one-acts and the books to two musicals with composer/lyricist David Brunetti. Her play, Controlling the Canon was produced by The New Jersey Women’s Theater Cooperative in Madison, New Jersey. Her new play The Best is Yet, with a diverse cast of five is currently being marketed to regional theaters.

Her adult solo performance pieces weave together personal stories, music and myth. These include URBAN ZEN, which won Best Non-Fiction Script at the 2012 United Solo Festival, Secrets of a Watchful Sparrow: Daddy, Me & OCD, about her father and OCD, and Mrs. Cristofoli’s Daughter for a Day.

The Willa Cather Salon is adapted from Willa Cather’s first short stories, woven together with vocal and instrumental music from the turn of last century and framed by reflections from the cast of storytellers, bringing the emotional impact of Willa’s stories into the present moment. This chamber theater piece explores the need to belong and create, the transformative power of music and the desire for beauty in a brutal world. It is being actively marketed to colleges and universities.

She has been a student of Gretchen Cryer (Solo Performance) for 6 years and studied playwrighting with Emily Mann at the Southhampton Writers Conference in 2010.

Navida has a deep love for poetry, reads poetry regularly in search of the meaning of life and is a published poet. As a teaching artist, Navida has taught her unique poetry workshops in the NYC public schools, published student’s chapbooks, and led Planting the Seeds of Peace® workshops that combine poetry writing and art making, culminating in multi art installations. She has adapted numerous folk tales and fables for elementary school aged kids to perform in the classroom.

PLAYS, SCREENPLAYS, MUSICALS & ADAPTATIONS

The Best is Yet

The Best is Yet, a poignant comedy, is set in the Bronx and Queens in the 1990’s, travels back in time to Italy during World War II and has a diverse cast of five. It explores the trauma and scars of war, the definition of family and love, woven together with threads of superstition and snatches of Italian opera and Frank Sinatra.
Retired and dating a great guy, Anthony’s life is finally beginning; until he promises Florence, his wheelchair bound Italian mother, to never put her in a nursing home. Moving into Florence’s house in Queens, NY creates the perfect conditions for secrets to surface, love to be tested and to figure out what family really means.

BLESSED

Short film, recipient of 8 awards in international and national film festivals in 2021
Shot September 2019
Sarah Pratt, a detective in the Domestic Violence Unit tries to help Beata Borkowski, an abused woman found unconscious on her front steps in the dead of winter. Through their brief encounter, Detective Pratt’s own history is mirrored.

The Willa Cather Salon

Full length play with 19th century salon music adapted from three of Willa Cather’s short stories, framed with reflections from the cast of storytellers
Several staged readings in NYC, including in the Willa Cather Room at the Jefferson Market Library a few blocks away from Willa Cather and her lifelong companion, Edith Lewis’ home on Bank Street.
Much thanks to Amy Wegener, Literary Mgr., Actors Theater of Louisville for her input

Controlling the Canon

Full length play
Production – The New Jersey Women’s Theater Cooperative in Madison, NJ — March 2000

Blitzkrieg over Iowa

Full length play
Two staged readings in NYC

TLC – a new musical

Staged reading at Trilogy Theater
Book writer Navida Stein
Composer/lyricist David Brunetti

Black Bart –a musical based on the life of the most famous 19th century stagecoach robber

Staged reading in NYC
Book writer Navida Stein
Composer/lyricist David Brunetti

A Night with Navida

Staged reading of four one act plays
A Kool Dowidzena, Beware the Yellowtail, Lo How a Rose, A Melange of X Chromosomes
Grace Church in the Village Playreading Series, New York City

Folktales and Fables from Around the World

Adaptations for the classroom of Aesop’s fables and multi-cultural folktales using choral speaking and rhythmic group storytelling techniques. Developed as an artist in residence with BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), YANY (Young Audiences New York) and other NYC Arts in Education organizations.