Bio: Fred Rohan-Vargas has written several full-length, one-acts, and children's plays that have been produced throughout the country and abroad. He holds an MFA in dramatic writing from New York University. Prior to his years at Tisch School of the Arts, Fred Rohan-Vargas began his theatre career by starting a dance theatre company with fifty young adults who had the opportunity of performing at venues such as Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Pittsburgh's Performing Arts Center and Cami Hall with the late great jazz artists, Dizzy Gillespie and Horace Silver. Later, Fred Rohan-Vargas became a radio announcer for WSTA in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, where he was encouraged and mentored by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter John Patrick ("Three Coins in the Fountain") to become a playwright. Following his suggestion, Fred Rohan-Vargas produced his first play, "Why De Donkey So Stubborn," and truly discovered his affinity for the theatre. For several years Fred Rohan-Vargas has been a resident playwright for Harbor Theatre, Stageplays Theatre Company, Third Step Theatre, and Artist in Search of…Theatre. He received a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts Theatre Commissions along with other recognitions. He is the author of two published plays, "Crystal" (JAC Publishing and Promotions) and "Anything But Black" (The Best Plays From The Strawberry One-Act Festival), and listed in several editions of John Willis's Theatre World and Songwriter's Market. His short story "The Cry of Anacaona" was published in Native Landscapes: An Anthology of Caribbean Short Stories by the Caribbean Research Center of Medger Evers College. Fred Rohan-Vargas's love for writing songs has given him "Honorable Mention Awards" by The Billboard World Songwriters' Contest, John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Great American Song Contest, Unisong International Songwriting Contest, and the Suggested Artist Songwriting Award. In addition, he has three songs on a compilation of CDs by the Nashville Songwriters Association International ("The Best of Holidays"), the Pick With Austin Foundation ("My Gift of Music"), and Paramount Song.com ("My Gift for Christmas"). Currently, he has his music played throughout Southeast Asia. Over the years, Fred Rohan-Vargas has served on the theatre/dance grant's panel for the Queens Council on the Arts, the panel of judges for the Daytime Emmy Awards (sponsored by The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences), and the Board of Directors of the New York Children's Theatre. Currently, he is on the advisory board for Ripple Effect Artists Inc. Fred Rohan-Vargas is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, Dramatists Guild, Commercial Theatre Institute (CTI), Musical Writers Academy, Theatre Resource Unlimited (TRU), and Off-Broadway Alliance.