Tess Rowan
She/Her
About
Tess Rowan is a 20-year-old performer, published playwright, composer, musician, and director. She is based in Washington D.C. and New York. Tess is a second-year Drama student at NYU Tisch, studying Musical Theater in the New Studio on Broadway.
Her work has been recognized at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, The Kennedy Center, The National Theatre DC, The Blank Young Playwright's Festival, the Capital Fringe Festival, and Stagedoor Manor.
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Tess started writing her first musical on the school bus on the way to fourth grade and began holding auditions at recess five hours later. Now, she spends her time creating stories centered on nature, technology, and interaction, with an emphasis on sustainability and inclusion through storytelling.​​
​​At 14, Tess began writing her original Morse code musical, Static. When she was 17, Tess produced, directed, and performed in the sold-out world premiere of Static at the
2022 Capital Fringe Festival, where Static won the Fringe
Best Musical and Best Ensemble Awards. She has continued developing Static, including a regional workshop at Flying V Theatre in 2023 and a five-week workshop and production
at The Raue Center in 2024. @staticmusical. Learn More
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Performing
Tess is a trained actor, singer, dancer, and musician with experience in film and theater. Favorite past roles include Annabeth Chase in The Lightning Thief, Penelope Pennywise in Urinetown (Brandon Victor Dixon Award Finalist for Best Actress), and a gender-bent guitar-playing Balladeer in Assassins. Tess plays guitar, banjo, ukulele, and piano. She especially enjoys working on new works in contemporary musical styles.
Writing & Directing
Tess writes and directs plays, music, and musicals. Her plays, Mr. Stranger and Pie from the Pattersons' are published with Smith & Kraus through the Stagedoor Manor Dramafest in collaboration with Stephen Sondheim's Young Playwrights Inc. In addition to her Morse code musical, Static, Tess has worked on a number of theatrical projects, such as a fully-recycled interactive
in-the-round production of her play Your Carving Footprint, which was an experiment in sustainable theater practices and youth activism in the arts. Your Carving Footprint will be performed in Spring 2025 at the NYU Gallatin Theatre Troupe.
Tess is currently writing a new musical, Toy Soldiers, which follows a group of teen girl musicians who participate in war reenactments, with reimagined music from the American Revolutionary War and Civil War. A reading of an excerpt from Toy Soldiers was presented at the New Studio on Broadway in January 2025.
She is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
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Recent Work
Over the past year, Tess has . . .
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Directed another reading of her original play, Your Carving Footprint, at the NYU Artists in Action showcase
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Made the NYU Tisch Dean's List while balancing a total of around 15 academic and artistic classes per semester
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Worked as a production assistant and in various onstage roles in a reading of The Buccaneers: Part One by her professor, Dawn Elin-Fraser
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Continued to develop and perform in her musical Static in July 2024
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Choreographed 30 children in a production of Moana Jr. at the Raue Center School for the Arts
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Acted in a reading of Stacy Brown is Not Okay by Lavender Ashley with Bridge Productions
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Performed as The Balladeer/Oswald while also playing guitar in the musical, Assassins
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Played guitar in the band for a new musical, Feminista, at the New Studio on Broadway​​​
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Acted in two original one-act plays in the Rhapsody Riot Play Festival
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Declared double minors in Producing, as well as Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology in collaboration with the Stern School of Business, Tisch School of the Arts, and Steinhardt School.