Rich Espey is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 from Baltimore, Maryland. His plays include Hope's Arbor, which won the Carol Weinberg Award in 2006; Fifty-Fifty which won top honors at the Baltimore Playwrights Festival in 2003; Martha’s Choice; Near and Far; Potter County, named Best Production of 2005-2006 by the Baltimore City Paper; and Ben’s Extraordinary Experiment!.

Hope's Arbor, Espey's most highly-regarded play, premiered in Baltimore in 2007, and then ran at the Gallery Players in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 2008. The New York production starred Lauren Marcus

Lauren Marcus

Lauren Marcus is an American stage actress. She defined the leading roles of Patty Jenkins, the "frightfully nosey" cheerleader in Joe Iconis' musical, The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks, and Hope Horrishall in Rich Espey's drama Hope's Arbor...

and Justine Campbell-Elliott.