Olivia Swanson Haas is an NYC-born, LA-raised writer, performer, photographer, and creative producer. Collaborators and champions of her work include: The Kennedy Center, The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Stephen Sondheim’s Young Playwrights Inc., the Community of Writers, Vermont Studio Center, Tin House, Autostraddle, Lambda Literary, and Roxane Gay.

Over 100,000 people have read her 2024 essay "I Had An Affair With My College Dean," and her pilot script ALMA MATER was a 2025 Second Rounder at Austin Film Festival and won Stanford's Alumni in Entertainment screenwriting competition. She is a graduate of UCLA’s Professional Program in Writing for Television and holds a BA in English with Interdisciplinary Focus in Playwriting from Stanford University.

Photography portfolio: oliviaswansonhaas.com

oliviaswansonhaas at gmail dot com

@ ohaas

NPX

Based in NYC and LA

In Development

Two former lovers, twenty-two years apart in age, reunite a decade after the end of their affair. In the vein of Harold Pinter’s BETRAYAL, MIMI & JO travels sideways and backward in time through pivotal moments of the two women’s relationship as music collaborators.

Part love story, part cautionary tale, MIMI & JO is a queer coming-of-age play set to original music that explores the intimacy of creative collaboration, exposes the pain of hindsight, and attempts to reconcile the gray space between attachment and abuse. Currently in development with support from a Theatre Bay Area CA$H Creates grant.

Based on a true story.

Cast: 2 (90-100 minutes)

“Brilliant choices. Gorgeous.”

– Jessica Bird Beza, Executive Artistic Director,

Playwrights Foundation

“I have been waiting for a play like this to exist.”

– Deirdre Lovejoy, AEA actor & LGBTQIA+ advocate

Recent Readings - SF & NYC

Director Wynne Chan, developmental workshop, San Francisco (July 2025).

Actors Sharon Shao (L) and Megan Columbus (R), developmental workshop, San Francisco (July 2025).

Actor Mickey Skinner, developmental workshop, San Francisco (July 2025).

Invited audience presentation, Golden Thread Productions, San Francisco (July 2025).

Infinite gratitude for the Dramatist Guild Foundation and their free NYC rehearsal spaces (Oct 2025).

Actors Paige Allen (L) and Lucia Spina (R) with Music Director Nicolas Perez, NYC (Oct 2025).

Invited audience presentation, directed by Eliyana Abraham, NYC (Oct 2025). (L to R: Lucia Spina, Paige Allen, Kimi Handa Brown)

In an increasingly polarized world, telling nuanced stories that inspire thoughtful discourse is more important than ever. The response to MIMI & JO from industry professionals and now workshop audiences has validated my intuition that there is not only an appetite for this play, but that it serves a meaningful purpose. Given my network, I also feel confident that if I can just gather the resources and support to continue developing MIMI & JO, commercial and/or non-profit partners will take note and get involved to carry this play to its next stage. I have access to the right invitees (producers from projects like JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN, LIBERATION, SUFFS, and SEXUAL MISCONDUCT OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES, among others), I just need to get to a crucial step: an industry reading.

To do that, I need to finance the final stages of the play’s development—and finance the industry reading itself. I’m projecting that MIMI & JO needs to raise $35,000 to cover necessary development costs based on research and consultation with various general managers, producers, and other trusted sources.

Olivia
Swanson
Haas

In Development

Recent Readings - SF & NYC

Support MIMI & JO

Truly every dollar counts. Thank you!

Olivia Swanson Haas

In Development

Recent Readings - SF & NYC

Support MIMI & JO

Truly *every* dollar counts. Thank you!

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Olivia
Swanson
Haas

Truly every dollar counts. Thank you!