F.J. Hartland (Writer) F. J. Hartland started writing plays when Santa Claus brought him a typewriter for Christmas when he was 13. Since then, F.J. has earned an MFA in Playwriting from Carnegie-Mellon University (where he was a Shubert Fellow), won the Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival twice and made a record-setting 19 appearances in the Pittsburgh New Works Festival, winning Best Play four times. His play Across a Crowded Room was the winner of the national Little Theatre of Alexandria One Act Play Competition. He has been published by Concord Publishing, United Stages, Original Works, Next Stage Press, Literature Now, Exposition Review, The Good River Review, and The Louisville Review. He is a past recipient of a Playwriting Fellowship from the Pittsburgh Council on the Arts. Also, F.J. is an experienced stage director and has been a member of Actors’ Equity Association since 1991. “Thanks, Santa!”