Else Went
American playwright
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Else Went is an American playwright whose works An Oxford Man and Initiative have been nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2025 and 2026 respectively. The former is a play based on the life of Laurence Michael Dillon, the first transgender man to undergo phalloplasty. The latter, a five-hour-long production set in the early 2000s and based on Dungeons & Dragons, was praised for its recreation of instant messaging and was described by The Guardian as "emotionally immersive".
Initiative
Else Went | |
|---|---|
| Education | Sarah Lawrence College |
| Occupation | Playwright |
| Notable work | An Oxford Man Initiative |
| Spouse | Emma Rosa Went |
Career
Went graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2013, later citing a playwrighting class they took there as inspiration for their 2025 play Initiative.[1] In 2020, Went was a MacDowell Fellow,[2] during which time they conceived and wrote the play An Oxford Man, based on the life of Laurence Michael Dillon,[3] the first transgender man to undergo phalloplasty.[4] An Oxford Man was a finalist for the Carlo Annoni Playwrighting Prize in 2023,[5] and was also shortlisted in 2025 for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.[3][6] Although the winner was Furlough's Paradise by a k payne,[7] Went did receive a Special Commendation for the work.[8] The same year their play Degenerates was published in The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays.[9] This play focuses on the experiences that transgender people may have when they engage with online incel communities.[10]
In November 2025, Went's play Initiative premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater.[11] The play is set in the early 2000s and follows a group of young people who play Dungeons & Dragons.[11] At five hours long, the play has three 90-minute acts, a deliberate choice by Went with the intention of creating "a new type of commitment" for audience members.[11] The concept for the play was created in 2016, and it was developed 2018–19 when Went had a Playwrights Realm fellowship.[12] It was reviewed by The Guardian as a "coming-of-age epic of sorts" which "flies right by, as emotionally immersive as the Dungeons & Dragons games that enrapture most of its seven teenage characters".[11] Time Out noted in its review that the play was loosely autobiographical, praised its use of instant messaging from the era and described it as "a mesmerizing portrait of adolescents".[13] The New York Stage Review was also positive, describing it as "the dramatic equivalent of a group bildungsroman".[14] The New York Times review was mixed, also praising its use of instant messaging, but less positive about the use of Dungeons & Dragons; the reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli compared the work less favourably to similar use in 2011's She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen.[15] Initiative has been nominated for the 2026 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.[16]