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Finalist for the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in Drama
“Monahon has constructed a wildly funny piece that plays as pure entertainment, even as it weaves increasingly complex ideas…Her question here is, how much of ourselves are we willing to chisel off in order to survive? And then, what will be left of us?”
—New York Times
In 1924, a family of Armenian immigrants fights to attain legal whiteness in court in order to secure their status as citizens. In 2024, their descendants star on a controversial reality television show, which invites a group of Armenian Americans to shoot an episode about their culture. Meet the Cartozians explores the thorny nature of whiteness and the enduring effects of assimilation.
“A drama that uses the historical lens of the Armenian American experience to illustrate the enduring hypocrisies of our country’s racialized system of immigration.”
—The Pulitzer Prize Committee
Though the Cartozians prefer to bury their memories, Monahon does not let her audience forget that this family was fleeing near-complete elimination…A breathless stretch of humor will crest and then be punctuated by a dark turn, or a haunting and meditative stillness…The play leaves the question open: Was that a journey forward, or back? Toward home, or away from it?
—Vulture
The funniest new play of the year…Talene Monahon unearths a forgotten Armenian-American story, giving it a wonderful modern spin.”
—The Wrap
“Meet the Cartozians is an altogether excellent play that meets the moment with effortless precision, trusting us without holding our hands…Monahon makes these thorny, dialectical, Facebook-thread debates about race, religion, and assimilation not just engaging but genuinely fun.”
—TheaterMania
“A play that asks big questions about identity, personhood, and nationality, but grounds them thoroughly in character; a play that shows the subtle divisions inside an insular community but also sweeps across a hundred years, looking from two different centuries at what it means to be American, what it means to be white, and what it means to be accountable to a community with its roots in historical trauma.”
—Exeunt
“A smart, rueful comedy of genuine substance, Meet the Cartozians probes racial identity then (1924) and now (2024)
— New York Theatre Guide
“A deeply personal play with wide-ranging appeal…a sprawling, fascinating work of historical fiction that examines ethnicity, history and family legacy…Monahon leaves us with plenty to think about.”
—TimeOut New York
“Who is categorized as white in America? Talene Monahon’s Meet the Cartozians examines the question through courtroom arguments, family conflict, and reality-TV spectacle. Her smart, complicated play tackles identity and assimilation, asking who is allowed to assimilate, manipulate, or escape the label of ‘model minority’?”
—1-Minute Critic
Talene Monahon is a Boston-born playwright of Armenian descent. Her plays include Meet the Cartozians (Second Stage Theater; Pulitzer Prize finalist, Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New American Play, New York Times Critic’s Pick, Drama Desk Award Nomination); Eat Me (South Coast Repertory); Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret (Northern Stage); The Good John Proctor (Bedlam; The New Yorker’s Top 10 Best Plays of 2023); Jane Anger (The New Ohio; 2022 Off-Broadway Alliance Best New Play Nomination); and How to Load a Musket (Less than Rent). In 2027, Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret will play at Classic Stage Theater and Meet the Cartozians will play at the Huntington Theatre, Berkeley Rep, and others. Talene is currently under commission from Second Stage Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Protozoa Pictures. She teaches playwriting at the Sewanee Writers' Conference. B.A., Dartmouth College.