Mary Hall Surface is a Washington, DC-based playwright, theater director, teaching artist, and museum educator. She strives to uncover complexity, expand perspectives, and deepen understandings within each of us and among one another. Her Helen Hayes award-winning plays for intergenerational audiences have been produced worldwide. A deep believer in the transformative power of the arts, Mary Hall was the founding artistic director of DC’s Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival, an all-arts festival designed as a catalyst for connection across all ages and communities. She has published fifteen plays, three original cast albums, a feature article about creative community building in the Journal of Museum Education, and a chapter for an upcoming book, An Empathy-Building Toolkit for Museums. An experienced facilitator, Mary Hall has led drama-based professional development workshops for educators nationally and internationally through the Kennedy Center and at Harvard’s Project Zero Classroom. With the Smithsonian in 2020, she developed an art-inspired writing tool for well-being and resilience that was highlighted in USA Today. She leads art-inspired creative and reflective writing sessions for the National Gallery of Art, Chautauqua Institution, Washington National Cathedral, and Smithsonian Associates to create connection between looking closely at art and toward the resourcefulness of our creativity and imaginations. maryhallsurface.com.