Janine Sobeck Knighton is an award-winning, internationally produced playwright, TV writer, and dramaturg. Originally from Central California, Janine is currently based outside of Salt Lake City, UT.

Janine’s plays have been developed and/or produced at Westport Country Playhouse, Ghostlight Ensemble, Kibo Productions at Baron’s Court Theatre, Cellunova, Purple Crayon Players, Plan-b Theatre, Premiere the Play (as an audio drama), the TYE Center, Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, Gateway Arts, Academy of Children’s Theatre, Fantasy Playhouse, Le Moyne College Summer Arts Institute, Lumos Players, An Other Theatre Company, and numerous universities and high schools. Her playwriting work has led to the honor of being named one of the 2025 Utah Artist Fellows by the Utah Division for Arts and Museums.

Janine’s play Scaredy Kat Presents is published with YouthPLAYS and her play The Edge of Play is the National Winner of the 2025 Playwrights for Change national playwriting contest, sponsored by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE). Her stories can be found on the New Play Exchange.

Beyond the stage, Janine is a children’s television writer focused on preschool and bridge stories. She was a 2024 Fred Rogers Writers’ Neighborhood Fellow and has written for preschool shows with PBS KIDS and Moonbug. She participated in the 2025 and 2026 Children’s Media Association mentorship program and a 2025 Women in Animation Mentor Circle and was a Second Round finisher for the 2024 Austin Film Festival.

Janine documents all of her adventures in the children’s media and theatre world on her Substack, Writing for Kids.

Janine’s professional career started at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. As Arena’s full-time Literary Manager, Dramaturg, and Producer of New Works, she enjoyed working with some of the country’s greatest artists, including Pam McKinnon, Kenny Leon, Brian Yorkey, Tom Kitt, Phylicia Rashad, Edward Albee, Marcus Gardley, Karen Zacarias, Artistic Director Molly Smith, and more, in creating new plays and reimagining American classics. She continues to work around the country as a freelance dramaturg. Currently, Janine is dramaturg on the musical Little Piece of You, with story by Melissa Leilani Larson and original songs by Kjersti Long and Jeremy Long. Little Piece of You enjoyed a concert performance at the Royal Theatre Drury Lane in London in October 2024 and an industry workshop at Sadler’s Wells in March 2026.

Previous artistic adventures include hosting the storytelling podcast, Once Upon a Weirdo, where she explored fairytales and folktales through the perspective of the characters who are often overlooked, forgotten, or misunderstood. She was also the showrunner/head writer for two web series, Backstage Bernie and An Open Letter to Isabella Beck, which can be found on the JSK Stories YouTube Channel. She is the former Associate Professor of Playwriting, Screenwriting, and Dramaturgy at Utah Valley University.

You can find Janine on: LinkedIn, New Play Exchange, Instagram, and Substack