Award-winning playwright Olivia Matthews was killed last week in a fire that investigators say was intentionally set at her apartment in Smyrna, a suburb of Atlanta.
According to WSB-TV, investigators are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the persons responsible for the arson incident and Matthew’s death.
One of Matthew’s friends spoke highly of the well-known dramatist and couldn’t imagine anyone doing something like that to her.
“Liv was perfect, and I can’t imagine why somebody would want to harm her,” Daisy Bentley told the media outlet.
Matthews’ work, including several of her plays, can be seen nationwide
Matthews is known for her prolific work in several cities, including Atlanta, Houston, Miami, and Omaha, Nebraska, according to WSB-TV. As a native of Clermont, Florida, she later moved to Atlanta and has since curated an extensive work portfolio.
Her work includes the short play Home Going, published in The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2015, and the full-length play Absentia, which won the 2020 Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award, according to her official website. Her recent work, The Nativity Starring Keisha Taylor, earned recognition at multiple festivals and theater programs.
Matthews held an MFA in playwriting from Ohio University and had participated in prestigious fellowships, including the Sesame Workshop Writers’ Room.
‘My characters are working against people and situations’
In an artistic statement, Matthews reflected on her Central Florida upbringing and how it shaped her creative vision. In her work, she explored the lives of women and teens who navigate societal and familial pressures, racism, violence, and loss, and who ultimately overcome these obstacles and foster connections within their communities.
“In my plays, animals appear larger than life, blooming flowers bring back sweet memories, music and fireworks appear almost at random, and it absolutely snows in hot Central Florida,” Matthews wrote in the statement shared on her official website.
“My characters are working against people and situations seemingly immovable or inescapable but ultimately, they find the strength in themselves to push until something, or someone, breaks,” she added.