In Process
Eugene Onegin (3W, 2M and bluegrass jam)
a bluegrass adaptation of Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin
(and Pushkin's verse novel Eugene Onegin)
Book, original music, and lyrics by Sarah Gancher
Commissioned by Dorset Theatre Festival
Maestro (2W, 2M and orchestra)
Musical with composer Ben Wexler
Grove/Whitman Commission
Rutka's Diary
Musical with composers Jocelyn MacKenzie and Jeremy Lloyd-Styles (of Pearl and the Beard)
Dramaturg Ken Cerniglia
Commissioned by David Schwartz and Amy Langer
Jazz Play (working title)
one-act radio play with live jazz
Commissioned by Playwrights Horizons Soundstage
The Hole (3W, 4M)
A workplace comedy about the problem with the patriarchy, set in a Florida morning zoo radio show in 1995.
Some background: “the hole” is an insider radio term that refers to the member of a morning “zoo crew” whose job is to scold the show’s main shock jock by saying things like “come on, that’s not nice!” or “you guys are going to hell!” The hole is the show’s voice of reason, its wet blanket, the person who changes the subject. The hole makes the other personalities on air seem funnier by comparison. The hole is almost always the only woman in the room.
Struggling comedian Rocky has been forced to move back to Fort Carter (a part of New Jersey that happens to be in Florida) to take care of her dying dad. Broke and bored, she jumps at the chance to join the local morning zoo radio show — until she learns that her new boss, shock jock Booger, expects her to be his on-air “hole.” She needs the money, so she tries to fit herself into the format. The only problem is that Rocky is noticeably funnier than Booger, and keeps accidentally upstaging him. This play considers the inherent link between representation and revolution. It asks who gets to be in the center of our stories: “why do you get to talk and I have to laugh?”
[2018] Workshop and Reading with New York Stage and Film (dir. Danya Taymor)
[2018] Workshop and Reading with Asolo Rep (dir. Celine Rosenthal)
[2017] Commissioned by Asolo Rep and the Toulmin Foundation
Duet
Bea and Ruby have been best friends for thirty years. They have shaped eachothers’ lives and defined each others’ personalities. But when push comes to shove, who decides whose definition is definitive? Set on one wild New Year’s Eve but ricocheting across decades, Duet asks how we can tell hard truth from awesome insult, legit nostalgia from wishful thinking, actual memory from really good story. A shape-shifting tour de force for two actresses (and one actor.)
(2W, 1M)
Development History
This play is in the shop for revisions...
[2015] Honorable Mention, the Kilroys' List
[2014] P73 reading (dir. Lee Sunday Evans)
[2014] P73 Space grant (dir. Lila Neugebauer)
[2013] Closed workshop at New York Stage and Film (dir. Lila Neugebauer)
Eugene Onegin (3W, 2M and bluegrass jam)
a bluegrass adaptation of Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin
(and Pushkin's verse novel Eugene Onegin)
Book, original music, and lyrics by Sarah Gancher
Commissioned by Dorset Theatre Festival
Maestro (2W, 2M and orchestra)
Musical with composer Ben Wexler
Grove/Whitman Commission
Rutka's Diary
Musical with composers Jocelyn MacKenzie and Jeremy Lloyd-Styles (of Pearl and the Beard)
Dramaturg Ken Cerniglia
Commissioned by David Schwartz and Amy Langer
Jazz Play (working title)
one-act radio play with live jazz
Commissioned by Playwrights Horizons Soundstage
The Hole (3W, 4M)
A workplace comedy about the problem with the patriarchy, set in a Florida morning zoo radio show in 1995.
Some background: “the hole” is an insider radio term that refers to the member of a morning “zoo crew” whose job is to scold the show’s main shock jock by saying things like “come on, that’s not nice!” or “you guys are going to hell!” The hole is the show’s voice of reason, its wet blanket, the person who changes the subject. The hole makes the other personalities on air seem funnier by comparison. The hole is almost always the only woman in the room.
Struggling comedian Rocky has been forced to move back to Fort Carter (a part of New Jersey that happens to be in Florida) to take care of her dying dad. Broke and bored, she jumps at the chance to join the local morning zoo radio show — until she learns that her new boss, shock jock Booger, expects her to be his on-air “hole.” She needs the money, so she tries to fit herself into the format. The only problem is that Rocky is noticeably funnier than Booger, and keeps accidentally upstaging him. This play considers the inherent link between representation and revolution. It asks who gets to be in the center of our stories: “why do you get to talk and I have to laugh?”
[2018] Workshop and Reading with New York Stage and Film (dir. Danya Taymor)
[2018] Workshop and Reading with Asolo Rep (dir. Celine Rosenthal)
[2017] Commissioned by Asolo Rep and the Toulmin Foundation
Duet
Bea and Ruby have been best friends for thirty years. They have shaped eachothers’ lives and defined each others’ personalities. But when push comes to shove, who decides whose definition is definitive? Set on one wild New Year’s Eve but ricocheting across decades, Duet asks how we can tell hard truth from awesome insult, legit nostalgia from wishful thinking, actual memory from really good story. A shape-shifting tour de force for two actresses (and one actor.)
(2W, 1M)
Development History
This play is in the shop for revisions...
[2015] Honorable Mention, the Kilroys' List
[2014] P73 reading (dir. Lee Sunday Evans)
[2014] P73 Space grant (dir. Lila Neugebauer)
[2013] Closed workshop at New York Stage and Film (dir. Lila Neugebauer)