A Note on Casting Descriptions:
All gender markers in character descriptions are merely suggestions and not rules. Any gendered role may be played by an actor who is trans, non-binary, genderfluid, cisgender, etc.
Please cast consciously from the broad spectrum of humanity.
one-act plays
60 minutes or less, no intermission.
The Mixer Plays (formerly Tequila Sunrise)
4 WOMEN • 60 MINUTES
slices of life of four college women: a dorm room, a frat party, and a bus home at 2am.
bree is breaking up with marla for good this time (maybe).
carolyn and jodie are friends and maybe more.
lalya is drunk.
tequila and secrets don't mix well.
and growing up is hard.
Script sample available via the contact form and on the New Play Exchange.
Stardust (in-progress)
3 WOMEN • 3 MEN
Part memory play, part wish fulfillment: Cassie struggles to come out to her grandfather before his death.
Script sample available via the contact form.
Wire Taps
4-9 ACTORS • FLEXIBLE CASTING
Told by nine non-binary, nameless characters, WIRE TAPS weaves together several stories about coming out, mental health, and what it means to be growing up queer in a rapidly changing world. WIRE TAPS is told entirely through telephone calls, voicemails, and text messages.
Script sample available via the contact form and on the New Play Exchange.
Quiet Girls
5 ACTORS • FLEXIBLE CASTING
Two women in an office, separated by a few feet of threadbare carpet and a generational divide of fifty years, must learn to find their common ground when the world around them suddenly feels more volatile than the coffee maker in the break room.
Script sample available via the contact form.
Second Drafts
3 WOMEN • 3 MEN • 1 YOUNG PERFORMER
Belle, Amos, and Alice have all moved on from the losses they’ve suffered over the years— but somehow, they haven’t quite managed to let go. Told through a series of vignettes, this play weaves together three different love stories to explore how love and loss intertwine, how the past exists in the present, and how sometimes the things we miss the most are right in front of us.
Script sample available via the contact form and on the New Play Exchange.
Voices of VOW: A Verbatim Theatre Project
Written in collaboration with Prof. Martin McClendon, Carthage College
4-5 ACTORS • FLEXIBLE CASTING
Voices of VOW was edited, compiled, and arranged by Emma Swain with assistance from Martin McClendon from interviews conducted in 2019 by Martin McClendon. It is a verbatim play that tells the stories of four United States military veterans and their lives after their service. Battling mental illness, homelessness, family rejection, injury, disability, and many other obstacles, these veterans all eventually found their way to the the James A. Peterson Veteran’s Village in Racine, WI, where they now live and work as members of the Village's community. It is through cooperation with the Village that we are able to tell their stories.
Script sample available via the contact form.
The Vacation (in-progress)
4 WOMEN • 3 MEN
Chicago, post-Roe v. Wade. The lives of two married women are upended when a stranger from Texas shows up to take shelter at their apartment while having an abortion performed in Chicago. The catch? Only one of the wives knew she was coming.
Script sample available via the contact form.
two-act plays
Two acts, plus intermission, typically 100-120 minutes run time.
[Untitled] (in-progress)
5-10 WOMEN • 4-8 MEN • PLUS FLUID ENSEMBLE • TBD TIME
Two-act musical taking place in 1911 around the time of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City. Poignant lesbian love story with undertones of rebellion, discovery, and survival. Music by Joseph Voth.
Script sample available via the contact form.
Safe Places to Leave Your Heart
4 WOMEN • 1 MAN • 120 MINUTES
Elinor moves to Chicago. Elinor writes a book. Elinor and June fall in love. Elinor sees…a ghost? Oh, and there's a dog, too.
Script sample available via the contact form or on the New Play Exchange.
What We Have Now (or, Valentine’s-f**king-Day)
3 WOMEN • 1 MAN • 120 MINUTES
With Valentine’s Day peeking ominously over the horizon, Mallory, Shannon, Mark, and Ellen are just trying to distract themselves from their lives -- and their tangled relationships -- however they can. But in the early morning hours of February 13th, someone they all know is rushed to the hospital -- and their tightly wound facades all start to unravel. Dominoes fall in quick succession, and the next day they all end up at the hospital together, desperately holding together their lives and looking for something -- or someone -- to cling to.
Script sample available via the contact form or on the New Play Exchange.
Two Wrens (in-progress)
4 WOMEN • 2 MEN • 2 YOUNG PERFORMERS (optional)
Set in a futuristic society where families are only allowed one daughter and one son for “budget concerns”, twin sisters raised as the same daughter wrestle with the ramifications of their parents’ decision and the uncertainty of their individual futures. When safety concerns force Ella to be sent away to live with an aunt, leaving Isa behind, they must face the fact that the divide between them may be too great to bridge in any one lifetime.
Script sample available via the contact form.
Motherland, Homeland (in-progress)
4 WOMEN • 120 MINUTES
1776, Philadelphia. Six revolutionary women struggle to write their own Declaration of Independence before the men in their lives can write their own and codify the suppression of women. Part comedy, part drama, part unhinged romp.
Script sample available via the contact form.
short plays
Itty-bitty ten or fifteen-minute plays.
Leave a Light On
4 ACTORS • FLEXIBLE CASTING • FIFTEEN MINUTES
Four people discover their links to one another are about to be severed by the spread of a mysterious illness that makes those infected gradually forget everything. They work to preserve what they treasure about humanity before it all slips away.
Script sample available via the contact form or on the New Play Exchange.
plays for young actors
Plays specifically written for TYA programs or young performers.
Cinderella: The Real Story
10-12 YOUNG PERFORMERS • FLEXIBLE CASTING • ONE ACT
Written in collaboration with TYA playwright John Maclay, Rayven Craft, and Austin Nelson.
A new take on an old classic, this play tells the forgotten stories hidden in the fairy tale we all know so well. Funny, imaginative, and powerful, this play is specifically designed for young performers in a TYA setting and may be adapted to a virtual or in-person performance venue. Premiered at Orlando Repertory Summer Program 2020 by commission of Orlando Repertory Theater.
Licensed through Theatrical Rights Worldwide. Please contact them directly for rights/perusal inquiries.
Paper Flowers (in-progress)
A dual-language play in German and English.
5 YOUNG PERFORMERS • MIXED ADULT ENSEMBLE (AT LEAST 3 W/2M) • ONE ACT
1955, Berlin: Gerlinde Ising is only eleven years old when she departs for a foster home in Holland with nothing more than a small, thin suitcase, her wavering courage, and a blank diary from her sister Ute, who is convinced the three-month stay will be a grand adventure. But Gerlinde’s not so sure. Everything is different in Holland! She misses her home, her garden, and most of all, her family. After all, since the war in Germany is over now, shouldn’t they all try to stay together? But with the help of Ute and Elze, her foster sister, Gerlinde is able to discover that flowers can grow just about anywhere — and that they’re just as beautiful in Holland as they are back home in Berlin.
Script sample available via the contact form.