ONE NIGHT ONLY EVENT to benefit the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund — featuring a party, an auction, and a staged reading of a completely faithful version of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” except for the zombies. Written by William Shakespeare and written by Frank Winters. Directed by Claire Karpen and produced by Ismenia Mendes. October 27th, 7pm at The Yard in Beacon, NY.
IN THE CITIES OF REFUGE follows the residents and staff of a small-town shelter as they find themselves caught in the center of a great tempest gathering strength and speed, a storm borne of paranoia, anger, and resentment which becomes a crucible upon which their loyalties, their beliefs, and their commitments will be tested -- and which not all of them will survive. The first-ever new play commission from Marquette University. October 4th - 13th, 2024. Written by Frank Winters; directed by Deb Krajec.
written by Jen Tullock & Frank Winters
directed by Jared Mezzocchi
When a best-selling writer releases a book about her upbringing as a gay kid in the Evangelical South, she is confronted by the woman she claims to have had an affair with — who insists the stories are false. Operating multiple cameras and live looping systems, Jen Tullock (Severance) expertly plays a full cast of characters in a tour-de-force performance that blurs the line between reality and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive. In association with Mark Gordon Pictures, Eilene Davidson Productions, and Sara Bareilles. Nothing Can Take You From the Hand of God has received generous support from production sponsors Gina Maria Leonetti and Andrew Tobias.
(Rights and licensing available through Broadway Play Publishing, INC. You can also purchase the play from The Drama Bookshop!)
Developed and Produced by Strangemen & Co. at the 133rd St. Arts Center and 59E59 Theaters. Directed by Frank Winters.
Three years ago, Sarah Kennedy thought she was hired as a translator for a corporate military prison in Baghdad, only to discover that she would be acting as an interrogator instead, retrieving information from dangerous prisoners of war - by any means necessary.
Now, Lily Strauss, a disgraced reporter in the waning days of newspaper journalism, must uncover Sarah's story, cutting through webs of corporate lies and government deception until finally faced with the choice between her own journalistic ideals, and the devastating consequences of telling the truth.
(Rights and licensing available through Broadway Play Publishing, INC. You can also purchase the play from The Drama Bookshop!)
Developed by the Lee Strasberg Institute of Theatre Arts and Film as the recipient of the 2014 Clifford Odets Ensemble Play Commission. Directed by Danny Sharron (as The School Play) at NYU and Michelle Tattenbaum at The Flea Theater.
Since then, it’s been produced at dozens of high schools and universities across the United States.
As a winter storm approaches, nine high school students find themselves summoned into a darkened theater at midnight. Not one of them knows what they’re doing there or for what reason they, specifically, have been asked to come. Not until the tenth arrives. Apparently, something’s happened, and nobody is leaving until they figure out just what that something is and what they’re going to do about it. What happens next will test the strength of their character and the bonds of their friendship in ways they could never have imagined when the evening began and the storm rolled in.
(Trailer for the filmed version can be found here! Rights and licensing available through Broadway Play Publishing, INC. You can also purchase the play from The Drama Bookshop!)
Produced by Scrap Paper Pictures, Looks Like a Great Time, and New York Forever in the Summer of 2021 for a sold out, limited run at The Wild Project in NYC. Directed by Frank Winters.
An existential thriller in one act, The Great Filter is an exploration of everything that could possibly go wrong on the way to a bright new something — and why it’s probably a good idea to try getting there anyway.
The one act play follows two astronauts, as they return to earth and ready themselves to rejoin the world.
Based upon the novella by Charles Dickens.
This one doesn’t have any muppets (sad) but it does contain explorations of intergenerational trauma, the pernicious effects of industrial capitalism on the sanctity of the human spirit, the ways our coping mechanisms may, over time, calcify into a personality — and how if you try very, very hard, you may find yourself able to rewrite the laws of the cosmos in order to help out a friend.
Dickensian fanfic in the shape of a play written by Frank Winters. Directed by Madsie Flynn & Frank Winters; performed live & live-streamed at Royal Family Theaters.
Inspired by her story on the outskirts of the Iliad.
The night before her murder, Iphigenia reckons with what remains of the rest of her life.
A short play selected for the 2023 Red Bull Theater Short New Play Festival. Directed by Ibi Owolabi, performed by Ismenia Mendes.
Presented at Theatre Row by the United Solo Play Festival
Something isn’t right. And Oliver surely isn’t the one to figure it out — that would be his best friend. Only his best friend isn’t here anymore. And nobody else seems to care. Which leaves him, a desk editor at a dying newspaper, to finish his best friend’s final investigation. But the closer he gets, the less makes sense. And the walls close in. Whether he can dig his way out is up to him. A nocturnal thriller in one act.
Currently in development with co-creator Jill Echo.
Workshopped at the Bernie Wohl Center in October 2016 and then again in February 2018 by Strangemen Theatre Company.
Inspired by the series of articles by Nellie Bly, Ten Days in a Mad-House utilizes movement, music, and text to share the story of a young reporter who has herself committed to a lunatic asylum in the fall of 1887 in an effort to expose the horrors going on inside and ends up changing the world forever.
Currently in development with Catastrophe Playlist following a 29-hour-reading in December directed by Madsie Flynn.
Independently workshopped at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in 2018 by Strangemen Theatre Company. The Flight of Ganymede was performed at the fifth (and final) aPlay & aParty.
Inspired by Ancient Greek Mythology and Poetry, The Shape of the Stars" is an anthological story of hope, loss, grief, faith, and family.
Originally commissioned and developed by the Treehouse Theatre Company and StrangeMen & Co. in New York City and received its world premiere in the 2011 Midtown International Theatre Festival at the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre. Directed by Steven Laing.
The story of the two most important relationships in a young man’s life: with the woman he left behind, and the film he made so he wouldn’t have to.