Deneen Reynolds-Knott

Deneen Reynolds-Knott

Deneen Reynolds-Knott’s outdoor play, SHOEBOX PICNIC ROAD SIDE: ROUTE ONE, had its World Premiere at Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Fall 2021. Deneen participated in SPACE at Ryder Farm’s Family Residency in Summer 2022. She recently developed her play PARTICULARLY MEDDLESOME ANCESTORS with the Ingram New Works Festival at Nashville Rep. Other plays include: BABES IN HO-LLAND (2020 Bay Area Playwrights...
Deneen Reynolds-Knott’s outdoor play, SHOEBOX PICNIC ROAD SIDE: ROUTE ONE, had its World Premiere at Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Fall 2021. Deneen participated in SPACE at Ryder Farm’s Family Residency in Summer 2022. She recently developed her play PARTICULARLY MEDDLESOME ANCESTORS with the Ingram New Works Festival at Nashville Rep. Other plays include: BABES IN HO-LLAND (2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Upcoming 2024 Production at Shotgun Players), PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE (Fall 2022 Workshop at Oklahoma City University), ASSUMING POSITIVE INTENTIONS (2021 Clubbed Thumb Reading), FLASHES & FLOATERS (2020 Playfest at Orlando Shakespeare Theater), BATON (2018 Premiere Play Festival and workshop reading at Premiere Stages, Staged reading at Florida Studio Theatre’s 2022 Summer Reading Theatre, San Diego Rep’s 2021 Black Voices Reading Series, finalist for the 2017 PlayPenn and Bay Area Playwrights conferences) and ANTEPARTUM (2020 Fire This Time Festival ‘s signature ten-minute play program). She contributed work to 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company’s Telephone Plays, True Colors’ 2022 Next Narrative Monologue Competition and The Billie Holiday Theatre’s 50in50: Shattering the Glass Ceiling. Deneen was a member of Clubbed Thumb’s 2019-2020 Early-Career Writers’ Group and received the 2021 Clubbed Thumb Constitution Commission. Deneen is a New Georges affiliated artist and developed projects with Liberation Theatre Company, Project Y, Rising Circle and Frank Silvera Workshop. She received her MFA in film from Columbia University.

Plays

  • Particularly Meddlesome Ancestors by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Cast: 
    10
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    Genre: adventure, romantic comedy
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    Keyword: afterlife, ancestors + 2 more
    Genre: adventure, romantic comedy
    Keyword: afterlife, ancestors, love, dating
    A particularly meddlesome ancestor is determined to find a soulmate for his living great-great granddaughter, to distract her from dating a man he deems “unworthy”. But the late mother of the “unworthy one” has plans of her own. The potential soulmate’s deceased kin want to know what’s in it for them. To connect the "destined" lovers, this meddlesome ancestor will have to overcome generational and...
    A particularly meddlesome ancestor is determined to find a soulmate for his living great-great granddaughter, to distract her from dating a man he deems “unworthy”. But the late mother of the “unworthy one” has plans of her own. The potential soulmate’s deceased kin want to know what’s in it for them. To connect the "destined" lovers, this meddlesome ancestor will have to overcome generational and philosophical divides to convince other forebears to either help him or get out of the way.
  • Babes in Ho-lland by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: college, Black women + 7 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: college, Black women, 1990s, love, romance, R&B, class, money, Riot Grrrl
    During a sunless winter in 1996, Ciara & Taryn, two young black women, connect & share their love of XScape & TLC, transforming a dorm room into their sanctuary on a predominantly white university campus. However, the stress of love, financial hardship, and persistent lack of privacy threaten to destroy it.
  • Assuming Positive Intentions by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Cast: 
    7
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: Black women, facilitation + 4 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: Black women, facilitation, healing, collective, professional development, process
    The Sun Porch Collective was a thriving wellness community centering the voices and bodies of black women.
    Then they got cancelled.
    What's better for morale than a mandatory professional development retreat?
  • Shoebox Picnic Road Side: Route One by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Cast: 
    12
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: Outdoor, black family + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, immersive
    Keyword: Outdoor, black family, The Great Migration, food, travel, caravan, Black joy, black
    In 1955, a black family travels by caravan on Route One from Harlem to visit their matriarch in Littleton, North Carolina. Knowing they were unlikely to be served by eateries along the way, the family prepared a feast placed in shoeboxes lined with tin foil. They’ve pulled over to picnic on the road’s shoulder. This is your invitation to join them.
  • Baton by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Recommendations: 8
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: drama, political
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    Keyword: Black women, Race + 7 more
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: Black women, Race, gender roles, police brutality, isolation, loyalty, community, love, regret
    Ava and Tim, a black couple, are on a date interrupted by news of unrest in Baltimore the night of Freddie Gray’s funeral. Ava and Tim grapple with differing feelings about the case. Ava reveals a past engagement to a white cop, detonating a night of accusations, interrogations and confessions.
  • Put Yourself Out There by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
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    Keyword: college, college students + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: college, college students, graduation, loneliness, belonging, dining hall, college friendship, American college students
    A lonely grad student visits their undergraduate alma mater to see their college friends, a mix of other alums and current undergrads. Expectations of a happy reunion are challenged as the group grapples with differing views of the past and present. Inspired by discussions between students, faculty, and the playwright, PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE explores graduation as the ultimate test of college bonds as authentic or forced connections.
  • Flashes & Floaters by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: caregiving, family + 6 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: caregiving, family, pregnancy, love, low vision, black solidarity, workers cooperatives, collaboration
    Rachelle prepares to become a "sandwich mom" balancing care for a newborn with looking after her father with progressive vision loss. In an effort to solve the puzzle of this new life, she joins forces with colleagues to form a workers-cooperatives in the face of overwhelming odds.
  • Antepartum by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama
    Genre: drama
    Two pregnant women navigate bedrest and broken expectations in a hospital's Antepartum Unit.
  • Opposing Ophelia by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama, period + 1 more
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    Keyword: Black women, feminism + 4 more
    Genre: drama, period, political
    Keyword: Black women, feminism, beauty, mother, daughters, activism
    Yvette, a former model/student of the Ophelia Devore School of Modeling & Charm, is confronted with new ideas about beauty, blackness and womanhood, when her daughter, Nina, joins the National Black Feminist Organization in 1973.