Francisca Da Silveira

Francisca Da Silveira

Francisca is a Cape Verdean-American playwright and Boston native who holds a BFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and an MSc in Playwriting from the University of Edinburgh. She has been featured in ArtsBoston, The LA Times, The Boston Globe and American Theatre Magazine. Her plays have been developed with Theatre503 (London), The Traverse Theatre (Edinburgh), Company One...
Francisca is a Cape Verdean-American playwright and Boston native who holds a BFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and an MSc in Playwriting from the University of Edinburgh. She has been featured in ArtsBoston, The LA Times, The Boston Globe and American Theatre Magazine. Her plays have been developed with Theatre503 (London), The Traverse Theatre (Edinburgh), Company One Theatre (Boston); La Jolla Playhouse (San Diego) and The Playwrights’ Center (Minneapolis). New York development: The Fire This Time Festival, The Playwrights Realm, The Public Theater, The New Group, and Colt Coeur.

Fran’s play’s include: NOT-FOR-PROFIT (OR THE EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION PLAY), featured in The Playwrights’ Realm’s INK’D Festival in April 2021 and in La Jolla Playhouse’s DNA New Works Series in July 2021; CAN I TOUCH IT?, featured in the National New Play Network’s 2020 National Showcase of New Plays and currently receiving a 2022-2023 Rolling World Premiere at Company One Theatre (Boston), Rogue Machine Theatre (Los Angeles) and Cleveland Public Theatre (Cleveland); PAY NO WORSHIP, a finalist for the 2023 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and receiving a World Premiere production at InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia) in Spring 2023; MINOR·ITY, commissioned and developed by Colt Coeur; and THE MERRY WIVES OF GRENOBLE, featuring in The Public Theater’s upcoming 2023 Spotlight Series.Fran was a 2020-2021 Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow and is currently a member of The Public Theater’s 2020-2023 Emerging Writers Group, a 2022-2023 Jerome Fellow with the Playwrights’ Center, and member of The Apollo Theater’s New Works initiative 2023 Cohort.

Plays

  • can i touch it? by Francisca Da Silveira
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: gentrification, activism + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: gentrification, activism, Boston, Race, college, banking, Wigs
    Shay Solomon is many things — a business owner, a single mom, a community leader — but there’s one thing she’s definitely not: a pawn in Patron Bank’s efforts to buy up foreclosed real estate in Roxbury and Dorchester. At risk of losing her beauty supply store to the bank, she’s caught between the personal fight for her family’s livelihood and the systemic fight against gentrification. When pushed to her limits...
    Shay Solomon is many things — a business owner, a single mom, a community leader — but there’s one thing she’s definitely not: a pawn in Patron Bank’s efforts to buy up foreclosed real estate in Roxbury and Dorchester. At risk of losing her beauty supply store to the bank, she’s caught between the personal fight for her family’s livelihood and the systemic fight against gentrification. When pushed to her limits, Shay finds herself in the fantastical, peaceful place women of color have to recede into when they get asked stupid ass questions.
    A hyper-local conversation-starter by Boston’s own Francisca Da Silveira, can i touch it? examines Black hair politics, the racial inequities faced by Black-owned businesses, and the tangled web of approaches necessary to create real social change.
  • not-for-profit (or the equity, diversity and inclusion play) by Francisca Da Silveira
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: non-profits, Race + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, farce
    Keyword: non-profits, Race, toxic workplace, diversity, inclusion, Equity, puppets
    When offered a fancy promotion over her more experienced coworker, Nadine is left at a morally conflicting crossroads. All around her, hell begins to break lose at RiseUP, an education nonprofit that matches urban youth of color with inspiring mentors from the world of business. A scandal involving a student breaks, and Nadine discovers that RiseUP isn’t as worthy and wholesome as it pretends to be. not-for-...
    When offered a fancy promotion over her more experienced coworker, Nadine is left at a morally conflicting crossroads. All around her, hell begins to break lose at RiseUP, an education nonprofit that matches urban youth of color with inspiring mentors from the world of business. A scandal involving a student breaks, and Nadine discovers that RiseUP isn’t as worthy and wholesome as it pretends to be. not-for-profit (or the equity, diversity and inclusion play) tackles the dichotomy of policy vs. practice and investigates what is really at the core of toxic, microaggressive workplace environments.
  • pay no worship by Francisca Da Silveira
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: adventure, comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: climate change, family + 4 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, drama
    Keyword: climate change, family, immigration, legend, History, African Diaspora
    Born and raised on Fogo, a tiny African Island, cousins Martin and Jose live at the base of a giant volcano and struggle to make a living in the precarious wine industry that has been the main source of their family's income for generations. While one refuses to give up on tradition and is content to continue living a simplistic rural life, the other longs for a visa to America in order to pursue a higher...
    Born and raised on Fogo, a tiny African Island, cousins Martin and Jose live at the base of a giant volcano and struggle to make a living in the precarious wine industry that has been the main source of their family's income for generations. While one refuses to give up on tradition and is content to continue living a simplistic rural life, the other longs for a visa to America in order to pursue a higher education. Both dreams and volcanoes are at risk of erupting as the cousins fight for opportunity, understanding, and their lives when a tropical storm headed toward the island threatens to destroy everything they know.
  • Heritage Hill Naturals by Francisca Da Silveira
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: Mental Health, Millenialism + 3 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: Mental Health, Millenialism, escapism, farm, African Diaspora
    In an effort to avoid confronting her declining mental health, recent college graduate Lucilia volunteers a month of free labor to an organic farm in rural Georgia. There, she encounters ignorance bordering on racism, religious fanaticism, and too healthy eating habits that force her to question whether escaping into a world of green living was really an escape at all.
  • scholarship babies by Francisca Da Silveira
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: comedy
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    Keyword: Race, education + 2 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: Race, education, affirmative action, privilege
    For the first time in Felicia's life, the unthinkable has happened - she, a lifelong recipient of academic scholarships, has been denied free money to attend graduate school. Her plan to get alternative funding is shattered when she and her two best friends miss the annual reunion cruise for their prestigious private school and are left stranded on the dock. scholarship babies is a cutting examination of...
    For the first time in Felicia's life, the unthinkable has happened - she, a lifelong recipient of academic scholarships, has been denied free money to attend graduate school. Her plan to get alternative funding is shattered when she and her two best friends miss the annual reunion cruise for their prestigious private school and are left stranded on the dock. scholarship babies is a cutting examination of educational privilege, affirmative action and what it truly means to go from rags to riches in today’s society.