Jennifer Fawcett

Jennifer Fawcett

Jennifer Fawcett is a novelist, playwright, and founding member of Working Group Theatre. She is the winner of the 2015 NNPN Smith Prize for Political Theatre and the 2017 Susan Glaspell Award (APPLES IN WINTER), the 2014 NEFA National Theatre Project Award (with Working Group for OUT OF BOUNDS), the Kennedy Center's National Science Playwriting Award (ATLAS OF MUD), and was nominated for the ATCA/...
Jennifer Fawcett is a novelist, playwright, and founding member of Working Group Theatre. She is the winner of the 2015 NNPN Smith Prize for Political Theatre and the 2017 Susan Glaspell Award (APPLES IN WINTER), the 2014 NEFA National Theatre Project Award (with Working Group for OUT OF BOUNDS), the Kennedy Center's National Science Playwriting Award (ATLAS OF MUD), and was nominated for the ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award (BIRTH WITCHES).
Her plays have been produced at Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis), the Source Festival (Washington, DC), Riverside Theatre (Iowa City), Centenary Stage Company (Hackettstown, NJ), Urbanite Theatre (Sarasota), Available Light Theatre (Columbus), Uprising Theatre Company (Minneapolis), Tennessee Women’s Theatre Project (Nashville), The Drilling Company (New York), the Adirondack Theatre Festival (Glens Falls, NY), Alcyone Festival (Chicago), Theatre Masters (Aspen/West Palm Beach), the Hatchery Festival (Washington, DC) and developed at Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor Residency, the Banff Playwrights Colony, Inkwell, the Lark Playwrights' Week, Little Festival of the Unexpected (Portland Stage Co), Cultural Conversations (Penn State) and the NNPN MFA Workshop at the Kennedy Center. She was the NNPN Emerging-Playwright-In-Residence at Curious Theatre Company in Denver and is a graduate of the University of Iowa MFA Playwrights Workshop.
Her debut novel, BENEATH THE STAIRS, was released by Atria Books (Simon & Schuster) in February 2022 and has been optioned for television.



Plays

  • Apples in Winter by Jennifer Fawcett
    Recommendations: 21
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    Cast: 
    1
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    Genre: drama, political
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    Keyword: mother, opioid addiction + 5 more
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: mother, opioid addiction, Death Penalty, crime, apple pie, prison, drug addiction
    Twenty-two years ago, Miriam’s son, Robert, committed a horrible crime while in the grips of withdrawal. It was violent and terrifying and resulted in the deaths of two teenagers who did not deserve to die in such a violent and terrifying way. Robert was caught, tried, and convicted of first-degree murder and has been sitting on death row ever since. In seven hours the state will execute him. As is the...
    Twenty-two years ago, Miriam’s son, Robert, committed a horrible crime while in the grips of withdrawal. It was violent and terrifying and resulted in the deaths of two teenagers who did not deserve to die in such a violent and terrifying way. Robert was caught, tried, and convicted of first-degree murder and has been sitting on death row ever since. In seven hours the state will execute him. As is the tradition, Robert is granted a last meal. His request: a slice of his mother’s apple pie.
    This is a play about monsters and the mothers of monsters.
    And about how we care for each other.
    And about how to make a really good apple pie.


  • Atlas of Mud by Jennifer Fawcett
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    6–10
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    Genre: drama, fable/folktale + 2 more
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    Keyword: global warming, mythology + 3 more
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale, political, science fiction
    Keyword: global warming, mythology, Dystopia, migration, flood
    Ten years after the world flooded and people fled to the boats, the desperation to find land has become lethal but the satellites still see nothing but water. Guarded by the military, one boat holds special cargo: seeds to plant when land is found, birds to find the land, and a child called Mud. A mythical allegory about finding hope in a world turned unrecognizable.
    Winner of the KC/ACTF National Science Playwriting Award.
  • Out of Bounds by Jennifer Fawcett
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: Cyberbullying, teenagers + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, young audiences
    Keyword: Cyberbullying, teenagers, middle school, female friendship
    Madison and Daniela have been BFF’s for three years and everything is fine until they meet the new girl, Amy. While Madison likes her immediately, Daniela knows Amy is going to ruin everything. But then Amy makes a big mistake: she sends an embarrassing selfie to her new friends and soon everyone in the school has seen it and no one is going to let her forget it, especially Daniela. Out of Bounds explores the...
    Madison and Daniela have been BFF’s for three years and everything is fine until they meet the new girl, Amy. While Madison likes her immediately, Daniela knows Amy is going to ruin everything. But then Amy makes a big mistake: she sends an embarrassing selfie to her new friends and soon everyone in the school has seen it and no one is going to let her forget it, especially Daniela. Out of Bounds explores the vicious world of cyber-bullying and the complicated choices young people make when navigating the politics of friendship.
  • The Toymaker's War by Jennifer Fawcett
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: drama, political
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    Keyword: war, children + 7 more
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: war, children, Bosnia, journalism, Bosnian War, Yugoslavia, genocide, Serbia, Dolls
    In 1995, Sylvie was a young journalist who went to Bosnia to find the perfect story. Instead, she found a village full of children from opposing sides on the brink of war. Now, called to testify against her chief witness, she must face the role she may have played in the tragedy that befell that village.
  • Birth Witches by Jennifer Fawcett
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    10–15
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    Genre: dark comedy, docudrama/historic + 2 more
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    Keyword: witchcraft, England + 7 more
    Genre: dark comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, period
    Keyword: witchcraft, England, chorus, midwife, medicine, doctor, pregnancy, King James, Macbeth
    England,1606: The witch craze has come to London. Superstition, science, religion and politics all meet in the birthing room where accusations of witchcraft overturn hundreds of years of tradition as the new male doctors fight to replace the old female midwives. Birth Witches explores the ongoing battle over the politics of birth, from the past through to the present day.
    Nominated for the ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award
  • The Broken Chord by Jennifer Fawcett
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    7–10
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    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: Alzheimer's Disease, dementia + 4 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, movement/physical
    Keyword: Alzheimer's Disease, dementia, caregiving, memory, dance, memory loss
    At the age of 70, Helen's life is turned upside down when she receives the diagnosis of Alzheimer's.
    A renowned archivist, she fights to hold on to her past while her daughter Amy tries to juggle the demands of caregiving with her full time job as a professor. When Helen's absent son, Jacob, returns for a visit, he offers to take care of his mother in return for free housing. Over the...
    At the age of 70, Helen's life is turned upside down when she receives the diagnosis of Alzheimer's.
    A renowned archivist, she fights to hold on to her past while her daughter Amy tries to juggle the demands of caregiving with her full time job as a professor. When Helen's absent son, Jacob, returns for a visit, he offers to take care of his mother in return for free housing. Over the course of a year, the sickness gets worse, old wounds are healed and new ones are ripped open, as Amy and Jacob try to take care of their mother without letting her disease tear the family apart.
    Created through a year of research and volunteer work in the community, interviews, and improvisation, the play weaves together the fictional story of a family struggling with Alzheimer's, with dance, and monologues from local caregivers.
  • After Ana by Jennifer Fawcett
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: Relationships, abduction
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: Relationships, abduction
    On an August night with a storm approaching, a young couple's car breaks down on the side of the road and they are picked up by a passing truck driver. This is about what happened after.

    Inspired by a true story, AFTER ANA* is a love story about a random act of violence that forces those left behind to search for hope and meaning in their lives.

    * Previously titled THEN/AFTER/WATER