Erin Breznitsky

Erin Breznitsky

Erin Breznitsky is a Brooklyn-based playwright whose work has been seen in NYC and abroad. Her plays include: SATELLITES (virtual reading, Reign or Shine Productions), THE UNWRITTEN CITY (semi-finalist: Princess Grace Playwriting Award), BODIES OF WATER (FringeNYC), R PLUS J: a new play (workshops with Rogue & Peasant Players / Shakespeare & Company), THE KITCHEN TABLE PLAYS (FringeNYC; English Theatre...
Erin Breznitsky is a Brooklyn-based playwright whose work has been seen in NYC and abroad. Her plays include: SATELLITES (virtual reading, Reign or Shine Productions), THE UNWRITTEN CITY (semi-finalist: Princess Grace Playwriting Award), BODIES OF WATER (FringeNYC), R PLUS J: a new play (workshops with Rogue & Peasant Players / Shakespeare & Company), THE KITCHEN TABLE PLAYS (FringeNYC; English Theatre of Rome, Italy), SVERGINATA (Sarah Lawrence College), and over a dozen short plays with Love Drunk and New York Madness. Other recent credits include writing for “The Living Mural,” a socially distant pop-up performance; an Urban Stages commission to write a play for young audiences; and producing "Amplify," a reading event showcasing the work of woman playwrights.

Erin is a recipient of the Lipkin Prize for Playwriting and a full scholarship to La MaMa's International Playwrights Retreat in Spoleto, Italy. She has an MFA in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College and is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. More information at erinbreznitsky.com.

Plays

  • Satellites
    [FULL-LENGTH] Girl meets Boy, Girl marries Boy, Girl moves on after Boy goes missing in outer space.

    ...Until Boy mysteriously reappears on Earth 7 years later. As the couple—an astronaut and a climate scientist—struggles to adjust to the strange return, they try to connect in the face of an uncertain future on a slowly dying planet.
  • Survival Town, or The Life And Death Of Miss Atomic Bomb
    [FULL-LENGTH] It's 1955, and the U.S. Government is testing its nuclear arsenal on the remote Nevada desert...and the picture-perfect village they're building there just to be destroyed. Near that fateful site, three narratives begin to take shape: A construction worker toils away under the watchful eye of both a duty-bound soldier and a mysterious talking bird. A Hollywood film crew shoots an epic...
    [FULL-LENGTH] It's 1955, and the U.S. Government is testing its nuclear arsenal on the remote Nevada desert...and the picture-perfect village they're building there just to be destroyed. Near that fateful site, three narratives begin to take shape: A construction worker toils away under the watchful eye of both a duty-bound soldier and a mysterious talking bird. A Hollywood film crew shoots an epic Western just outside the blast radius, its stars clinging to former glory as a bright-eyed ingenue bursts onto the scene. And a family of mannequins sits around their fabricated dinner table, yearning for an American dream they can never have.

    While the glittering tourist destination of Las Vegas looks on, with rooftop viewing parties and atomic showgirls, those on the ground brace for impact, as their stories converge in one final sonic boom.

    Running time: 95 minutes, no intermission
  • The Unwritten City
    [FULL-LENGTH] In 1904, the steamboat General Slocum catches fire in the East River of New York City, killing over 1,000 people from the tight-knit German immigrant community—including the wife and three children of Oscar Strauss. During regular visits to his East Village apartment by his neighbor Frida (a survivor of the shipwreck), Oscar debates whether to remain in his adopted home, follow his fellow...
    [FULL-LENGTH] In 1904, the steamboat General Slocum catches fire in the East River of New York City, killing over 1,000 people from the tight-knit German immigrant community—including the wife and three children of Oscar Strauss. During regular visits to his East Village apartment by his neighbor Frida (a survivor of the shipwreck), Oscar debates whether to remain in his adopted home, follow his fellow countrymen uptown, or end his life—all while clinging to the futile hope that his young daughter may still be alive somewhere. Each decision Oscar makes launches the play into a new era, featuring a different resident of his former dwelling: a holocaust survivor in post-World War II America, an artist weathering the violence of the tumultuous 1970s, a native New Yorker still reeling from the 9/11 attacks.
    Aided by a mysterious Prophet who skirts the boundaries of time and age, these stories begin to connect and merge, leading to Oscar’s final decision. People come; people go. A city changes and bleeds, and everything keeps moving. Life goes on, in spite of itself.
  • Bodies of Water
    [FULL-LENGTH] In the last house at the end of a small island town, three friends prepare for the end of the world. Or, at least, the end of something.

    The local news is predicting doomsday, and it’s time to say goodbye: to each other, to the place where they spent their childhood summers, and to the creatures of legend that may (or may not) be lurking in the waters all around them.
    ...
    [FULL-LENGTH] In the last house at the end of a small island town, three friends prepare for the end of the world. Or, at least, the end of something.

    The local news is predicting doomsday, and it’s time to say goodbye: to each other, to the place where they spent their childhood summers, and to the creatures of legend that may (or may not) be lurking in the waters all around them.

    As a storm bears down on the island, the trio is finally forced to reckon with the strange event that happened decades ago, and the shattering secret that one of them has held ever since.
  • R plus J (a new play)
    [FULL-LENGTH] When two star-crossed lovers find themselves thrust together in the afterlife, they think they've finally reached their "happily ever after." But before they can transform their monumental passion into a bond that can stand the test of time, the couple must face the echoes of past mistakes that return to haunt them. Simultaneously humorous and heartbreaking, R plus J tells a tale of...
    [FULL-LENGTH] When two star-crossed lovers find themselves thrust together in the afterlife, they think they've finally reached their "happily ever after." But before they can transform their monumental passion into a bond that can stand the test of time, the couple must face the echoes of past mistakes that return to haunt them. Simultaneously humorous and heartbreaking, R plus J tells a tale of love, loss, youth, and innocence through a contemporary exploration of one of the most infamous romances of all time.

    Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission
  • The Kitchen Table Plays
    [FULL-LENGTH] Four people gather around a kitchen table, which promptly breaks in front of their eyes. One by one, they take turns telling stories, each stepping into their vignette as an omniscient narrator: A man tentatively starts over after his divorce. A woman tries to show her sick granddaughter that life is still worth living. A repair man visits the home of a grieving young woman. Two parents attempt to...
    [FULL-LENGTH] Four people gather around a kitchen table, which promptly breaks in front of their eyes. One by one, they take turns telling stories, each stepping into their vignette as an omniscient narrator: A man tentatively starts over after his divorce. A woman tries to show her sick granddaughter that life is still worth living. A repair man visits the home of a grieving young woman. Two parents attempt to heal their volatile son. A dinner party uncovers a blistering betrayal. Intercut with poetic, lyrical interludes, the stories intertwine as the group tries to put their kitchen table—the heartbeat of their homes—back together again.
  • Suffragettes
    [TEN-MINUTE] Three women, a campfire in the woods, a story to tell. A play about what happens when women decide to stop playing by society's rules. Running time: 15 minutes.
  • The Heirloom
    [TEN-MINUTE] Two sisters cleaning out their deceased grandparents' attic stumble upon a complicated legacy that could split them apart. Running time: 12 minutes.
  • This Is (a love story)
    [TEN-MINUTE] This is a love story. Or is it? That really depends on who you ask.

    This is a date between two people. A date that quickly turns into something else.

    This is not what it seems. Because sometimes the stories people tell others are different than the ones they tell themselves.
  • Just Animals
    [TEN-MINUTE] It's time to celebrate a coworker's birthday in the office (with all the awkwardness that entails). But with their boss in the next room about to get fired for an inappropriate remark, four colleagues try to make the best of things...while the birthday girl just wants to burn it all down.
  • Edge of the World
    [TEN-MINUTE] Two strangers wait at a bus stop in a border town — the first people to venture back to a country that has been ravaged by a decades-long conflict. As it starts to sink in that the war really is over, they question their decisions to flee all those years ago, along with the fates of the people they left behind. Together, they face the uncertain future: the bus that may never come, the homeland they...
    [TEN-MINUTE] Two strangers wait at a bus stop in a border town — the first people to venture back to a country that has been ravaged by a decades-long conflict. As it starts to sink in that the war really is over, they question their decisions to flee all those years ago, along with the fates of the people they left behind. Together, they face the uncertain future: the bus that may never come, the homeland they may not even recognize at all.

    Running time: 10-12 minutes
  • The War at Home
    [TEN-MINUTE] 18-year-old Ellie wants all the things girls aren’t supposed to want in the 1930s...none of which include staying in her tiny country town. And as her PTSD-afflicted father grows more and more volatile, she knows she has to leave it all behind, if she can only get up the nerve. Meanwhile, childhood friend Sam is facing a journey of his own as he heads to basic training in a country moving, once...
    [TEN-MINUTE] 18-year-old Ellie wants all the things girls aren’t supposed to want in the 1930s...none of which include staying in her tiny country town. And as her PTSD-afflicted father grows more and more volatile, she knows she has to leave it all behind, if she can only get up the nerve. Meanwhile, childhood friend Sam is facing a journey of his own as he heads to basic training in a country moving, once again, toward war. A drama about growing up, moving on, and staking your claim in the whole big world.
  • The Counter
    [TEN-MINUTE] Amid the exotic allure of air travel in the 1960s, a salesman named Freddy anxiously waits to board his plane to London. That is, until he realizes that a nearby stranger appears to know more about him than he should. With ticket in hand, Freddy engages in a battle of wits with the mysterious man, in the hope that he can still escape with his life—and soul—intact.

    Running time: 8-10 minutes