Monarchs

by Danielle Frimer

FULL LENGTH: How is this night different from all other nights? In, uh, a bunch of ways.

Welcome to the Motek Family Seder, where everything is brisket-as-usual until Peter Pan shows up in Elijah's chair, offering first-born, Perri, the chance of a lifetime. Will this Dickensian fever dream of a Neverland finally give Perri the guts to be herself with the people who love her most and know her least?

Monarchs...

FULL LENGTH: How is this night different from all other nights? In, uh, a bunch of ways.

Welcome to the Motek Family Seder, where everything is brisket-as-usual until Peter Pan shows up in Elijah's chair, offering first-born, Perri, the chance of a lifetime. Will this Dickensian fever dream of a Neverland finally give Perri the guts to be herself with the people who love her most and know her least?

Monarchs is a coming-out, coming-of-age story that that proudly reclaims Peter Pan as the queer icon she's always been to those of us who knew to look.

New Play Festival, Morgan Wixson Theatre, September & October 2023.
Round the Bend Theatre Staged Reading, September 2023.
Sewanee Writers' Conference, July 2023.
Valdez Theatre Conference Play Lab, June 2023.
Round the Bend Theatre Reading, April 2022.
Sarah Ruhl's Advanced Playwriting Seminar, June 2021.

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Monarchs

Recommended by

  • Morey Norkin: Monarchs by Danielle Frimer
    “

    What a joy! Danielle Frimer blends a very realistic, loud, and funny Passover Seder with a magical journey with Peter Pan. Sounds impossible, no? Rather than the prophet Elijah arriving, Pan shows up to take first-born Perri on a journey of self acceptance. It is truly a magical, theatrical experience, and one that I would love to witness someday.

    What a joy! Danielle Frimer blends a very realistic, loud, and funny Passover Seder with a magical journey with Peter Pan. Sounds impossible, no? Rather than the prophet Elijah arriving, Pan shows up to take first-born Perri on a journey of self acceptance. It is truly a magical, theatrical experience, and one that I would love to witness someday.

    ”
  • Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend: Monarchs by Danielle Frimer
    “

    This play is beautiful! It turns from funny to heartfelt and back again on a dime and is wholly original. I would especially love to see it staged to see how the designers handle Tinkerbell and the butterflies. Gorgeous!

    This play is beautiful! It turns from funny to heartfelt and back again on a dime and is wholly original. I would especially love to see it staged to see how the designers handle Tinkerbell and the butterflies. Gorgeous!

    ”
  • Sam Heyman: Monarchs by Danielle Frimer
    “

    I had the honor of being cast in a reading of Monarchs at the Valdez Theatre Conference, and I am in as much awe of it now as I was then. Full of culturally specific humor and heartbreak, Monarchs deftly balances the experimental with the familiar, weaving an epic and intimate tale across time and space. You will laugh, you will cry, and you may feel an overwhelming need to call your parents. Kudos to Danielle Frimer for creating this powerful, transcendent play!

    I had the honor of being cast in a reading of Monarchs at the Valdez Theatre Conference, and I am in as much awe of it now as I was then. Full of culturally specific humor and heartbreak, Monarchs deftly balances the experimental with the familiar, weaving an epic and intimate tale across time and space. You will laugh, you will cry, and you may feel an overwhelming need to call your parents. Kudos to Danielle Frimer for creating this powerful, transcendent play!

    ”
View all 9 recommendations

Development History

  • Workshop, Round the Bend Theatre, 2023
  • Reading, Morgan Wixson Theatre, 2023
  • Reading, Valdez Theatre Conference, 2023
  • Reading, Round the Bend Theatre Co., 2022

Awards

  • Queer Play Contest
    Theatre Viscera
    Finalist
    2019