The Seedbed

Recipient of the 2014 Theater Masters/Aspen Institute Visionary Playwright Award, nominated for the L. Arnold Weissberger Award and a finalist for the Verity Bargate Award.

A contemporary drama set in Ireland with lashings of dark comedy. The Seedbed dramatises how the seed of a single thought passes from a mother to her daughter, privately grows into an obsession in the daughter's mind and...
Recipient of the 2014 Theater Masters/Aspen Institute Visionary Playwright Award, nominated for the L. Arnold Weissberger Award and a finalist for the Verity Bargate Award.

A contemporary drama set in Ireland with lashings of dark comedy. The Seedbed dramatises how the seed of a single thought passes from a mother to her daughter, privately grows into an obsession in the daughter's mind and is then transferred to her father where it takes on a baroque life of its own in his imagination. As the thought travels from one family member to the next in a dangerous game of psychological Chinese whispers, they each go off on their own private psychological bender that ends up having disastrous consequences for everyone in the family. The play traces the endgame of this situation as the daughter Maggie arrives home from Holland, her new boyfriend in tow, to split from her parents.
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The Seedbed

Recommended by

  • Cheryl Bear:
    24 Aug. 2019
    Fantastic psychological drama, powerful and well executed. We are taken on an explosive and suspenseful ride. Outstanding!

Development History

  • Reading
    ,
    Manhattan Theatre Club, directed by Sarah Benson of Soho Rep, New York
    ,
    2014
  • Workshop
    ,
    Abbey Theatre, Dublin
    ,
    2012

Production History

  • Professional
    ,
    Redtwist Theatre, Chicago
    ,
    2016
  • Professional
    ,
    New Jersey Repertory Company
    ,
    2015

Awards

Finalist
,
Woodward/Newman Drama Award
,
Bloomington Playwrights project
,
2016
Nominated for James Tait Black Prize for Drama
,
University of Edinburgh
,
2016
Winner
,
Theater Masters Visionary Playwright Award
,
Theater Masters in partnership with the Aspen institute
,
2014
Finalist
,
Verity Bargate Award
,
Soho Theatre, London
,
2013
Nominated for L. Arnold Weissberger Award
,
Williamstown Theatre Festival
,
2013