How the Baby Died by Tori Keenan-Zelt

When the hapless, unemployed actress Stace opts out of her marriage, she becomes (rather suddenly) a live-in nanny for her best friend, his husband, and their newborn baby. But then she gets the chance of a lifetime: an audition for a French Horror Theater. Hilarity, mayhem and Grand Guignol hijinks ensue with the only prop available. Baby, it gets bloody. A darkly visceral, absurdly comic play about parenting...
When the hapless, unemployed actress Stace opts out of her marriage, she becomes (rather suddenly) a live-in nanny for her best friend, his husband, and their newborn baby. But then she gets the chance of a lifetime: an audition for a French Horror Theater. Hilarity, mayhem and Grand Guignol hijinks ensue with the only prop available. Baby, it gets bloody. A darkly visceral, absurdly comic play about parenting, pregnancy, abortion, and women's physical self-agency.
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How the Baby Died

Recommended by

  • Kitchen Dog Theater:
    22 May. 2020
    “ We are pleased to support this play! It was a Finalist for the 2020 New Works Festival at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas, Texas. ”
  • Emma Goldman-Sherman:
    1 Sep. 2019
    “ LOVE THIS PLAY - Hilarity Ensues! Pee first, then read it! I found this play to be completely entertaining and thrilling, and it says so much about the assumptions people make about female experience! I'd run to see it performed! (and I never run) All the implements of impalement! All the blood and the stains on the carpet! Noe Valley! This! ”
  • Nora Zahn:
    18 Aug. 2019
    “ A bold and enraging play of farcical proportions! Not for the faint of heart, the mansplainers, or anyone claiming to be an authority on what women's writing can or should be; though, decidedly, those are the people who need to read this play most urgently. "Aggressive" and "radical" barely begin to sum up HOW THE BABY DIED, a full-on experience begging to be staged. ”
View all 4 recommendations

Character Information

STACE/ANNA/ANASTASIA (pronounced "Ah-nah-STAH-sya" (F, 32)

BEN (M, 27)

AARON (M, 33)

A DOCTOR, RICH (M, 30s-50s)

ALEXA (F, a voice, she may be recorded)

  • Stace
    30s,
    Presents Female
    A young woman who has the quality of being an alien wearing a human suit
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      30s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Asian, Pacific Islander, or Asian American, Latinx/o/a or Hispanic, White
    • Gender: 
      Female
  • Alexa
    Presents Female
    A voice, she may be recorded.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      20s, 30s, 40s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Female, Non-binary
  • Ben
    20s-30s,
    Any
    ,
    Presents Male
    A young artist who has been a party boy, a puppeteer, and is now a stay-at-home parent
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      20s, 30s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Male, Non-binary
  • Aaron
    30s,
    Any
    ,
    Presents Male
    A middle class kid who worked his way through Harvard to Google. A sharply perceptive pragmatist.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      30s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Male
  • Rich
    30-60,
    White
    ,
    Presents Male
    A sadomasochistic doctor who might have just stepped out of a Grand Guignol play
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      30s, 40s, 50s, 60s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      White
    • Gender: 
      Male

Development History

  • Residency
    ,
    The Lark Play Development Center Playground
    ,
    2019
  • Reading
    ,
    Nashville Repertory Theatre
    ,
    2018
  • Reading
    ,
    The Lark Roundtables
    ,
    2018
  • Residency
    ,
    Nashville Repertory Theatre
    ,
    2018
  • Residency
    ,
    The Lark Meeting of the Minds
    ,
    2018

Awards