Our Dear Dead Drug Lord

by Alexis Scheer

Our Dear Dead Drug Lord follows a gang of girls who do normal teenage things: fall in love, experiment with drugs, worship Pablo Escobar...okay, maybe not so normal. Suspended high above reality in a treehouse in Florida, the girls try to resurrect the spirit of Pablo. But are they just messing with each other, or could they actually be messing with a higher spirit?

Our Dear Dead Drug Lord follows a gang of girls who do normal teenage things: fall in love, experiment with drugs, worship Pablo Escobar...okay, maybe not so normal. Suspended high above reality in a treehouse in Florida, the girls try to resurrect the spirit of Pablo. But are they just messing with each other, or could they actually be messing with a higher spirit?

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Our Dear Dead Drug Lord

Recommended by

  • Libby Heily: Our Dear Dead Drug Lord

    I saw this play and I was blown away. I repeated lines from it for the next few days, thought about it, talked about it, and was sad I caught it at the end of the run. I wish I'd been able to see it a few more times. There's a raw energy in the ending that's difficult to pull off.

    I saw this play and I was blown away. I repeated lines from it for the next few days, thought about it, talked about it, and was sad I caught it at the end of the run. I wish I'd been able to see it a few more times. There's a raw energy in the ending that's difficult to pull off.

  • Audrey Lang: Our Dear Dead Drug Lord

    I have been absolutely obsessed with this play since seeing the WP Theater production! It's a play I wish I'd had as a teenager but am so very grateful to have now as a young woman--both to think on in my womanhood and to look up to as a playwright seeking to create female stories. I loved how truthful the dialogue felt to the way teenage girls speak--I never had any doubt that was who I was watching, particularly thinking of the rapport they had with each other. I can't wait to see how the life of this play continues!

    I have been absolutely obsessed with this play since seeing the WP Theater production! It's a play I wish I'd had as a teenager but am so very grateful to have now as a young woman--both to think on in my womanhood and to look up to as a playwright seeking to create female stories. I loved how truthful the dialogue felt to the way teenage girls speak--I never had any doubt that was who I was watching, particularly thinking of the rapport they had with each other. I can't wait to see how the life of this play continues!

  • Franky D. Gonzalez: Our Dear Dead Drug Lord

    Once the play starts, you go on a journey through extremities. It feels like playwright Alexis Scheer has taken footage from the lives of teenage girls in the early aughts and presented a documentary that helps us understand how we came to become what we are today. You can draw so many parallels to our current political climate from this play. You feel the truth of it, and you see the horror of what happens to those who become entangled to the idea of the cult of personality over one's own magic and strength. A remarkable, timely play.

    Once the play starts, you go on a journey through extremities. It feels like playwright Alexis Scheer has taken footage from the lives of teenage girls in the early aughts and presented a documentary that helps us understand how we came to become what we are today. You can draw so many parallels to our current political climate from this play. You feel the truth of it, and you see the horror of what happens to those who become entangled to the idea of the cult of personality over one's own magic and strength. A remarkable, timely play.

View all 6 recommendations

Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization McCarter Theatre Center, Year 2019
  • Type Workshop, Organization Off the Grid Theatre Company, Year 2018
  • Type Reading, Organization HowlRound Theatre Commons / Latinx Theatre Commons, Year 2018

Production History

  • Type Professional, Organization WP Theater/Second Stage, Year 2019

Awards

  • Outstanding Set Design
    Obies
    Winner
    2020
  • Outstanding Director
    Obies
    Winner
    2020
  • John Gassner Award
    Outer Critics Circle
    Winner
    2020
  • Relentless Award
    American Playwriting Foundation
    Semi-Finalist
    2018
  • Carnaval
    HowlRound Theatre Commons / Latinx Theatre Commons
    Selection
    2018
  • Bay Area Playwrights Festival
    Finalist
    2018