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: How the Baby Died by Tori Keenan-Zelt
    “

    We are pleased to support this play! It was a Finalist for the 2020 New Works Festival at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas, Texas.

    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: How the Baby Died by Tori Keenan-Zelt
    “

    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!

    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: How the Baby Died by Tori Keenan-Zelt
    “

    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.

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

Development History

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

Awards