The Body Play

FULL LENGTH: Something is very wrong with Amy's Body. One protagonist is played by two actors, a detached, neurotic Mind, and her chaotic, screaming Body. The Mind submits her Body to the scrutiny of experts—doctors, therapists, yoga teachers—and ultimately explores what it might mean to BE a body, not just a mind that, unfortunately, HAS a body. A meditation on the absurdity of chronic illness and being alive.

FULL LENGTH: Something is very wrong with Amy's Body. One protagonist is played by two actors, a detached, neurotic Mind, and her chaotic, screaming Body. The Mind submits her Body to the scrutiny of experts—doctors, therapists, yoga teachers—and ultimately explores what it might mean to BE a body, not just a mind that, unfortunately, HAS a body. A meditation on the absurdity of chronic illness and being alive.

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The Body Play

Recommended by

  • Maximillian Gill: The Body Play

    This compact piece has so much to say about the often fraught relationship between our bodies and our inner selves, the incompetence and sexism of a medical system that specifically denies women's accounts of their own lived experience, and the challenges faced by people with undefinable conditions. The use of the Body as a separate character is an inventive theatrical device that expresses what so many people feel in a brilliant fashion and yields surprisingly poignant moments. With all that, it is also often laugh-out-loud funny.

    This compact piece has so much to say about the often fraught relationship between our bodies and our inner selves, the incompetence and sexism of a medical system that specifically denies women's accounts of their own lived experience, and the challenges faced by people with undefinable conditions. The use of the Body as a separate character is an inventive theatrical device that expresses what so many people feel in a brilliant fashion and yields surprisingly poignant moments. With all that, it is also often laugh-out-loud funny.

  • Nick Malakhow: The Body Play

    A really inventive and theatrically compelling play about living with invisible, chronic illness and navigating others' expectations surrounding those health issues. The Body as a separate character is so beautifully (and humorously...and uncomfortably) used here as a visual, extended metaphor for Amy's fraught relationship with her own. I also just loved Amy's sense of humor--a well-rendered and realistic coping mechanism--and how it disarmed me for the poignant, moments of crisis and catharsis. This begs to be put on its feet soon and I hope to see it some day!

    A really inventive and theatrically compelling play about living with invisible, chronic illness and navigating others' expectations surrounding those health issues. The Body as a separate character is so beautifully (and humorously...and uncomfortably) used here as a visual, extended metaphor for Amy's fraught relationship with her own. I also just loved Amy's sense of humor--a well-rendered and realistic coping mechanism--and how it disarmed me for the poignant, moments of crisis and catharsis. This begs to be put on its feet soon and I hope to see it some day!

Characters:

Amy: Amy’s mind, disembodied. Female, 20s-30s.

Amy’s Body: Just the body. Female, 20s-30s

All other characters can be played by 1 female actor, or 2-3 actors, the majority of whom are female.


Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization Hope College, Year 2024
  • Type Workshop, Organization 3Girls Theatre, Year 2022
  • Type Workshop, Organization Town Hall Theatre, Year 2022
  • Type Reading, Organization The Bechdel Group, Year 2021

Production History

  • Type Professional, Organization Cleveland Public Theatre, Year 2025
  • Type University, Organization University of Northern Colorado,

Awards

  • Jane Chambers Playwriting Award
    Honorable Mention
    2024