Justin Halle

Justin Halle (they/he) is a queer, Jewy, and sometimes-funny playwright who lives in NYC. Justin was a 2025 Finalist for Page 73's Playwriting Fellowship and a member of Page 73's Writers Group. Justin's play VILE ISLE opened The Tank's 2024-2025 Core Season and was described by New York Times Chief Theater Critic Helen Shaw as "superb," "horny," and "goofy but also deeply moral." Justin's other work has been developed by companies including The Vineyard, La Mama, Roundabout, Samuel French/Concord Theatricals, the Exponential Festival, Prototype, The Brick, Playhouse on Park, Middlebury Acting Company, Red Bull Theater at the Lucille Lortel, and Joe’s Pub. Justin’s play COWGIRL was a semifinalist for both the Princess Grace Award and the Terrence McNally New Works Incubator at Rattlestick...

Justin Halle (they/he) is a queer, Jewy, and sometimes-funny playwright who lives in NYC. Justin was a 2025 Finalist for Page 73's Playwriting Fellowship and a member of Page 73's Writers Group. Justin's play VILE ISLE opened The Tank's 2024-2025 Core Season and was described by New York Times Chief Theater Critic Helen Shaw as "superb," "horny," and "goofy but also deeply moral." Justin's other work has been developed by companies including The Vineyard, La Mama, Roundabout, Samuel French/Concord Theatricals, the Exponential Festival, Prototype, The Brick, Playhouse on Park, Middlebury Acting Company, Red Bull Theater at the Lucille Lortel, and Joe’s Pub. Justin’s play COWGIRL was a semifinalist for both the Princess Grace Award and the Terrence McNally New Works Incubator at Rattlestick, as well as a finalist for the Columbia @ Roundabout New Play Award. Their playwriting has been published in Best of Red Bull Theater’s Short New Plays and WE/US: Monologues for Gender Minority Actors. Justin is a current semifinalist for La Mama's Experiments in Playwriting Fellowship. Justin has developed new operas with companies that include The Why Collective and the Cincinnati Opera. Justin is a graduate of NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing and, in 2023, received their MFA from Columbia under the mentorship of Jen Silverman, David Henry Hwang, and Lynn Nottage.

Scripts

COWGIRL

by Justin Halle

Synopsis

Three city friends convene on a fracking ranch in Wyoming for a wild western wedding—but when Lila unearths Cowgirls, a relic of a feminist board-game-without-a-board, all bets on a seamless wedding are off. The game’s provocative questions threaten to unravel the tender secrets and dark desires that lurk just beneath the surface of these friendships. Cowgirl is a queer, passionate, and transformative dark...

Three city friends convene on a fracking ranch in Wyoming for a wild western wedding—but when Lila unearths Cowgirls, a relic of a feminist board-game-without-a-board, all bets on a seamless wedding are off. The game’s provocative questions threaten to unravel the tender secrets and dark desires that lurk just beneath the surface of these friendships. Cowgirl is a queer, passionate, and transformative dark comedy that gallops its way through questions of identity, the temptations of fracking, and the permanence of mustard stains. Oh, and one more thing: beware The Aunts.

VILE ISLE

by Justin Halle

Synopsis

In eighteen days the world will end by Flood—at least according to drag queen Lizzie Fine, who receives a frightening prophecy of Old Testament proportions. Meanwhile, a gaggle of gay "chosen family" considers unchoosing each other. Nathan the Demon Twink seeks transcendence through Kabbalah (and Adderall), Christopher bravely transitions (into a DJ), and Gnocchi the Cat WILL be Bat Mitzvah'd, God willing. Vile...

In eighteen days the world will end by Flood—at least according to drag queen Lizzie Fine, who receives a frightening prophecy of Old Testament proportions. Meanwhile, a gaggle of gay "chosen family" considers unchoosing each other. Nathan the Demon Twink seeks transcendence through Kabbalah (and Adderall), Christopher bravely transitions (into a DJ), and Gnocchi the Cat WILL be Bat Mitzvah'd, God willing. Vile Isle is a precocious and party-fueled dark comedy about how we fail and forgive one another and what faith is worth when our limits are existentially tested.

SATURN RETURN

by Justin Halle

Synopsis

Debbie and Debbie witness their Aunt Louisa’s existential meltdown over life’s most miserable tragedy: turning twenty-nine-and-a-half. Debbie and Debbie suffer life’s second most miserable tragedy: being named Debbie.

Debbie and Debbie witness their Aunt Louisa’s existential meltdown over life’s most miserable tragedy: turning twenty-nine-and-a-half. Debbie and Debbie suffer life’s second most miserable tragedy: being named Debbie.

MACHT FREI

by Justin Halle

Synopsis

Veering between Dachau concentration camp in 1943 and New York City’s Upper East Side in 2020, Macht Frei is a short play that explores the blood memory of inherited Jewish trauma, intergenerational disconnect, and all the things history has failed to teach us—despite its violent insistence on repeating itself.

Veering between Dachau concentration camp in 1943 and New York City’s Upper East Side in 2020, Macht Frei is a short play that explores the blood memory of inherited Jewish trauma, intergenerational disconnect, and all the things history has failed to teach us—despite its violent insistence on repeating itself.

E-PIGEON (I...Uh...)

by Justin Halle

Synopsis

A 10-minute-sort-of-adaptation of IPHIGENIA in which a pigeon sends emails.

A 10-minute-sort-of-adaptation of IPHIGENIA in which a pigeon sends emails.

JUDY NEW YEAR

by Justin Halle

Synopsis

Judy sits alone on New Years Eve.

Judy sits alone on New Years Eve.

DELAWARE, COME HOME

by Justin Halle

Synopsis

Orli lives with her dog named Delaware in Montana; that is, until Delaware runs away, and Orli finds herself surrounded by vast nothing. She constructs a makeshift antenna, which she hopes will help Delaware find his way back home.

Orli lives with her dog named Delaware in Montana; that is, until Delaware runs away, and Orli finds herself surrounded by vast nothing. She constructs a makeshift antenna, which she hopes will help Delaware find his way back home.