Sheri Wilner

Sheri Wilner is an award-winning playwright who has been working in the theatre for over twenty-five years. Her plays include Kingdom City, Father Joy, Bake Off, Relative Strangers, Labor Day, Joan of Arkansas, The End, A Tall Order and Hunger, and have been performed and developed at such major theatres as the La Jolla Playhouse, Guthrie Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference, New Georges, and the Old Vic/New Voices in London.

She has twice been a co-winner of the prestigious Heideman Award granted by the Actors Theatre of Louisville: in 1998 for Labor Day, which premiered at the 1999 Humana Festival, and in 2001 for Bake Off, which premiered at the 2002 Humana Festival. Bake Off was praised by The New York Times as a...

Sheri Wilner is an award-winning playwright who has been working in the theatre for over twenty-five years. Her plays include Kingdom City, Father Joy, Bake Off, Relative Strangers, Labor Day, Joan of Arkansas, The End, A Tall Order and Hunger, and have been performed and developed at such major theatres as the La Jolla Playhouse, Guthrie Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference, New Georges, and the Old Vic/New Voices in London.

She has twice been a co-winner of the prestigious Heideman Award granted by the Actors Theatre of Louisville: in 1998 for Labor Day, which premiered at the 1999 Humana Festival, and in 2001 for Bake Off, which premiered at the 2002 Humana Festival. Bake Off was praised by The New York Times as a “barbed, witty, thoughtful, giggle and snort inducing satire on gender roles” that was “the clear apex” of the festival.

Her work has been widely anthologized and published by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French and Playscripts.com, leading to over four hundred productions of her plays across the United States as well as in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Japan, United Kingdom and India.

Her playwriting awards include a Howard Foundation Fellowship in Playwriting, a Bush Artist Fellowship and two Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellowships.

Also an established playwriting teacher, she is currently an Adjunct Professor for NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing. She is also on the faculty of the Dramatists Guild Institute, where she teaches in person, online, and is frequently hired for one-on-one script consultations. She recently concluded a two-year appointment as the 2017-19 Master Playwright for the Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs’ Playwright Development Program, a position she also held from 2013 – 2015. She has served as the Rev. J. Donald Monan, S.J. Professor in Theatre Arts at Boston College for the 2016-2017 academic year and as the Fred Coe Visiting Playwright-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University. Prior to that she was a visiting Assistant Professor in Playwriting at Florida State University’s MFA Dramatic Writing Program.

She recently wrote her first play for Zoom, LOL OL, which was included in the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Launch Pad’s “Alone, Together” program of Zoom plays

Scripts

LOL OL

by Sheri Wilner

Synopsis

As the owner of the Laugh Out Loud yoga studio, Laughter Yoga instructor Dot Darcy can make anyone laugh. But when the coronavirus requires her to take LOL online, a class of heartsick singles teaches her some experiences can’t be recreated on Zoom.

As the owner of the Laugh Out Loud yoga studio, Laughter Yoga instructor Dot Darcy can make anyone laugh. But when the coronavirus requires her to take LOL online, a class of heartsick singles teaches her some experiences can’t be recreated on Zoom.

Labor Day

by Sheri Wilner

Synopsis

On the eve of Labor Day, a “Last-Day-to-Wear-White” party sets the scene for one woman’s stand against the march of time.

On the eve of Labor Day, a “Last-Day-to-Wear-White” party sets the scene for one woman’s stand against the march of time.

Relative Strangers

by Sheri Wilner

Synopsis

A young airline passenger decides that the woman seated next to her might be the mother she never had. She finds an ally in a wacky stewardess who, unlike the reluctant mother figure, believes these two passengers are a match made in heaven.

A young airline passenger decides that the woman seated next to her might be the mother she never had. She finds an ally in a wacky stewardess who, unlike the reluctant mother figure, believes these two passengers are a match made in heaven.

Kingdom City

by Sheri Wilner

Synopsis

When her husband Daniel is awarded a year-long residency at small Missouri college, New York theatre director Miriam Bloom accompanies him there and gets a freelance job directing The Crucible at Kingdom City High School. But when young, evangelical paramours Katie and Matt are cast as John and Elizabeth Proctor, their youth minister’s concerns cause the play to be shut down. The fallout creates a crucible of...

When her husband Daniel is awarded a year-long residency at small Missouri college, New York theatre director Miriam Bloom accompanies him there and gets a freelance job directing The Crucible at Kingdom City High School. But when young, evangelical paramours Katie and Matt are cast as John and Elizabeth Proctor, their youth minister’s concerns cause the play to be shut down. The fallout creates a crucible of its own, in which Miriam and Daniel find themselves on opposite sides of a cultural war, and the strength their marriage is tested; as are their prior concepts of personal fulfillment. Based on actual events that occurred in 2006, Kingdom City strives to present an even-handed examination of the fears and concerns that arise when the welfare of children is at stake. But overriding all political issues, the play’s main question is how we can free ourselves from our fears and find our real place in the world.

Bake Off

by Sheri Wilner

Synopsis

Last year, the largest cash prize in Bake Off history was awarded to a man; this year, one female contestant will make sure that the male entrants get their just desserts...

Last year, the largest cash prize in Bake Off history was awarded to a man; this year, one female contestant will make sure that the male entrants get their just desserts...

Arts and Sciences

by Sheri Wilner

Synopsis

A fine arts and a plant sciences major are both drawn to the same tree on their college campus, though for extremely different reasons. At first dismissive of each other’s work, they both come to see their beloved tree – and each other -- with a new perspective.

A fine arts and a plant sciences major are both drawn to the same tree on their college campus, though for extremely different reasons. At first dismissive of each other’s work, they both come to see their beloved tree – and each other -- with a new perspective.

A Tall Order

by Sheri Wilner

Synopsis

During a dinner date, a woman stops time to ponder what meal to order, and in doing so ends up thoroughly deconstructing male/female relationships.

During a dinner date, a woman stops time to ponder what meal to order, and in doing so ends up thoroughly deconstructing male/female relationships.

The One

by Sheri Wilner

Synopsis

Amy has invited her former high school sweetheart Chris and his fiancé Jake to dinner in honor of their recent engagement. Chris arrives first to warn Amy that Jake will be searching for signs that they still harbor feelings for each other… a notion Amy protests is ridiculous given their relationship ended twenty-five years ago when Chris acknowledged he was gay. Yet when they examine the evidence behind this...

Amy has invited her former high school sweetheart Chris and his fiancé Jake to dinner in honor of their recent engagement. Chris arrives first to warn Amy that Jake will be searching for signs that they still harbor feelings for each other… a notion Amy protests is ridiculous given their relationship ended twenty-five years ago when Chris acknowledged he was gay. Yet when they examine the evidence behind this accusation, they’re forced to admit the profound dissatisfaction they’ve had with all subsequent romantic partners and their futile attempts to replicate the profound connection they once shared with each other.