May Treuhaft-Ali

May Treuhaft-Ali is a playwright and dramaturg from Queens, New York. She is currently a member of Page 73’s Writers Group and Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Her play ABCD had its world premiere at Barrington Stage Company in July 2022, and her play Escapegoat had a workshop production at Boston Court Pasadena later that year. She was the 22-23 Van Lier Fellow at Rattlestick Theater. She has been in season-long writers' groups at Ars Nova, Clubbed Thumb, and the Playwrights Realm, and her plays have been developed at New York Theatre Workshop, The Movement Theatre Company, MCC Theater, Irish Repertory Theatre, the Cape Cod Theatre Project, The Jungle, and Westport Country Playhouse. She has received commissions from South Coast Repertory, Barrington Stage, and Cleveland Play House.

May Treuhaft-Ali is a playwright and dramaturg from Queens, New York. She is currently a member of Page 73’s Writers Group and Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Her play ABCD had its world premiere at Barrington Stage Company in July 2022, and her play Escapegoat had a workshop production at Boston Court Pasadena later that year. She was the 22-23 Van Lier Fellow at Rattlestick Theater. She has been in season-long writers' groups at Ars Nova, Clubbed Thumb, and the Playwrights Realm, and her plays have been developed at New York Theatre Workshop, The Movement Theatre Company, MCC Theater, Irish Repertory Theatre, the Cape Cod Theatre Project, The Jungle, and Westport Country Playhouse. She has received commissions from South Coast Repertory, Barrington Stage, and Cleveland Play House.

Scripts

BRIDE GROOM WITNESS WAITRESS

by May Treuhaft-Ali

Synopsis

Twenty years ago, Saarah's parents got married in secret, then picked her up from summer camp. (It took them a few tries because they kept stopping for Peking duck on their way to City Hall.) Now, as she prepares for her own partner to arrive on a fiancé visa, Saarah tries to recreate their wedding day. Except no one can remember quite how it went. A memory play about marriage, immigration, and unreliable...

Twenty years ago, Saarah's parents got married in secret, then picked her up from summer camp. (It took them a few tries because they kept stopping for Peking duck on their way to City Hall.) Now, as she prepares for her own partner to arrive on a fiancé visa, Saarah tries to recreate their wedding day. Except no one can remember quite how it went. A memory play about marriage, immigration, and unreliable witnesses.

ABCD

by May Treuhaft-Ali

Synopsis

In an underserved public school on the verge of shutdown, a teacher erases wrong answers from his students’ exams, hoping higher scores will keep the school open. In an elite magnet program nearby, a student texts 140 classmates the answers for a physics test. ABCD weaves these stories together to interrogate the inequities of our public school system. When the joys and challenges of learning are reduced to a...

In an underserved public school on the verge of shutdown, a teacher erases wrong answers from his students’ exams, hoping higher scores will keep the school open. In an elite magnet program nearby, a student texts 140 classmates the answers for a physics test. ABCD weaves these stories together to interrogate the inequities of our public school system. When the joys and challenges of learning are reduced to a multiple-choice test, who runs out of options?

Motherland

by May Treuhaft-Ali

Synopsis

Two pregnant women of color from Chicago devise a plan to raise their children in rural Ireland, where one of them has distant relatives. Their hopes of starting a new life are complicated when they discover that the land itself is haunted by a history not unlike their own.

Two pregnant women of color from Chicago devise a plan to raise their children in rural Ireland, where one of them has distant relatives. Their hopes of starting a new life are complicated when they discover that the land itself is haunted by a history not unlike their own.

Quick Service

by May Treuhaft-Ali

Synopsis

QUICK SERVICE is a play about the precarities of the food service industry, set in an empanada shop in Chicago. Four employees try to make it through the dinner rush as something sinister rises up from the basement, ex-coworkers enact their revenge, and the oven has a mind of its own.

QUICK SERVICE is a play about the precarities of the food service industry, set in an empanada shop in Chicago. Four employees try to make it through the dinner rush as something sinister rises up from the basement, ex-coworkers enact their revenge, and the oven has a mind of its own.

ESCAPEGOAT

by May Treuhaft-Ali

Synopsis

Humans brought goats to the Galápagos. The goats ate everything in sight. The islands dried up and the tortoises died out. In order to save the last living tortoise, the humans must exterminate the goats before it is too late. ESCAPEGOAT is an eco-parable about who has a right to live where, human intervention in non-human ecosystems, and the species whose fates are inextricable from our own.

Humans brought goats to the Galápagos. The goats ate everything in sight. The islands dried up and the tortoises died out. In order to save the last living tortoise, the humans must exterminate the goats before it is too late. ESCAPEGOAT is an eco-parable about who has a right to live where, human intervention in non-human ecosystems, and the species whose fates are inextricable from our own.

HIS MAJESTY, HERSELF

by May Treuhaft-Ali

Synopsis

When she is approached by the legendary female pharaoh Hatshephut, Reem's class trip to Cairo turns into an epic journey to set the record straight on Hatshephut's legacy. Along the way, she travels to ancient ruins and mythical lands, seeking a way to make her heritage her own.

When she is approached by the legendary female pharaoh Hatshephut, Reem's class trip to Cairo turns into an epic journey to set the record straight on Hatshephut's legacy. Along the way, she travels to ancient ruins and mythical lands, seeking a way to make her heritage her own.