Wayne L. Firestone

Firestone was a member of the 2019-2022 John F. Kennedy Center Immersive Playwriting Workshop cohorts. In March 2022, he was named the Jewish Plays Project inaugural 21st Century Playwright Fellow and is spending a playwright in residence year in San Juan Puerto Rico. His plays have appeared in festivals in New York, Washington, DC, Israel and the United Kingdom. A member of the Dramatists Guild of America, in 2018 he founded Plays2Gather to perform diverse stories in homes and non-traditional venues.

Scripts

Dr. Esperanto

by Wayne L. Firestone

Cast Size

4—10

Genre

adaptation,

comedy,

fable/folktale,

faith-based

The Polish eye doctor and linguist L. L. Zamenhoff and his Yiddish humored patient debate the future of a universal language with the retelling of a German folktale about a threatening 19th century disputation with a priest.

Disappearing Magic

by Wayne L. Firestone

Cast Size

Genre

docudrama/historic,

drama,

fantasy

A female magician meets an Israeli memory doctor on a train ride from Poland to West Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The Amazing Adventures of...Lazerman!

by Wayne L. Firestone

Cast Size

Genre

adventure,

fantasy

A teen falls asleep during school in Miami Beach in 1972 and wakes up as his comic book superhero with the power and proclivity to alter historic events.

Salome's Dance

by Wayne L. Firestone

Cast Size

2—8

Genre

docudrama/historic,

fable/folktale

A Yemenite Jewish refugee in 1947, conjures the mystical dance of Salome and her deceased grandmother’s Mediterranean secrets as a recipe for physical and spiritual escape.

Out

by Wayne L. Firestone

Cast Size

Genre

drama

A university student activist comes out to his religious parents— in one minute.

Website: https://www.waynefirestone.com/

Artistic Statement

Representation

[email protected]

Recommended by

Frida Liberada, a play with music

by Brigitte Viellieu-Davis

Several years before the immersive Frida and Diego exhibit touring the globe Viellieu- Davis captured the essence of the artists’ tormented souls and genius in this evocative play. Crafted with rich Spanish songs, intermingled paintings and memories of Frida, we meet the broken artist through her “heart that was opened.” The audience experiences Frida and the awakening of an artist as if reading her personal diary, laid open for all to see, feel and celebrate.

Several years before the immersive Frida and Diego exhibit touring the globe Viellieu- Davis captured the essence of the artists’ tormented souls and genius in this evocative play. Crafted with rich Spanish songs, intermingled paintings and memories of Frida, we meet the broken artist through her “heart that was opened.” The audience experiences Frida and the awakening of an artist as if reading her personal diary, laid open for all to see, feel and celebrate.
This was a perfect show for a bilingual high school cast. Esquivel balances light humor and authentic emotion skillfully to deliver a show that can be enjoyed by audience members of any age.

This was a perfect show for a bilingual high school cast. Esquivel balances light humor and authentic emotion skillfully to deliver a show that can be enjoyed by audience members of any age.
Anacostia Street Lions

by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm

Trying to understand how black and marginalized people feel in the bleak and violent 2020's? Chisholm takes us to 2049 for an answer with powerful, playful and poetic language that needs little translation. From evocative character names like Paper Clip and Fable we learn about power disparities and intended biases that germinate in gender, race and sexual orientation today. If you are brave or curious to be an ally then cross the river and experience the Anacostia Street Lions.

Trying to understand how black and marginalized people feel in the bleak and violent 2020's? Chisholm takes us to 2049 for an answer with powerful, playful and poetic language that needs little translation. From evocative character names like Paper Clip and Fable we learn about power disparities and intended biases that germinate in gender, race and sexual orientation today. If you are brave or curious to be an ally then cross the river and experience the Anacostia Street Lions.
Misplaced

by Cassie M. Seinuk

He just doesn’t get it— or say it— but that doesn’t stop Seinuk from demanding answers and accountability. When she can’t find solace for one grave heartbreak beyond her control she sleuths to find some closure from another misplaced wound. Seinuk reminds us that miscarriage is not a bad word and that refraining from uttering it aloud is not a shared privilege. Required reading for parents —and want to be parents —or those trying to support them.

He just doesn’t get it— or say it— but that doesn’t stop Seinuk from demanding answers and accountability. When she can’t find solace for one grave heartbreak beyond her control she sleuths to find some closure from another misplaced wound. Seinuk reminds us that miscarriage is not a bad word and that refraining from uttering it aloud is not a shared privilege. Required reading for parents —and want to be parents —or those trying to support them.
JULIA TUTTLE - The Mother of Miami (a 10 minute play)

by Marj O'Neill-Butler

It is said that the power of creation is contained in the power of naming. Fittingly, Marj O’Neil-Butler has dubbed Julia Tuttle as both the mother of Miami and the mother of Fannie her co-star in this multigenerational story of women too often neglected by history. This play brushes the dust off of an 1894 portrait and reluctant photograph subject whose crafty entrepreneurship opened Miami to trains, commerce and new fair weathered friends, tourists and residents.

It is said that the power of creation is contained in the power of naming. Fittingly, Marj O’Neil-Butler has dubbed Julia Tuttle as both the mother of Miami and the mother of Fannie her co-star in this multigenerational story of women too often neglected by history. This play brushes the dust off of an 1894 portrait and reluctant photograph subject whose crafty entrepreneurship opened Miami to trains, commerce and new fair weathered friends, tourists and residents.

View all 9 recommendations

Wayne L. Firestone

Scripts

Dr. Esperanto

by Wayne L. Firestone

Disappearing Magic

by Wayne L. Firestone

The Amazing Adventures of...Lazerman!

by Wayne L. Firestone

Salome's Dance

by Wayne L. Firestone

Out

by Wayne L. Firestone

Monologues

Frida Liberada, a play with music

Anacostia Street Lions

Misplaced

JULIA TUTTLE - The Mother of Miami (a 10 minute play)