Howard Skora

Howard Skora is a Los Angeles–based playwright, director, and screenwriter known for his comedic works: Freud on Cocaine, Gaslight House, Damaged Furniture, and Miserable with an Ocean View. With four world premieres at the Whitefire Theatre, he has established himself as a prolific voice in the LA theatrical scene.

Freud on Cocaine, his most recent work, had sold-out runs in 2023 and 2024, earning seven Broadway World Los Angeles Award nominations, and will be produced in Portland in 2026 by Fuse Theater Ensemble.

His 2022 play, Gaslight House, which he also directed, received six Broadway World Los Angeles Award nominations, including Best Play, Best Direction, Best Ensemble Performance, and Best Performer (Alex Skuby), along with numerous five-star reviews. Stage Raw wrote: “Skora...

Howard Skora is a Los Angeles–based playwright, director, and screenwriter known for his comedic works: Freud on Cocaine, Gaslight House, Damaged Furniture, and Miserable with an Ocean View. With four world premieres at the Whitefire Theatre, he has established himself as a prolific voice in the LA theatrical scene.

Freud on Cocaine, his most recent work, had sold-out runs in 2023 and 2024, earning seven Broadway World Los Angeles Award nominations, and will be produced in Portland in 2026 by Fuse Theater Ensemble.

His 2022 play, Gaslight House, which he also directed, received six Broadway World Los Angeles Award nominations, including Best Play, Best Direction, Best Ensemble Performance, and Best Performer (Alex Skuby), along with numerous five-star reviews. Stage Raw wrote: “Skora comes from a stand-up comedy background, and his mastery of humor shines in the show’s writing… Gaslight House is an unforgettable experience.”

His 2018 play, Damaged Furniture, directed by Jim Fall, ran for six months and was the top-rated original comedy in Los Angeles on Better-Lemons for its entire run, earning a “100% sweet critic rating.” It later garnered an Ovation nomination for Featured Actress in a Play (Jessica Pohly), as well as Best Play and Best Writer nominations at the 2019 Valley Theater Awards, and returned in 2026 with a successful run at Boca Stage.

Skora’s first play, Miserable with an Ocean View, directed by Jim Fall, premiered in 2015 starring Oscar nominee Patty McCormack and ran for five sold-out months. It was named “Most Promising New Play” by Don Grigware in the Broadway World Eddon Awards and earned multiple Valley Theater Award nominations, including Best Play and Best Director.

Skora studied screenwriting at UCLA Extension, where he received the Diane Thomas Screenwriting Award for his screenplay The Trainer. He is also the first-place winner of the 5th Annual Scriptapalooza Screenwriting Competition and used the $10,000 prize to complete Nick Name and The Normals, his first independent feature-length documentary, which premiered in London at the National Film Theatre. He develops most of his work with the members of The Actor’s Gym, run by his longtime mentor, Oscar winner Bobby Moresco, and is grateful to collaborate with the actors and artists who continue to shape his productions. He also serves as a board member of the Desert Playwrights Retreat.

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Scripts

Freud on Cocaine

by Howard Skora

Cast Size
5—6
Genre
biography,
comedy,
dark comedy,
docudrama/historic,
drama,
farce,
period,
satire

"Freud on Cocaine" is the incredible true story of Sigmund Freud's 10-year addiction to cocaine in the early part of his career where he experimented with cocaine on himself, his patients and his loved ones. This outrageous new comedy, drawn from Freud’s own writings in "The Cocaine Papers", offers a shocking and hilarious exploration of the father of psychoanalysis as a respected doctor, loving father, and...

"Freud on Cocaine" is the incredible true story of Sigmund Freud's 10-year addiction to cocaine in the early part of his career where he experimented with cocaine on himself, his patients and his loved ones. This outrageous new comedy, drawn from Freud’s own writings in "The Cocaine Papers", offers a shocking and hilarious exploration of the father of psychoanalysis as a respected doctor, loving father, and unlikely drug addict.

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Damaged Furniture

by Howard Skora

Cast Size
5
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama,
farce

Struggling middle-aged actor, Doug Elling, is summoned home to Brooklyn from Los Angeles after learning that his favorite uncle has died, in a bizarre “furniture accident” in the family-run furniture store. Upon arrival, Doug quickly discovers from his Aunt Laurie, that his father had cancer, but no one bothered to call him. Although Doug is waiting to audition for what he hopes will be his breakthrough role —...

Struggling middle-aged actor, Doug Elling, is summoned home to Brooklyn from Los Angeles after learning that his favorite uncle has died, in a bizarre “furniture accident” in the family-run furniture store. Upon arrival, Doug quickly discovers from his Aunt Laurie, that his father had cancer, but no one bothered to call him. Although Doug is waiting to audition for what he hopes will be his breakthrough role — that of an intersex robot on a Hulu web series — he’s gradually sucked into the lunacy of his immediate family. His mom wants him to give up his acting dreams and take over the store as his dad, Phil, has just lost an eye to the aforementioned cancer. Meanwhile, Doug’s sister Gina, possibly the least professional shrink in the New York area, seeks to solve all her family’s issues with alcoholism and rage but becomes increasingly frustrated by the clan’s compulsive lying. The unfiltered family argues over the past while confronting their new realities as Doug finds a new understanding between all his family members. The crux of the storyline is Doug's confrontation with his dad, as he tries to make him admit that he is an alcoholic and the psychological wounds that Doug still has as a result. Damaged Furniture is a play is about “toxic masculinity” and fathers and sons wanting to connect yet not being able to. It explores serious themes in the guise of a fast-paced comic romp.

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Gaslight House

by Howard Skora

Cast Size
6
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama,
farce,
mystery/thriller

When best-selling author and psychiatrist, Dr. Ben Soloway, rushes home to institutionalize his twin sister, Gwen, he must unpack the truth from his family of expert gaslighters, all of whom are playing an insane game of lies and deception on each other.

When best-selling author and psychiatrist, Dr. Ben Soloway, rushes home to institutionalize his twin sister, Gwen, he must unpack the truth from his family of expert gaslighters, all of whom are playing an insane game of lies and deception on each other.