Will Snider

Will Snider is a playwright from Washington, D.C. His play HOW TO USE A KNIFE received a Rolling World Premiere through National New Play Network, won Philadelphia’s Barrymore Award for Outstanding New Play, and was a finalist for a PEN Center USA Literary Award. It received productions at Mixed Blood, InterAct Theatre Company, Shattered Globe Theatre, Capital Stage, Unicorn Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Horizon Theatre Company, and Florida Studio Theatre. Other plays include DEATH OF A DRIVER (Urban Stages, NYC; Salt Lake Acting Company), THE BIG MAN (Ensemble Studio Theatre’s 35th Marathon of One-Act Plays), and STRANGE MEN (PlayPenn Haas Fellowship). His work has been developed at MCC Theater, NNPN National Showcase of New Plays, The Kennedy Center, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Salt Lake Acting...

Will Snider is a playwright from Washington, D.C. His play HOW TO USE A KNIFE received a Rolling World Premiere through National New Play Network, won Philadelphia’s Barrymore Award for Outstanding New Play, and was a finalist for a PEN Center USA Literary Award. It received productions at Mixed Blood, InterAct Theatre Company, Shattered Globe Theatre, Capital Stage, Unicorn Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Horizon Theatre Company, and Florida Studio Theatre. Other plays include DEATH OF A DRIVER (Urban Stages, NYC; Salt Lake Acting Company), THE BIG MAN (Ensemble Studio Theatre’s 35th Marathon of One-Act Plays), and STRANGE MEN (PlayPenn Haas Fellowship). His work has been developed at MCC Theater, NNPN National Showcase of New Plays, The Kennedy Center, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Salt Lake Acting Company, SERIALS @ theflea, the claque, and Makehouse. He is an alumnus of Youngblood and received an EST/Soan Grant and The Kennedy Center’s Paula Vogel Playwriting Award. He earned a BA in History from Columbia with a specialization in post-colonial East African political history and spent three years working in agricultural microfinance in Kenya and Ethiopia before earning an MFA in Playwriting from UCSD.

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Scripts

Strange Men

by Will Snider

8
Cast Size
3
Genre
drama,
political

Harish lives a modest life running a restaurant in a small market town in Uganda. A member of the minority Indian population, he is estranged from his family for reasons he prefers not to discuss. At night he cooks elaborate dinners to eat alone. When an openly gay Peace Corps volunteer comes to town looking for more than a meal, Harish’s comfortable routine is broken – and his life put in danger – in this...

Harish lives a modest life running a restaurant in a small market town in Uganda. A member of the minority Indian population, he is estranged from his family for reasons he prefers not to discuss. At night he cooks elaborate dinners to eat alone. When an openly gay Peace Corps volunteer comes to town looking for more than a meal, Harish’s comfortable routine is broken – and his life put in danger – in this simmering exploration of the limits of good intentions, the social disruption of Americans abroad and the menace that hides behind a smile.

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Death of a Driver

by Will Snider

9
Cast Size
2
Genre
dark comedy,
drama,
political

An American engineer moves to Kenya to build a road and befriends her charismatic African driver. When a dispute over a local election lands him in jail, she questions the integrity of their alliance and wonders how well she knows the man she thought was her friend. Death of a Driver is a bracing examination of “doing good” abroad, the limits of understanding another person, and what happens when personal and...

An American engineer moves to Kenya to build a road and befriends her charismatic African driver. When a dispute over a local election lands him in jail, she questions the integrity of their alliance and wonders how well she knows the man she thought was her friend. Death of a Driver is a bracing examination of “doing good” abroad, the limits of understanding another person, and what happens when personal and political obligations collide.

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How to Use a Knife

by Will Snider

11
Cast Size
7
Genre
dark comedy,
drama,
mystery/thriller,
political

In the chaotic hustle and bustle of a Wall Street restaurant kitchen, Chef George is trying to stay sober. In between yelling at a pair of trash-talking line cooks and a pot-smoking busboy, he befriends Steve, an East African immigrant who seems to be a humble yet dignified dishwasher. But Steve played a shocking role in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide, and immigration authorities are on his trail. Set...

In the chaotic hustle and bustle of a Wall Street restaurant kitchen, Chef George is trying to stay sober. In between yelling at a pair of trash-talking line cooks and a pot-smoking busboy, he befriends Steve, an East African immigrant who seems to be a humble yet dignified dishwasher. But Steve played a shocking role in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide, and immigration authorities are on his trail. Set during busy dinner shifts and filled with a cast of unforgettable New York characters, HOW TO USE A KNIFE bursts with grinding suspense, energy, and surprise.

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