Colin McLaughlin

Colin McLaughlin is a playwright, musician, actor, and teaching artist. His plays seek to remind audiences of their people-power and urge them to utilize it to create positive social change. Much of his work focuses on social and economic justice, poverty, racism, and labor history. His first play The Cure was produced by Open Arenas Productions in Richmond, Virginia, and his play Most Real was featured in the 2016 Spectrum New Play Festival. From 2017-2021 he was the musical director and collective writing facilitator for Bread and Roses Missouri's Workers’ Opera, a devised theater project partnering with St. Louis organized labor,, and in November 2019, his play Jailbird debuted at the Missouri History Museum. Colin also served as the musical director for Bread & Roses Missouri’s 8 part...

Colin McLaughlin is a playwright, musician, actor, and teaching artist. His plays seek to remind audiences of their people-power and urge them to utilize it to create positive social change. Much of his work focuses on social and economic justice, poverty, racism, and labor history. His first play The Cure was produced by Open Arenas Productions in Richmond, Virginia, and his play Most Real was featured in the 2016 Spectrum New Play Festival. From 2017-2021 he was the musical director and collective writing facilitator for Bread and Roses Missouri's Workers’ Opera, a devised theater project partnering with St. Louis organized labor,, and in November 2019, his play Jailbird debuted at the Missouri History Museum. Colin also served as the musical director for Bread & Roses Missouri’s 8 part audio play Mrs. Palmer’s Honey, composing and recording a score of original jazz music. His play Real Talk, a one woman show written for Kathryn Bentley, was featured in the 2021 COCAwrites New Work Festival. His next play ACTION will premiere in December of 2022, produced by The Action Art Collaborative in partnership with The Divided City Initiative through Washington University in St. Louis.

Scripts

Action

by Colin McLaughlin

Synopsis

Action unveils the true story of Percy Green and his group of St. Louis activists. In 1972, they infiltrated the segregated Veiled Prophet Ball to unmask the VP King himself. Action celebrates and honors a true story that is as shocking, inspiring, and deeply relevant today as it was 50 years ago. The play is based on interviews with Percy Green and members of the movement.

Strategies and philosophies collide...

Action unveils the true story of Percy Green and his group of St. Louis activists. In 1972, they infiltrated the segregated Veiled Prophet Ball to unmask the VP King himself. Action celebrates and honors a true story that is as shocking, inspiring, and deeply relevant today as it was 50 years ago. The play is based on interviews with Percy Green and members of the movement.

Strategies and philosophies collide with passion and personality behind a backdrop of a St. Louis that is struggling to reckon with its racist past and present.

Jailbird.

by Colin McLaughlin

Synopsis

In 1920, Eugene Victor Debs ran for president from a federal penitentiary and received one million votes. Jailbird is a historical drama, depicting election day 1920 and Debs meets with contemporaries, adversaries, and his fellow inmates, awaiting the results of the election and wondering if they will lead to his release from prison.

In 1920, Eugene Victor Debs ran for president from a federal penitentiary and received one million votes. Jailbird is a historical drama, depicting election day 1920 and Debs meets with contemporaries, adversaries, and his fellow inmates, awaiting the results of the election and wondering if they will lead to his release from prison.

Most Real

by Colin McLaughlin

Synopsis

In a chance meeting, a man begins a conversation with a woman on a park bench. She shares that she was praying and God told her to come to the park. The man is concerned and offers a listening ear, while also admitting this puts significant pressure on the conversation. This philosophical and spiritual dramedy is about isolation, chance, and fleeting moments of connection.

In a chance meeting, a man begins a conversation with a woman on a park bench. She shares that she was praying and God told her to come to the park. The man is concerned and offers a listening ear, while also admitting this puts significant pressure on the conversation. This philosophical and spiritual dramedy is about isolation, chance, and fleeting moments of connection.

The Cure

by Colin McLaughlin

Synopsis

The Cure tells the story of two biochemists who make a groundbreaking discovery in cancer research. The corporation they work for decides not to release or utilize their research, for fear for bankrupting the company. The characters grapple with this decision in a morality play about rationalization, the corporate nature of science and medicine, and the lengths companies will go to put profit over people.
4...

The Cure tells the story of two biochemists who make a groundbreaking discovery in cancer research. The corporation they work for decides not to release or utilize their research, for fear for bankrupting the company. The characters grapple with this decision in a morality play about rationalization, the corporate nature of science and medicine, and the lengths companies will go to put profit over people.
4 characters, minimal set, 90 minutes.