Levi J. Shrader

Levi J. Shrader (playwright) is a baby grand piano falling down a flight of spiral stairs. The son of a Marine Corps general and a Pentecostal preacher from West Virginia, many of his plays fall into a nifty genre his dear friend Ann calls “Appalachian Gothic,” exploring themes of communal pain, cosmology, family curses, plainness, strangeness, and hope. He is a member of the graduating class of 2013 from Christopher Newport University with a BA in Acting, and a 2025 graduate of the Hunter College Rita & Burton Goldberg Playwriting MFA Program. His plays have been produced in New York City, Chicago, IL, and Fredericksburg, VA, and include FURY, House Meeting, Most Ultimate Big Boy, and Snakeroot (Barter Theater’s Appalachian Festival of Plays & Playwrights 2024 Winner). Levi is also a...

Levi J. Shrader (playwright) is a baby grand piano falling down a flight of spiral stairs. The son of a Marine Corps general and a Pentecostal preacher from West Virginia, many of his plays fall into a nifty genre his dear friend Ann calls “Appalachian Gothic,” exploring themes of communal pain, cosmology, family curses, plainness, strangeness, and hope. He is a member of the graduating class of 2013 from Christopher Newport University with a BA in Acting, and a 2025 graduate of the Hunter College Rita & Burton Goldberg Playwriting MFA Program. His plays have been produced in New York City, Chicago, IL, and Fredericksburg, VA, and include FURY, House Meeting, Most Ultimate Big Boy, and Snakeroot (Barter Theater’s Appalachian Festival of Plays & Playwrights 2024 Winner). Levi is also a lyricist and composer, having written the music & lyrics for JOAN: A Glitter-Rock Passion Play (Book by M. Francis Miller), and an album of original songs entitled Coming Home Soon (2019).

Scripts

SNAKEROOT

by Levi J. Shrader

Synopsis

West Virginia, 1997. Sissy, a headstrong root-gatherer with a bum-heart, dreams of turning a shack in the holler into a home for her and her brother. Crushingly impoverished, she can’t hope for much, unless she can find some very rare and valuable Snakeroot, which fetches hundreds of dollars by the pound. Love, loss, horticulture, and Mothman.

West Virginia, 1997. Sissy, a headstrong root-gatherer with a bum-heart, dreams of turning a shack in the holler into a home for her and her brother. Crushingly impoverished, she can’t hope for much, unless she can find some very rare and valuable Snakeroot, which fetches hundreds of dollars by the pound. Love, loss, horticulture, and Mothman.

House Meeting: A Play With Music

by Levi J. Shrader

Synopsis

Brother Preacher’s been away on his mission to find a way to heal Little Brother’s deadfoot so he can walk again and live for the Lord. Family and neighbors gather for a Holiness house meeting to offer their thanks to God. When the cure seems to be deadlier than the affliction, Sister tries to remind them that, although this life is a suffering one, and isn’t worth destroying for a power God never intended for...

Brother Preacher’s been away on his mission to find a way to heal Little Brother’s deadfoot so he can walk again and live for the Lord. Family and neighbors gather for a Holiness house meeting to offer their thanks to God. When the cure seems to be deadlier than the affliction, Sister tries to remind them that, although this life is a suffering one, and isn’t worth destroying for a power God never intended for them.