Sven Henry Nelson

Sven Henry Nelson (he/they) is a queer playwright in Savannah, Georgia, following a decade in New York theater as a prop master.

Their technical credits include Be More Chill (Broadway/Off-Broadway); Original Off-Broadway productions of Indecent by Paula Vogel, and Katsura Sunshine's Rakugo; and work with companies including Irish Repertory Theatre, Classic Stage Company, The Vineyard Theatre, and TheaterWorks Hartford. They also served as resident prop artisan at NYU Steinhardt.

In addition to their properties work, Sven has worked as set designer at La MaMa for Love’s Refrain: A Confession by Justin Sayre.

Their plays include the short Buckley in B Minor and the full-length works Capgras | Crabgrass and The Trojans: A High School Tragicomedy.

Sven Henry Nelson (he/they) is a queer playwright in Savannah, Georgia, following a decade in New York theater as a prop master.

Their technical credits include Be More Chill (Broadway/Off-Broadway); Original Off-Broadway productions of Indecent by Paula Vogel, and Katsura Sunshine's Rakugo; and work with companies including Irish Repertory Theatre, Classic Stage Company, The Vineyard Theatre, and TheaterWorks Hartford. They also served as resident prop artisan at NYU Steinhardt.

In addition to their properties work, Sven has worked as set designer at La MaMa for Love’s Refrain: A Confession by Justin Sayre.

Their plays include the short Buckley in B Minor and the full-length works Capgras | Crabgrass and The Trojans: A High School Tragicomedy.

Scripts

BUCKLEY IN B MINOR

by Sven Henry Nelson

Cast Size
5—6
Genre
drama,
immersive,
musical,
opera,
period,
tragedy

1993: During a brush-up rehearsal for a long-running Broadway musical, an aging countertenor confronts artistic obsolescence, queer survival during the AIDS crisis, and the life sacrificed to remain onstage.

1993: During a brush-up rehearsal for a long-running Broadway musical, an aging countertenor confronts artistic obsolescence, queer survival during the AIDS crisis, and the life sacrificed to remain onstage.

Capgras|Crabgrass

Written by Sven Henry Nelson

Cast Size
8—10
Genre
experimental,
horror,
period,
tragedy

[FULL LENGTH] Tacoma, WA., 1989–1992: a man is losing everyone, including himself. Scooter Durand sells DERBIN™ vacuums door-to-door — a con built on manufactured fear — while addiction and Capgras syndrome quietly replace the people he loves with strangers wearing their faces, until he can no longer tell whether it is the world that has changed or him. Set against the decimating sweep of the AIDS crisis...

[FULL LENGTH] Tacoma, WA., 1989–1992: a man is losing everyone, including himself. Scooter Durand sells DERBIN™ vacuums door-to-door — a con built on manufactured fear — while addiction and Capgras syndrome quietly replace the people he loves with strangers wearing their faces, until he can no longer tell whether it is the world that has changed or him. Set against the decimating sweep of the AIDS crisis, Capgras | Crabgrass traces the specific texture of loss when it arrives from every direction at once — a partner who stays too long, a lover who dies alone in a leather bar, a cat who needed him during thunderstorms, a self that stopped being recognizable in the mirror. This is a play about what it costs to disappear from your own life, and what it takes — if anything — to find your way back to it.

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THE TROJANS: A High School Tragicomedy

by Sven Henry Nelson

Cast Size
6—7
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama,
movement/physical,
romantic comedy,
tragedy,
verse,
young audiences

[TRADITIONAL FULL LENGTH] Marshall Doogan High, November 2007 — before smartphones reshaped adolescence and rumors still spread at the speed of hallways. Head cheerleader Mary suspects her boyfriend Brad is cheating — evidence: a golden toilet seat — charismatic new girl Molly has a solution: POLYAMORY. One exposé later by school reporter Trish Volkova, the whole school unravels: Brad is hiding who he really is...

[TRADITIONAL FULL LENGTH] Marshall Doogan High, November 2007 — before smartphones reshaped adolescence and rumors still spread at the speed of hallways. Head cheerleader Mary suspects her boyfriend Brad is cheating — evidence: a golden toilet seat — charismatic new girl Molly has a solution: POLYAMORY. One exposé later by school reporter Trish Volkova, the whole school unravels: Brad is hiding who he really is, Randy is hiding who he really loves, and hall monitor Natasha is hiding how she really feels. Overseen by an ethereal squad of Shakespeare-chanting cheerleaders, THE TROJANS is an ensemble tragicomedy about rumor, queer reinvention, and how fast a high school can turn into a battlefield.

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