Richard Lyons Conlon

Richard is a Resident Playwright Alum at Chicago Dramatists and proud Lifetime Member of the Dramatists Guild of America. He is an O’Neill Playwrights Conference honoree, and was selected as a 2020 Kennedy Center Playwright.

Most recently, his social satire 7 MINUTES TO LIVE received its world premiere in an extended run at Chicago Dramatists. Reviewers called it: “highly entertaining”, “funny, sexy, action-packed” with “whip-smart dialogue”; and said it had: “relationships that will knock your socks off”, and “sharp observations about the dangers we imagine in life”.

Richard’s work has won numerous awards and has been published by Next Stage Press, Eldridge Publishing, and Smith & Kraus. He has written over 50 plays, including: 7 MINUTES TO LIVE (Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist), and ONE TIME (record-breaking production: Next Act Theatre; Winner: Best Comedy at the 2022 Legacy Play Festival, published in 2022 by Next Stage Press, Gold Prize Winner: the Beverly Hills Stage Play Competition). Additionally, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY was recently published by Next Stage Press; an excerpt was previously chosen for the SMITH & KRAUS anthology, Best Women's Monologues 2021; it was also a Finalist for the 2017 HRC Showcase Theatre New Play Contest in New York. And MEMORY, SPEAK was Finalist for Sky Blue Theatre's 2021 British Theatre Challenge. His latest play THE EDUCATION OF FRAT BOY ROOFIE was selected for the SMITH & KRAUS anthology, Best Women's Monologues 2023. His multi-award-winning play about artificial intelligence and literature – THE VOLITIVE EFFECT OF ORAL LITERARY INUNDATION ON THE LSTM RECURRENT NEURAL NETWORK -- was the First Prize Winner of the 2017 Stonybrook University Science Playwriting Award and was a featured presentation at the 2022 TEDx Conference.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/RichardLyonsConlon

Artistic Statement

Recommended by

UNMASKED

by Vivian Lermond

A perfectly lovely murder mystery featuring the shrewd and delightful Stillwell sisters, amateur English sleuths whose combined powers of observation and deduction uncover the murderer. The mystery is compellingly unraveled amidst the charming interplay between Dorethea and Margarite. One sister is intuitive, one is analytical. So much fun as they come to the aid of Police Inspector Harry Collins in his stalled investigation of a masked murder at a Halloween masquerade party. Beautifully written for radio — I could hear it play out as I read! The Stillwells are right up there with the best of...

A perfectly lovely murder mystery featuring the shrewd and delightful Stillwell sisters, amateur English sleuths whose combined powers of observation and deduction uncover the murderer. The mystery is compellingly unraveled amidst the charming interplay between Dorethea and Margarite. One sister is intuitive, one is analytical. So much fun as they come to the aid of Police Inspector Harry Collins in his stalled investigation of a masked murder at a Halloween masquerade party. Beautifully written for radio — I could hear it play out as I read! The Stillwells are right up there with the best of Agatha Christie sleuths.

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The Fierce Urgency Of Now

by Doug DeVita

Doug Devita has given us a multitude of gifts in this fast-paced comedy set in a New York ad agency. Poor Kyle, a youngish art director at a high-powered agency is just trying to find love and fulfillment in his life and his work, but is being stymied at every turn by agency politics and vindictive higher-ups. This play can work at many levels: as an almost comedic farce, but also as an unexpectedly touching human drama, as Kyle finds unexpected friendship and meaning when paired with an old relic writing partner, whose story is both touching and inspiring.

Doug Devita has given us a multitude of gifts in this fast-paced comedy set in a New York ad agency. Poor Kyle, a youngish art director at a high-powered agency is just trying to find love and fulfillment in his life and his work, but is being stymied at every turn by agency politics and vindictive higher-ups. This play can work at many levels: as an almost comedic farce, but also as an unexpectedly touching human drama, as Kyle finds unexpected friendship and meaning when paired with an old relic writing partner, whose story is both touching and inspiring.
The Fierce Urgency Of Now

by Doug DeVita

Doug Devita has given us a multitude of gifts in this fast-paced comedy set in a New York ad agency. Poor Kyle, a youngish art director at a high-powered agency is just trying to find love and fulfillment in his life and his work, but is being stymied at every turn by agency politics and vindictive higher-ups. This play can work at many levels: as an almost comedic farce, but also as an unexpectedly touching human drama, as Kyle finds unexpected friendship and meaning when paired with an old relic writing partner, whose story is both touching and inspiring.

Doug Devita has given us a multitude of gifts in this fast-paced comedy set in a New York ad agency. Poor Kyle, a youngish art director at a high-powered agency is just trying to find love and fulfillment in his life and his work, but is being stymied at every turn by agency politics and vindictive higher-ups. This play can work at many levels: as an almost comedic farce, but also as an unexpectedly touching human drama, as Kyle finds unexpected friendship and meaning when paired with an old relic writing partner, whose story is both touching and inspiring.
Appetizers, or "On an Island Somewhere"

by Scott Sickles

This is a lovely, disturbing, terrifying cautionary tale. Perhaps not so cautionary, as this “Handmaid’s Tale”-adjacent scenario may not be that far off. Sickles presents deeply conflicted characters in an unnatural – and let’s face it, evil – scenario, and makes them, and the scenario, distressingly believable. An extremely well-done ten-minute journey that should make us all stand up and scream about what’s happening right now in our world. Because worlds like Sickles has created here don’t spring into existence overnight. Or without a lot of complicity and complacency.

This is a lovely, disturbing, terrifying cautionary tale. Perhaps not so cautionary, as this “Handmaid’s Tale”-adjacent scenario may not be that far off. Sickles presents deeply conflicted characters in an unnatural – and let’s face it, evil – scenario, and makes them, and the scenario, distressingly believable. An extremely well-done ten-minute journey that should make us all stand up and scream about what’s happening right now in our world. Because worlds like Sickles has created here don’t spring into existence overnight. Or without a lot of complicity and complacency.
Vortigern - A True Story

by Joshua Fardon

I’m amazed at how much I enjoyed this play! For a period piece about a “lost” Shakespeare play, it just simply moves, pulling you along relentlessly on a brilliant literary joyride. The action flows seamlessly from scene to scene and the richly depicted characters are charming, involving, and uniquely motivated -- their dialogue crisp and authentic to the times and the story. It reads like a caper, while giving the era the gravitas and respect it deserves. Really a brilliant work, this is a play Shakespeare devotees will love, as will the rest of us. Great cerebral entertainment.

I’m amazed at how much I enjoyed this play! For a period piece about a “lost” Shakespeare play, it just simply moves, pulling you along relentlessly on a brilliant literary joyride. The action flows seamlessly from scene to scene and the richly depicted characters are charming, involving, and uniquely motivated -- their dialogue crisp and authentic to the times and the story. It reads like a caper, while giving the era the gravitas and respect it deserves. Really a brilliant work, this is a play Shakespeare devotees will love, as will the rest of us. Great cerebral entertainment.

View all 38 recommendations

Richard Lyons Conlon

Scripts

UNMASKED

The Fierce Urgency Of Now

The Fierce Urgency Of Now

Appetizers, or "On an Island Somewhere"

Vortigern - A True Story