Harold Taw

HAROLD TAW is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and layabout multi-form writer. His debut novel was Adventures of the Karaoke King (Lake Union Publishing 2011). His writing has been featured on NPR, in a New York Times bestselling anthology, and in The Seattle Times; his screenplay Dog Park has garnered recognition in domestic and international film festivals and competitions. Harold wrote the book for two musicals presented as staged readings by The 5th Avenue Theatre: the full-length Persuasion: A New Musical (2015), based on Jane Austen’s final novel, which also had a workshop reading at Texas Musical Theatre Workshop; and the original one-act The Missed Connections Club (2014), which won Third Place in the 2015 Frostburg State University One-Act Competition, was a finalist in the...

HAROLD TAW is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and layabout multi-form writer. His debut novel was Adventures of the Karaoke King (Lake Union Publishing 2011). His writing has been featured on NPR, in a New York Times bestselling anthology, and in The Seattle Times; his screenplay Dog Park has garnered recognition in domestic and international film festivals and competitions. Harold wrote the book for two musicals presented as staged readings by The 5th Avenue Theatre: the full-length Persuasion: A New Musical (2015), based on Jane Austen’s final novel, which also had a workshop reading at Texas Musical Theatre Workshop; and the original one-act The Missed Connections Club (2014), which won Third Place in the 2015 Frostburg State University One-Act Competition, was a finalist in the Arts Club of Washington’s 2014 One-Act Play Competition, and was longlisted for the 2015 British Theatre Challenge. Persuasion had its world premiere at Taproot Theatre Company July 12, 2017 to August 26, 2017. Harold is currently completing a novel about a turbulent adolescence in Southeast Asia, collaborating on a musical about parallel universes, and co-curating WordsWest Literary Series. A Yale Law School graduate and a Fulbright Scholar, Harold’s research and writing have been supported by, among others, 826 Seattle, Artist Trust, Centrum, the Helen Riaboff Whiteley Center, Humanities Washington, Jack Straw Productions, and Wing Luke Museum.

Scripts

The Primrose Protocol

by Harold Taw

Synopsis

There is no escaping a black hole once you’ve passed the event horizon. Your feet and head are pulled at such a differential rate that you’re stretched into a noodle before exploding—termed “spaghettification” by physicist Stephen Hawking. What happens when two scientists and an embodied AI, carrying a computer simulation of their dead 8-year old daughter, approach the event horizon and wrestle with the...

There is no escaping a black hole once you’ve passed the event horizon. Your feet and head are pulled at such a differential rate that you’re stretched into a noodle before exploding—termed “spaghettification” by physicist Stephen Hawking. What happens when two scientists and an embodied AI, carrying a computer simulation of their dead 8-year old daughter, approach the event horizon and wrestle with the realization that, regardless of what happens to our bodies, data can neither be created nor destroyed?

Persuasion

by Harold Taw

Synopsis

Book by Harold Taw; music and lyrics by Chris Jeffries. In her youth Anne Elliot was persuaded to break off her engagement to a penniless, headstrong naval officer. Eight years later Captain Wentworth has returned as a war hero still embittered by his past abandonment. They are older and wiser, but can they summon the courage to reject convention and follow their hearts? Jane Austen’s final masterpiece soars to...

Book by Harold Taw; music and lyrics by Chris Jeffries. In her youth Anne Elliot was persuaded to break off her engagement to a penniless, headstrong naval officer. Eight years later Captain Wentworth has returned as a war hero still embittered by his past abandonment. They are older and wiser, but can they summon the courage to reject convention and follow their hearts? Jane Austen’s final masterpiece soars to life in a new musical about love, regret, and second chances.

The Missed Connections Club

by Harold Taw

Synopsis

Book by Harold Taw; music and lyrics by Chris Jeffries. In this 30-minute musical, a young nurse persuades a wistful retired teacher to cast a message in a bottle into the digital ocean of Craigslist “Missed Connections” ads in hopes of reuniting with a should-have-been lover from thirty years ago. In turns funny and sad, the play examines how a father’s decision to deny his passion for another man embittered...

Book by Harold Taw; music and lyrics by Chris Jeffries. In this 30-minute musical, a young nurse persuades a wistful retired teacher to cast a message in a bottle into the digital ocean of Craigslist “Missed Connections” ads in hopes of reuniting with a should-have-been lover from thirty years ago. In turns funny and sad, the play examines how a father’s decision to deny his passion for another man embittered his wife and taught his daughter that love is a hazardous indulgence.