Desireé York

Desireé York is a Los Angeles area based playwright and director whose plays include: The Puppeteer, One Second Chance, Undone, Fractured, Floating, Break Time, Human(e) and Hiding Out Loud among others. She is a recipient of the 2015 Kennedy Center Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, 2019 PlayGround-LA People's Choice Award for Floating and recognized by Dayton Most Metro as the Best New Work of 2017-2018 Season for The Puppeteer.

Her plays have been produced/developed at the Detroit Repertory Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse/Cal Tech Mach 33, The Garry Marshall Theatre, Rogue Machine Theatre, OC-Centric New Play Festival, Dayton Playhouse, PlayGround-LA, The Wayward Artist, The Athena Cats, Theatricum Botanicum and Ophelia’s Jump Productions.

Additionally, her plays have been finalists for...

Desireé York is a Los Angeles area based playwright and director whose plays include: The Puppeteer, One Second Chance, Undone, Fractured, Floating, Break Time, Human(e) and Hiding Out Loud among others. She is a recipient of the 2015 Kennedy Center Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, 2019 PlayGround-LA People's Choice Award for Floating and recognized by Dayton Most Metro as the Best New Work of 2017-2018 Season for The Puppeteer.

Her plays have been produced/developed at the Detroit Repertory Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse/Cal Tech Mach 33, The Garry Marshall Theatre, Rogue Machine Theatre, OC-Centric New Play Festival, Dayton Playhouse, PlayGround-LA, The Wayward Artist, The Athena Cats, Theatricum Botanicum and Ophelia’s Jump Productions.

Additionally, her plays have been finalists for the Ashland New Plays Festival, Futurefest New Play Festival, Henley Rose Playwright Competition, Inkslinger Playwriting Competition and semi-finalists for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, CTG Humanitas Playwriting Prize, Theatricum Botanicum Seedlings, Forward Flux Production Three New American Plays and Trustus Playwrights Festival.

Commissioned works include the one woman show Fractured and a dance collaborative called Next of Kin for The Wayward Artist. She is also a member of the PlayGround-LA Writers Pool, LAFPI, Honor Roll!, Dramatists Guild, Playwrights' Center and a mentor for WriteGirl.

Desireé's poetry has been performed/produced by Sacred Fools Theatre Company, Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble and The Wayward Artist.

A Director as well, Desireé received a National Directing Fellowship awarded by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Directing credits include: The Blank Theatre, Dayton Playhouse, California State University Fullerton, LA Broads Female Playwrights Festival, Exposition Review and Athena Cats New Works Festival.

Desireé obtained her B.A. in Theatre Arts with a minor in Women's Studies with the a focus of using art for social justice.

Scripts

THE PUPPETEER

by Desireé York

Cast Size

4

Genre

docudrama/historic,

drama,

political

When Constance, a 1920's jazz singer, chooses to stand on her own, not only is her name carried on through multiple generations, but so is her determination to find an identity in an ever changing world. Spanning five generations, starting in the Harlem Renaissance and ending in present day, the women from one African-American family struggle to overcome the roles assigned to them by society in order to find...

When Constance, a 1920's jazz singer, chooses to stand on her own, not only is her name carried on through multiple generations, but so is her determination to find an identity in an ever changing world. Spanning five generations, starting in the Harlem Renaissance and ending in present day, the women from one African-American family struggle to overcome the roles assigned to them by society in order to find their way home.

HUMAN(E)

by Desireé York

2

Cast Size

4

Genre

drama

HUMAN(E) tells the personal story of two racially and socioeconomically diverse women affected by genetic diseases. The survival of he fittest theory is put to the test as their worlds intertwine like the the coils of a strand of DNA, leading them to answer one defining question: what would you do to hold onto someone you love?

ONE SECOND CHANCE

by Desireé York

Cast Size

3

Genre

drama

Haunted by the suicide of her daughter, Hope, Grace moves in with her mother Velma and makes a pact with her never to speak of Hope again. Years later, as Velma develops dementia, reality blurs when Grace’s second daughter uncovers their secret and believes that she is the reincarnation of her dead sister. As the past threatens to repeat itself, which daughter will Grace choose to save? Based on a true story...

Haunted by the suicide of her daughter, Hope, Grace moves in with her mother Velma and makes a pact with her never to speak of Hope again. Years later, as Velma develops dementia, reality blurs when Grace’s second daughter uncovers their secret and believes that she is the reincarnation of her dead sister. As the past threatens to repeat itself, which daughter will Grace choose to save? Based on a true story, three generations of women struggle to break family patterns at the cost of losing themselves and discover whether it’s possible to have a second chance without letting go of the first one.

UNDONE

by Desireé York

Cast Size

5

Genre

drama,

fantasy

Too afraid of abandoning love to leave, but more afraid of being abandoned by love to stay, Sarah has learned how to keep her distance in all her relationships. But when tragic loss hits, Sarah takes a life journey encountering Jesus Christ, Father Time, A Super Man and even literally wrestling with The Universe along the way to discover where she went off course and if the distance is too much to overcome –...

Too afraid of abandoning love to leave, but more afraid of being abandoned by love to stay, Sarah has learned how to keep her distance in all her relationships. But when tragic loss hits, Sarah takes a life journey encountering Jesus Christ, Father Time, A Super Man and even literally wrestling with The Universe along the way to discover where she went off course and if the distance is too much to overcome – even to find a way back to herself.

Floating

by Desireé York

Cast Size

2

Genre

drama

When Amara seeks to return to Mexico to find her mother, she receives a visit from something who did not survive her same journey.

IN YOUR DREAMS

by Desireé York

Cast Size

2

Genre

comedy,

drama

In facing her greatest fear, Kaley exposes more than her naked body: she uncovers her best friend’s secret.

BREAK TIME

by Desireé York

1

Cast Size

3

Genre

drama

Three nurses hope to escape life and death under an invisible tree with just a pack of cigarettes.