Kevin Kautzman

By Kevin Kautzman and Abbie Lucas, BASILISK is a thought-provoking play that delves into the anxiety and existential dread surrounding artificial intelligence, inspired by the infamous Reddit thought experiment known as Roko's Basilisk. Set in a near-future society, the play follows a group of individuals who grapple with the ethical and psychological implications of a superintelligent AI that may or may not punish those who did not help bring it into existence. As the characters confront their fears, doubts, and moral dilemmas, BASILISK explores themes of guilt, responsibility, and the human condition in the face of an omnipotent technological force.

Originally conceived as a radio play for Dark Pony Radio, you can hear BASILISK in two parts online. Listen at https://open.spotify.com/episode/29EGS0THzSnq2fPE1GVBmI?si=8eec6a703aba….

In the darkly comic drama, social media content moderators lose their mind at work as they struggle to perform well enough to get a better job at the Company, whose mission is to "Connect the World" but whose platform is increasingly becoming an unruly tool for global discord and the worst the human Id can devise. More at moderationplay.com.

THE ANIMALS is a new play about unrest, the opioid crisis, crypto and a veterinarian who communes with the animals.

Diana works the night shift at a veterinary clinic, takes too many pills, and talks to the animals and an unruly snake in particular as she makes a decision about the nature of revenge and whether she should pursue it.

When her unusual crypto investments pay off big time, she concocts a revolutionary plan and hires an unsavory character from the Internet to help her set it into motion, even as the world around her starts to burn.

Will Diana add to the anarchy that threatens her and the animals, what is driving her to want revenge so badly, and why is she talking to a pet snake?

Available from Broadway Play Publishing

Dream of Perfect Sleep is the story of an aging couple, Mary and Gene, and their adult children – recovering-addict Robert and new-ager Melissa. Mary suffers from severe vertigo and just wants to watch her TV show. Gene’s busy organizing a very special holiday dinner, but party planning isn’t exactly his strong suit. When the estranged kids come home for the holidays, Gene reveals some unexpected news that threatens to destroy the family’s already strained bonds…

A funny, heartwarming and powerful story of hope and loss in the face of dementia and terminal illness as an elderly couple plan their last days on Earth.

Available from Broadway Play Publishing

An Internet sex comedy for the Recession Generation.

Lucy and Chris are typical American twenty-somethings struggling to survive the Great Recession with their dignity intact. They hate their jobs like most everybody else, but they need the insurance...

A comedy about student loans and a trio of students who've had enough.

At College Town, USA you can get a degree in theatre, sociology and medieval studies, but as soon as you're graduate, you're on your own. When three struggling alumni discover the exceptionally high salaries of the coaching staff of the beloved College Town, Bucks football team, they decide to take direct action and free themselves from a lifetime of debt. Their solution just happens to involve kidnapping for ransom.

A commission from History Theatre in St. Paul, MR HEMINGWAY addresses the famous author's final days as he struggles to remember Paris while facing electroshock therapy at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

A troubled girl. A talking doll. A witch with boundary issues. All this and more (with puppets!) in VASILISA MOST LOVELY, an adaptation of the Russian folktale for all ages, with puppets, live music and damn it, yes, magic. On her deathbed, Vasilisa’s mother gives her a special doll to comfort her in her grief. Later, when faced with excessive chores at the hands of a greedy step-mother and step-sisters with serious boy problems, Vasilisa discovers her doll really does have the power to comfort her. Literally. A play about loss, growing up and the hope that kindness might heal what time cannot. VASILISA MOST LOVELY is an original adaptation of the Russian folktale featuring Vasilisa (the loveliest girl in the country), her snarky doll and the infamous Baba Yaga.

James and Kelly are new empty nesters. A professor, James is obsessed with mirrors and longs to be seen, known, and desired. So does Kelly, a teacher lately pushed past her limits. Enter Bryce and Echo, each beautiful and mysterious and able to reflect back to the aging couple what they want most.

GHOSTING NARCISSUS is a dramatic meditation on the culture of narcissism, identity, love, death, desire and aging.

In "Wolf Cry Wolf," when Steph returns home to North Dakota for the first time in years and surprises her estranged childhood friend Jane, they descend into their memories and relive the summer Jane told Steph her deepest secret: she knows how turn into a wolf.

A modern border western - Breaking Bad meets Sam Shepard with a Coenesque smirk.

A racist militiaman on the border takes the new kid for a ride. When the kid's real motivations become clear, questions of race, loyalty, duty and truth come dramatically to live in this contemporary, darkly comic border western.

From IPHIGENIA 2.0 by Charles Mee

Iris believes it’s her wedding day and couldn’t be happier, but in reality her father has conspired to sacrifice her to appease his demanding soldiery, well meaning men who will only go to war upon seeing their leader offer up that which he holds dearest...

A drama about an American soldier who returns from the Middle East with PTSD.

A discharged American soldier returns from war to do violence upon his estranged son, who may not be his at all. Set in the American Midwest, THEN WAVES explores the issues of violence’s echo in uncertain times.

Available from Playscripts

Anywhere High School's Drama Club is about to stage yet another infamously terrible holiday play by their oft-absent drama teacher, Mr. Colby, when he departs for a sabbatical. Left to lead themselves, the backstage crew decides to stage their own action-packed holiday play about the first Christmas after the Apocalypse: Reindeer Apocalypse Storm! The problem is, there's no budget, people are quitting left and right, and the new playwright has no idea that his play is ridiculous. Will school spirit, artistic collaboration, and cyborg reindeer be enough to overcome the odds and create a hit holiday show?

A play about gun culture in America, and schools.