Lynne S. Brandon

Lynne S. Brandon

MFA in Playwriting, Smith College. Also trained with Ellen McLaughlin, Stephen Adly Gurgis, Sarah Ruhl, James Lecesne, Arthur Giron, Emily Mann, Sinan Ünel, Shirley Kaplan, Kate Aspengren.

READINGS and PERFORMANCES
• “The Butch Project, Part I,” directed-reading, TC Squared Theatre Company, Boston, March 2019; 10-minute excerpt included in TC Squared Play Festival, Boston, May 2019....
MFA in Playwriting, Smith College. Also trained with Ellen McLaughlin, Stephen Adly Gurgis, Sarah Ruhl, James Lecesne, Arthur Giron, Emily Mann, Sinan Ünel, Shirley Kaplan, Kate Aspengren.

READINGS and PERFORMANCES
• “The Butch Project, Part I,” directed-reading, TC Squared Theatre Company, Boston, March 2019; 10-minute excerpt included in TC Squared Play Festival, Boston, May 2019.
• “At The Line,” workshop production by Rad Fem Arts, Boston, MA 2018.
• “Mad Cow,” workshop production by Rad Fem Arts, Boston, MA 2016.
• "Tops," directed staged-reading, Boston, MA, 2015.
• “Sexism in Theatre,” We Are Theatre, Guerrilla Girls on Tour, New York, 2012.
• “Mad Cow,” Pride Films and Plays, directed staged-reading, Chicago, IL, 2012.
• “At The Line,” Another Country Productions, directed staged-reading, Boston, 2010.
• “Isosceles,” SLAMBoston!, 2010; The Gecko in Winter Festival, Boston, 2010.
• Three scenes from “The Randomness of Nature,” 37th Annual Playwrights’ Platform Festival of New Plays, Boston, 2009.
• “Isosceles”, One-Acts Play Festival, Smith College, 2008.
• “Bare Chested” - directed staged-reading, Smith College, 2007.
RECOGNITIONS
• “The Butch Project, Part I”, Honorable Mention, Jane Chambers Feminist Playwriting Award, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, 2019
• “Maxine, And,” semi-finalist, Unicorn Theatre, 2017.
• “At The Line,” semi-finalist, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, 2014. Finalist, Development award, InterAct Theatre, 2013. Finalist, The Ground Floor, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2013.
• “Tops,” semi-finalist, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, 2012.
• “Isosceles,” finalist, University of Maryland-Baltimore, 2008.
• Residencies: AROHO Retreat, Abiquiu, NM, 2015; Southampton Arts, Southampton, NY, 2012, 2013; Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT, 2012, 2014; The Norman Mailer Writers Colony, Provincetown, MA, 2011.

FULL-LENGTH plays: Bare Chested, At The Line, Mad Cow, Tops, Maxine, And., The Butch Project, Part I . SHORT plays: Isosceles, A Grand Bargain, Sexism in Theatre. Script reader: Hartford Stage, Boston Theatre Marathon, New Repertory Theatre, Jane Chambers prize (ATHE). PUBLICATIONS: "Isosceles," Off the Rocks, Vol. 20, NewTown Writers Press, Chicago, IL, 2017; Program Notes, Tongue of A Bird, New Repertory Theatre, 2014; “Moving On” from At The Line, Scenes from a Diverse World, International Centre for Women Playwrights, 2013. SHORT FILM: "At The Line," Women Only Project, Amherst, MA, 2015. MEMBER: The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc., International Centre for Women Playwrights: StageSource (Boston).

Plays

  • The Butch Project, Part I
    THE BUTCH PROJECT is an investigation of lesbian masculinity, employing past- and present-time drama, non-linear threads, performance, music, and dance in an epic of three plays. In each play:
    Time is fluid. Gender is fluid. The emotional journey is the structure.
    The central themes are butch lesbian invisibility, erasure, and life-threatening homophobia, presented through memoir,...
    THE BUTCH PROJECT is an investigation of lesbian masculinity, employing past- and present-time drama, non-linear threads, performance, music, and dance in an epic of three plays. In each play:
    Time is fluid. Gender is fluid. The emotional journey is the structure.
    The central themes are butch lesbian invisibility, erasure, and life-threatening homophobia, presented through memoir, cross-cultural friendships, political activism, humor, romance, and history.
  • Maxine, And
    Maxine Crofts is best friends with social worker Louise Nichols, who placed 18-month old Angela with Maxine 15 years ago. Louise lives in the same neighborhood as Robbie, who came out trans in eighth grade and is 19. Maxine, while gay-friendly, is both repelled by and attracted to Robbie. Meanwhile, Angela -- forced to go back to her birth parents after 10 years -- keeps Maxine updated on her high-school...
    Maxine Crofts is best friends with social worker Louise Nichols, who placed 18-month old Angela with Maxine 15 years ago. Louise lives in the same neighborhood as Robbie, who came out trans in eighth grade and is 19. Maxine, while gay-friendly, is both repelled by and attracted to Robbie. Meanwhile, Angela -- forced to go back to her birth parents after 10 years -- keeps Maxine updated on her high-school love life. When the newest "One" turns out to be Robbie, Maxine is enraged, and nearly destroys all her relationships, including her most precious, with Angela.
  • Mad Cow
    Cable TV news-and-views star, Lainie David, is stretched between her New York job and her partner, Roxanne, living in the country. Newly-elected Senator, Will Russitt, plants a rumor about Lainie to re-energize his constituent base. Lainie's long hours at the studio push Roxanne to the breaking (up) point, when what Lainie needs is more support than ever. Her fabulous assistant, Renee, loves her job -...
    Cable TV news-and-views star, Lainie David, is stretched between her New York job and her partner, Roxanne, living in the country. Newly-elected Senator, Will Russitt, plants a rumor about Lainie to re-energize his constituent base. Lainie's long hours at the studio push Roxanne to the breaking (up) point, when what Lainie needs is more support than ever. Her fabulous assistant, Renee, loves her job - and Lainie. Russitt has big bucks behind him, but the opposition has its own web of shadowy players. The Radical Right, the Liberal Left, Obama, health care reform and the Great Recession are the backdrop for the personal politics of two of America's media darlings. What price, success?
  • At The Line
    When was the last time you couldn't help falling in love with "the wrong person?" Coach Cheyenne Pomeroy, a Black lesbian basketball coach with an outstanding reputation, recruits players nationally to play for Carolina State. Newcomer Maureen "Mo" Deighton vies with Almeida Marcoz for the prized point guard position; but when Almeida reveals her crush on "Coach", they...
    When was the last time you couldn't help falling in love with "the wrong person?" Coach Cheyenne Pomeroy, a Black lesbian basketball coach with an outstanding reputation, recruits players nationally to play for Carolina State. Newcomer Maureen "Mo" Deighton vies with Almeida Marcoz for the prized point guard position; but when Almeida reveals her crush on "Coach", they become close friends. Caroline, an Assistant Coach, pushes Cheyenne to transform their long friendship to a sexual relationship but Pomeroy insists "only for fun." When Coach resists the pressure for more, jilted Caroline reports an alleged "impropriety" with a former athlete to the university administration. In response to slanted national reporting, Pomeroy's athletes rally to her defense. Coach chooses to resign rather than jeopardize the futures of her students and staff, and take her chances with a European professional team. But she can't forget Almeida.
  • Tops
    Dating in the 21st century: pansexual, casual, straightforward, capture or be captured, on to the next adventure. Five adults of various genders and persuasions pursue happiness, or so they tell themselves, in evolving pairs of friends and lovers: X and Y are friends. Y gets Z to help pursue Mirov. Z pursues Y. Waitstaff pursues Z. Waitstaff gets X. Mirov gets Y. Y isn't sure about Z. Y isn'...
    Dating in the 21st century: pansexual, casual, straightforward, capture or be captured, on to the next adventure. Five adults of various genders and persuasions pursue happiness, or so they tell themselves, in evolving pairs of friends and lovers: X and Y are friends. Y gets Z to help pursue Mirov. Z pursues Y. Waitstaff pursues Z. Waitstaff gets X. Mirov gets Y. Y isn't sure about Z. Y isn't sure about Mirov. X is sure about Waitstaff. Z pursues Y. Waitstaff pursues Z. Mirov dumps Y. Y wants Z. Waitstaff wants Y, after X. Z would rather have Y. Who comes out on top?
  • Isosceles
    “Isosceles”presents a queering of "the Erotic Triangle," which philosophy traditionally defines as the power and sexual dynamics involved when two men contest for the favors of a woman.* By 1910, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas were living at 27 rue de Fleurus in Paris, entertaining, among others, Pablo Picasso. In “Isosceles,” a butch dyke (Gert) and her femme partner (Alice) spend an evening...
    “Isosceles”presents a queering of "the Erotic Triangle," which philosophy traditionally defines as the power and sexual dynamics involved when two men contest for the favors of a woman.* By 1910, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas were living at 27 rue de Fleurus in Paris, entertaining, among others, Pablo Picasso. In “Isosceles,” a butch dyke (Gert) and her femme partner (Alice) spend an evening with a noted heterosexual womanizer (Pablo). The artists’ involvement with the Cubist movement (Stein’s Tender Buttons, Picasso’s “Absinthe” painting and sculpture) informs the famous trio’s word play. Alice uses all the power available to her and, by the end of the play, is the focus of the “masculine” attention. In an isosceles triangle, there is always one short side, opposite one dominant angle.

    *René Girard, Deceit, Desire, and the Novel, 1966.
  • Not So Simple
    Jean and Randy have been lovers for several years. Randy has a tryst at a conference out of town. Jean draws a line in the sand -- “never again.” Randy agrees to Jean’s conditions -- mostly. Eventually, they break up. A few years later, Jean summons Randy for help moving out of her current ex-lover’s apartment.