Rosemary Parrillo

Rosemary Parrillo

Rosemary Parrillo (she/her) is a New Jersey playwright. Her play "The New Normal Trilogy" was a semi-finalist for the 2017 Eugene O'Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference.
"Grind City" won first place in the 2017 Dubuque One-Act Contest and Festival in Iowa. She has also been a three-time finalist in the Tennessee Williams One-Act Play Contest in New Orleans....
Rosemary Parrillo (she/her) is a New Jersey playwright. Her play "The New Normal Trilogy" was a semi-finalist for the 2017 Eugene O'Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference.
"Grind City" won first place in the 2017 Dubuque One-Act Contest and Festival in Iowa. She has also been a three-time finalist in the Tennessee Williams One-Act Play Contest in New Orleans.
Parrillo also has written the screenplay, “Bella Vista,” inspired by the true story of noncombatant seamen from a luxury Italian cruise ship who were interned by the U.S. government in a prison camp in Missoula, Montana, during WWII.
She is a member of the Dramatist Guild, New Play Exchange, New York Women in Film and Television, International Centre for Women Playwrights, Playwrights’ Center, Honor Roll Playwrights, and The Playwrights Group.

Plays

  • Spaghetti Western by Rosemary Parrillo
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: immigration policy, urban gentrification + 2 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, farce, political
    Keyword: immigration policy, urban gentrification, ethnic, adult children with aging mother
    Olivia Forte is forced to confront the abomination that is the Texas-Mexico border after discovering she has inherited a worthless plot of land in El Paso, Texas, where her mother demands she bury her father’s ashes. As mom continues to slow-walk the sale of the family’s decrepit Philadelphia pizzeria, Olivia encounters barriers, physical and psychological, to fulfilling dad’s American Dream to “Go West.”
  • The Nature of Stars by Rosemary Parrillo
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: 60-Something female, angsty teen
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, tragedy, verse
    Keyword: 60-Something female, angsty teen
    The proprietor of a bookstore that specializes in poetry is priced out of the neighborhood and must now close her doors. As a handyman fumbles his way through a final maintenance task, a young customer arrives, offering the store owner an unforeseen opportunity make peace with her misfortune and share the redemptive power of poetry.
  • On the Road to Tikrit by Rosemary Parrillo
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: political, tragedy
    ·
    Keyword: a war story, deceit + 3 more
    Genre: political, tragedy
    Keyword: a war story, deceit, Family Love, gullibility, anger with the military
    In this 10-minute monologue, an American soldier finds himself in no man's land, trying to understand what has shaped his journey to oblivion.
  • Cent'Anni by Rosemary Parrillo
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama, opera
    ·
    Keyword: ageism, artistic inspiration + 1 more
    Genre: drama, opera
    Keyword: ageism, artistic inspiration, reaching the end of life
    An Assisted Living Center is preparing to celebrate the 100th birthday of a beloved resident. Local press is covering the event, but the reporter assigned is not having a good day. Neither is the centenarian birthday girl, who would much rather listen to her favorite opera, Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. There will be spectacle, but not the kind the center expects.
  • The Waiting Room by Rosemary Parrillo
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: breast cancer, adult friendship + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, tragedy
    Keyword: breast cancer, adult friendship, inspirational women
    Two women -- one young with an early-stage cancer, the other old with a late-stage cancer -- navigate fear and uncertainty in their own way while waiting for radiation treatments in an oncology center.
  • The New Normal Trilogy by Rosemary Parrillo
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5–11
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: Islamophobia, racism + 3 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, farce, political, satire, tragedy
    Keyword: Islamophobia, racism, paranoia, hate, fear of terrorism
    “The New Normal Trilogy” takes place in a Hoboken, New Jersey, dining spot that has three different proprietors over the course of 15 years following the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
    This fast-paced 90 minute play takes place in real time as the neighborhood transitions, with new owners and new customers. Through it all, one constant remains: fear of “the other.”
  • Circus Maxim by Rosemary Parrillo
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: distrust, confronting the patriarchy + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, satire
    Keyword: distrust, confronting the patriarchy, Tumpism
    Maureen and Maxim, married trapeze artists, attempt to reach a detente as Maureen forcefully questions the true intent of her husband’s potentially fatal misstep during a routine.
  • Madonna's Stash by Rosemary Parrillo
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: abortion access, covid pandemic + 1 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: abortion access, covid pandemic, family inheritance
    Three first cousins gather at the home of a recently deceased great aunt to comb through her possessions, hoping to find cash and other family treasures. What they discover, however, challenges their assumptions and shakes the underpinnings of their cultural beliefs.
  • Ascension Day by Rosemary Parrillo
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: family dysfunction, accepting death
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: family dysfunction, accepting death
    A mother and son, who settle into a dysfunctional routine in their attempt to cope with a traumatic death, eventually realize the true path to recovery is just steps away.
  • Shelter by Rosemary Parrillo
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: drama, political + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: poverty, child abuse + 4 more
    Genre: drama, political, tragedy
    Keyword: poverty, child abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, drug addiction, parental pressure
    Inspired by true events, Shelter, set in 1980s Camden, New Jersey, explores how a despondent single mother of three living illegally and precariously in public housing with her unsympathetic mother, comes to commit an unspeakable act. The action is set against the backdrop of Camden's ABSCAM years, when the mayor and other complicit state politicians were jailed on federal corruption charges resulting from...
    Inspired by true events, Shelter, set in 1980s Camden, New Jersey, explores how a despondent single mother of three living illegally and precariously in public housing with her unsympathetic mother, comes to commit an unspeakable act. The action is set against the backdrop of Camden's ABSCAM years, when the mayor and other complicit state politicians were jailed on federal corruption charges resulting from an FBI sting. It turned out, the guilty were not the only ones sent up the river.