John Minigan

John Minigan

John is a playwright, director and educator whose plays have been produced throughout the US and Canada, in Europe, Asia, and Australia. He has been an O'Neill Conference semifinalist and a finalist for the Heidemann Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He has developed new work at the Utah Shakespearean Festival's New American Playwrights Project, New Repertory Theatre, the Orlando Shakespeare...
John is a playwright, director and educator whose plays have been produced throughout the US and Canada, in Europe, Asia, and Australia. He has been an O'Neill Conference semifinalist and a finalist for the Heidemann Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He has developed new work at the Utah Shakespearean Festival's New American Playwrights Project, New Repertory Theatre, the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, and Vermont Actors' Rep. John is a four-time winner of the Firehouse Theatre New Works Contest, winner of the Nantucket Short Play Contest, the KNOCK International Short Play Competition, the Rover Dramawerks Competition, the Longwood 0-60 Competition, and the 8-Minute Madness Festival in New York City. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Centastage writer's group, and a 2016-2017 Next Voices Playwriting Fellow at New Repertory Theatre.

Plays

  • Queen of Sad Mischance by John Minigan
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: Academia, Race + 3 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: Academia, Race, feminism, Shakespeare, college
    A play about academia, race, power and belonging. Intense, bi-racial college senior Kym thinks she’s lucked into the perfect resume-builder: a research assistantship helping feminist scholar Beverly Norden finish her ground-breaking book on Shakespeare’s Queen Margaret before Alzheimer’s makes the task impossible. As Kym learns that more than Beverly’s failing memory stands in the way of both the book and...
    A play about academia, race, power and belonging. Intense, bi-racial college senior Kym thinks she’s lucked into the perfect resume-builder: a research assistantship helping feminist scholar Beverly Norden finish her ground-breaking book on Shakespeare’s Queen Margaret before Alzheimer’s makes the task impossible. As Kym learns that more than Beverly’s failing memory stands in the way of both the book and the carefully-planned trajectory of her own future career, she’s faced with the hardest decisions of her life.
  • Breaking the Shakespeare Code by John Minigan
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: Shakespeare, actors + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Shakespeare, actors, two-hander, teaching, romance, fringe, coaching, scandal
    Anna arrives in a college rehearsal hall, hoping to get advice from intimidating acting instructor Curt about landing the lead in a professional production of Romeo and Juliet. Once he agrees to help, they embark on sixteen years of emotional entanglements that teach them both more than they ever expected. Elliott Norton Award Nomination, Best New Script, 2014 First Runner-Up, Arthur Stone Prize, 2007...
    Anna arrives in a college rehearsal hall, hoping to get advice from intimidating acting instructor Curt about landing the lead in a professional production of Romeo and Juliet. Once he agrees to help, they embark on sixteen years of emotional entanglements that teach them both more than they ever expected. Elliott Norton Award Nomination, Best New Script, 2014 First Runner-Up, Arthur Stone Prize, 2007 Weissberger Award Nomination, 2006
  • Noir Hamlet by John Minigan
    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: noir, Hamlet + 4 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, mystery/thriller, parody/spoof, satire
    Keyword: noir, Hamlet, detective, Los Angeles, Shakespeare, mashup
    There’s never a good time to find yourself on the roof, twelve flights above the sidewalk, not sure if you’re alone. And a cold midnight, in the fog, two months after the sudden death of a big shot detective who just happens to be your father? It’d be hard to come up with a worse. Will Hamlet discover the truth of his father’s death, keep his mother from marrying a potential killer and hold on to the love of...
    There’s never a good time to find yourself on the roof, twelve flights above the sidewalk, not sure if you’re alone. And a cold midnight, in the fog, two months after the sudden death of a big shot detective who just happens to be your father? It’d be hard to come up with a worse. Will Hamlet discover the truth of his father’s death, keep his mother from marrying a potential killer and hold on to the love of his secretary Rae Chio? And what’s better for the City of Angels, justice or violent revenge?
  • Concordance by John Minigan
    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: dark comedy, experimental + 1 more
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    Keyword: historical, religion + 6 more
    Genre: dark comedy, experimental, period
    Keyword: historical, religion, madness, medicine, doubling, London, Asperger's, blind
    Where is the line between faith and madness? Armed with only a butter knife, 18th century Bible scholar Alexander Cruden attempts to cut his way to freedom from London’s notorious Bethnal Green madhouse. He is interrupted when Christiana, a sixteen-year-old blind girl, invades his cell. Although she has arrived merely to avoid the sexual advances of the madhouse under-keeper, she discovers that the roots of...
    Where is the line between faith and madness? Armed with only a butter knife, 18th century Bible scholar Alexander Cruden attempts to cut his way to freedom from London’s notorious Bethnal Green madhouse. He is interrupted when Christiana, a sixteen-year-old blind girl, invades his cell. Although she has arrived merely to avoid the sexual advances of the madhouse under-keeper, she discovers that the roots of Alexander’s madness reach back to a haunting secret he has worked for decades to escape. Five actors portray 22 characters. New American Playwrights Project Finalist, 2013 PlayPenn Semifinalist, 2013
  • Easter at the Entrée Gold by John Minigan
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: drag queen, LGBTQ + 5 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: drag queen, LGBTQ, Montreal, two hander, teacher, scandal, hotel
    Although Peter has been sent by their school’s headmaster to give incapacitated Leverett a ride home from Montreal, he learns that Leverett, dressed in drag, has a different plan in mind. As Peter attempts to get Leverett ready to return to the states, the older man reveals the sexual secret that has caused him to flee their school and kept him from returning on his own. As Peter probes for the truth of...
    Although Peter has been sent by their school’s headmaster to give incapacitated Leverett a ride home from Montreal, he learns that Leverett, dressed in drag, has a different plan in mind. As Peter attempts to get Leverett ready to return to the states, the older man reveals the sexual secret that has caused him to flee their school and kept him from returning on his own. As Peter probes for the truth of Leverett’s transgressions, he discovers that Leverett’s goal has more to do with unearthing Peter’s secrets than in covering up his own. (one-act) To be published in Best American Short Plays 2016 by Applause Books Winner, Nor'Eastern Playwrights Contest Winner, Firehouse Theatre New Works Contest, 2010 Award of Excellence, Shakespeare in the 'Burg Contest, 2014 Third Place, Nantucket Short Play Competition, 2014
  • It's the Jews by John Minigan
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, satire
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    Keyword: satire, theater + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, satire
    Keyword: satire, theater, playwright, Anti-Semitism, Jewish, Holocaust
    When playwright Arny Sibber meets with Artistic Director Stephie Moffeles to discuss the possible world premiere production of his much-workshopped Holocaust play, he discovers she has only one problem with the script. That problem? It’s the Jews. (10-minute) To be published in Outstanding Short Plays, Volume 4, Dramatists Play Service First Place, KNOCK International Short Play Competition, 2010 "...
    When playwright Arny Sibber meets with Artistic Director Stephie Moffeles to discuss the possible world premiere production of his much-workshopped Holocaust play, he discovers she has only one problem with the script. That problem? It’s the Jews. (10-minute) To be published in Outstanding Short Plays, Volume 4, Dramatists Play Service First Place, KNOCK International Short Play Competition, 2010 "Best Playwright," 8-Minute Madness Festival, NYC, 2011 Finalist, New American Short Play Competition (City Theatre, Miami), 2013
  • The Maltese Walter by John Minigan
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: film noir, superhero + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, farce, mystery/thriller, parody/spoof
    Keyword: film noir, superhero, psychology, noir, film, Maltese Falcon
    On the eve of his wedding day, mild-mannered accountant Walter visits therapist Dr. Eddy with a big problem: Walter’s fiancée refuses to marry him unless he gives up his superpower and secret identity: noir-Man, able to transform any moment into film noir. When fiancée Vera arrives, she and Dr. Eddy convince Walter to “go straight,” but the therapy takes a dark and unexpected turn. (10-minute) Published in...
    On the eve of his wedding day, mild-mannered accountant Walter visits therapist Dr. Eddy with a big problem: Walter’s fiancée refuses to marry him unless he gives up his superpower and secret identity: noir-Man, able to transform any moment into film noir. When fiancée Vera arrives, she and Dr. Eddy convince Walter to “go straight,” but the therapy takes a dark and unexpected turn. (10-minute) Published in Best 10-Minute Plays of 2016, Smith & Kraus Samuel French OOB Festival Finalist 2015 Optioned for film production by Asylum Giant, London 2015 2014 Finalist, Heidemann Award, Actors Theatre of Louisville 2014 First Place, Rover Dramawerks Contest 2014 Winner (one of six), Longwood University 0-60 Contest
  • The Long Christmas Journey to Wellesley and Weston by John Minigan
    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama, experimental + 2 more
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    Keyword: immigrant experience, Italian-American + 5 more
    Genre: drama, experimental, holiday, period
    Keyword: immigrant experience, Italian-American, bare stage, doubling, immigrant, generations, family
    Over the course of 63 years, multiple generations of an Italian immigrant family take a Christmas car ride through time and place on their way to becoming an American family. A one-act in the style of Thornton Wilder. First Place/Honegger Prize, Firehouse Theatre New Works Contest, 2014
  • A Monogamy of Swans by John Minigan
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, drama
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    Keyword: Boston, LGBTQ + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: Boston, LGBTQ, Rom-Com, swans, outdoor setting
    After breaking up with her fiancé Jimmie, Ellie has gone to Boston’s Public Garden to kill the swans. Violet, her ex, arrives with a better alternative.