Gabriel Neustadt

Gabriel Neustadt

Gabriel Neustadt is a two-time finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and a finalist for both the Ashland New Plays Festival and Sundance Episodic Story Lab. His plays have received staged readings and workshop productions at the Blank Theatre, Skylight Theatre, Harvard University, Actors’ Theatre of Santa Cruz, and the Florida Studio Theatre, among others. Originally from St....
Gabriel Neustadt is a two-time finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and a finalist for both the Ashland New Plays Festival and Sundance Episodic Story Lab. His plays have received staged readings and workshop productions at the Blank Theatre, Skylight Theatre, Harvard University, Actors’ Theatre of Santa Cruz, and the Florida Studio Theatre, among others. Originally from St. Petersburg, Florida, he now makes his home in Los Angeles, where he continues to write for the stage and screen.

Plays

  • Tail of the Bell
    Eric is a recent college graduate working as an SAT tutor to pay the bills. Tonight he arrives at the Tarzana home of one of his wealthy students but finds that her mother, Michelle, is waiting for him instead. Her daughter Jessica isn't there yet, she explains, but she'll be arriving soon. However, as the conversation between them carries on, it becomes clear that Jessica is not coming at all, and...
    Eric is a recent college graduate working as an SAT tutor to pay the bills. Tonight he arrives at the Tarzana home of one of his wealthy students but finds that her mother, Michelle, is waiting for him instead. Her daughter Jessica isn't there yet, she explains, but she'll be arriving soon. However, as the conversation between them carries on, it becomes clear that Jessica is not coming at all, and that Michelle has brought Eric here for different reasons. His relationship with Jessica has become close, she explains, perhaps too close. And despite Eric's denials and explanations, Michelle trots out more and more evidence indicating that something abnormal has been going on between tutor and student.
  • Legitimate Violence
    Legitimate Violence is based on the invention of modern suicide bombing in the Levant. The play considers the moral and legal complexities of asymmetrical warfare and the conflict between state and non-state actors -- and ultimately how these modern phenomena challenge our sense of humanity and common decency. How can we do such horrible things to one another yet still consider ourselves good?

    An...
    Legitimate Violence is based on the invention of modern suicide bombing in the Levant. The play considers the moral and legal complexities of asymmetrical warfare and the conflict between state and non-state actors -- and ultimately how these modern phenomena challenge our sense of humanity and common decency. How can we do such horrible things to one another yet still consider ourselves good?

    An idealistic, intelligent young strategist invents a potent new technology for her organization’s fight against the Occupier. Cheap to build, easy to operate, and wildly efficient, this is an innovation to be reckoned with -- if only Nida Aziz’s superiors would see it the same way. When it becomes clear that the conservative chairwoman of the Kalandiyah Jihad won’t play ball, that the proposal is dead in the water, Nida conspires to have her overthrown. Subsequently, the leaders of the National Security Service debate what to do with an anonymous tip revealing the location of Kalandiyah’s leader. Take her out? Capture her? Little do they know how their actions will soon collide with Nida’s.
  • Knockout Mouse
    A lab assistant discovers that the prominent neurobiologist he works for has fudged data on a major scientific paper. As Peter contemplates his next move, he seeks the advice of his closest friend and fiercest rival, Max, whose recommendations are uncompromising: rat on Greta Mendillo before she rats on him. Punch or be punched; knock her out or get knocked out yourself.