Recommended by Shaun Leisher

  • Shaun Leisher: UFO (this world is for the frat bros)

    This play is an absolute mindfuck in the best ways possible and I need to see it produced ASAP. I don't think I've ever been this moved by a coming age/sexual awakening play as I am with this one. The images described in this play defy logic but perfectly capture the complicated feelings about sex. I really just need some adventurous producers and artist to make this play a reality.

    This play is an absolute mindfuck in the best ways possible and I need to see it produced ASAP. I don't think I've ever been this moved by a coming age/sexual awakening play as I am with this one. The images described in this play defy logic but perfectly capture the complicated feelings about sex. I really just need some adventurous producers and artist to make this play a reality.

  • Shaun Leisher: Stacies!

    This play is absolutely bursting with imagination and sci-fi elements but rooted in very real characters with real world concerns. It's a play that will put directors, actors and designers to the test while starting a much needed conversation about the dangers of incel culture.

    This play is absolutely bursting with imagination and sci-fi elements but rooted in very real characters with real world concerns. It's a play that will put directors, actors and designers to the test while starting a much needed conversation about the dangers of incel culture.

  • Shaun Leisher: Three Year Summer

    Berryman beautifully captures the magic the internet held in its infancy for nerds who wanted to find a place where people who loved the same things they did went. This is a coming of age story but really for all three members of this family. Yes it's about Tommie coming into her sexuality and figuring out adolescence but you also have these parents figuring out their kid and themselves. Setting this play in the specific time of the years in between Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix is a stroke of genius. I love this play!!

    Berryman beautifully captures the magic the internet held in its infancy for nerds who wanted to find a place where people who loved the same things they did went. This is a coming of age story but really for all three members of this family. Yes it's about Tommie coming into her sexuality and figuring out adolescence but you also have these parents figuring out their kid and themselves. Setting this play in the specific time of the years in between Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix is a stroke of genius. I love this play!!

  • Shaun Leisher: The New Galileos

    How far are we from the day when what is happening in this play is a reality? Is that reality now in ways? Berryman has brilliantly taken a pressing issue that faces our world and crafted a thrilling drama about courage and the importance of speaking truth to power. These are the plays we need today. This is the art that will be the cries of anguish and signals of hope in the dark times we are facing.

    How far are we from the day when what is happening in this play is a reality? Is that reality now in ways? Berryman has brilliantly taken a pressing issue that faces our world and crafted a thrilling drama about courage and the importance of speaking truth to power. These are the plays we need today. This is the art that will be the cries of anguish and signals of hope in the dark times we are facing.

  • Shaun Leisher: Freudian Oops

    This play kept me guessing until the very end. It's really not your typical multi-generational family mental health play. No one had to be taught how serious mental health has to be taken. No one had to be called out for their problematic language. I feel like this play started at a place where mental health care was normal and valued and I really appreciate that. Plus it's a pretty darn funny play.

    This play kept me guessing until the very end. It's really not your typical multi-generational family mental health play. No one had to be taught how serious mental health has to be taken. No one had to be called out for their problematic language. I feel like this play started at a place where mental health care was normal and valued and I really appreciate that. Plus it's a pretty darn funny play.

  • Shaun Leisher: The Whole of You

    I am so bummed I couldn't see this play live at the bookstore in LA. Being a kid obsessed with film who was a film major in college there was a lot that rang true in this play. Berryman captures the insecurity and pretentious misogyny so well. Most importantly though is that this play gives no easy answers. No one is 100% wrong or right. It's just 3 friends trying to make art and make sense of their lives. Berryman understands that and has given us this gift of a life to reflect on our own work and relationships.

    I am so bummed I couldn't see this play live at the bookstore in LA. Being a kid obsessed with film who was a film major in college there was a lot that rang true in this play. Berryman captures the insecurity and pretentious misogyny so well. Most importantly though is that this play gives no easy answers. No one is 100% wrong or right. It's just 3 friends trying to make art and make sense of their lives. Berryman understands that and has given us this gift of a life to reflect on our own work and relationships.

  • Shaun Leisher: A Play about David Mamet Writing a Play about Harvey Weinstein

    In so many of my recommendations I urge people to produce the plays I champion but never have those words been more urgent than with this play. This is what theatre is meant to do. It's the mirror that reflects problems but not just in society at large but in our "liberal" theatre industry. Samuel French might never produce this but someone will because I have to believe there are those out there who will respond to the call of this play to make space for new narratives on our stages and be willing to confront the BS.

    In so many of my recommendations I urge people to produce the plays I champion but never have those words been more urgent than with this play. This is what theatre is meant to do. It's the mirror that reflects problems but not just in society at large but in our "liberal" theatre industry. Samuel French might never produce this but someone will because I have to believe there are those out there who will respond to the call of this play to make space for new narratives on our stages and be willing to confront the BS.

  • Shaun Leisher: Tocaya

    This play is about the kind of friendships words can't describe. It's fitting then that the title does not translate. This is specifically Mexican story that needs to be produced. This is a story for and by people that have been excluded from the theatre except in stories that revolved around immigration, crime and folklore. This is a play where Mexican women get to be fully fleshed and messy. Choices are made in this play that may surprise but in the end always make sense. This is the sign of a mater playwright.

    This play is about the kind of friendships words can't describe. It's fitting then that the title does not translate. This is specifically Mexican story that needs to be produced. This is a story for and by people that have been excluded from the theatre except in stories that revolved around immigration, crime and folklore. This is a play where Mexican women get to be fully fleshed and messy. Choices are made in this play that may surprise but in the end always make sense. This is the sign of a mater playwright.

  • Shaun Leisher: Mother of Exiles

    This play is so of the moment and yet completely timeless. It's a play that spans generations and the globe as it tells the stories of various immigrant experiences. It makes you despair for the way immigrants are treated but you find hope in the form of family sacrifices and the passing of ancestral legacies. This is a play that needs to be produced and experienced by everyone.

    This play is so of the moment and yet completely timeless. It's a play that spans generations and the globe as it tells the stories of various immigrant experiences. It makes you despair for the way immigrants are treated but you find hope in the form of family sacrifices and the passing of ancestral legacies. This is a play that needs to be produced and experienced by everyone.

  • Shaun Leisher: The Wild Boar Of Chernobyl

    This play is terrifying and I am so excited to see it produced!!! This is a true gift to actors, directors and designers in terms of the limitless possibilities of creating this post-apocalyptic world. Pazniokas perfectly portrays fanaticism and the human desire to have purpose and to find answers. PLEASE SOMEONE PRODUCE THIS!!!

    This play is terrifying and I am so excited to see it produced!!! This is a true gift to actors, directors and designers in terms of the limitless possibilities of creating this post-apocalyptic world. Pazniokas perfectly portrays fanaticism and the human desire to have purpose and to find answers. PLEASE SOMEONE PRODUCE THIS!!!