Greg Burdick

Greg Burdick

Born and raised in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Greg Burdick has worked for close to three decades as a public high school theatre educator and director in the state of Florida.

In 1993, he received his degree in education from Slippery Rock University. While there, he was active in the school’s theatre department, and had the exceedingly good fortune to be part of several new...
Born and raised in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Greg Burdick has worked for close to three decades as a public high school theatre educator and director in the state of Florida.

In 1993, he received his degree in education from Slippery Rock University. While there, he was active in the school’s theatre department, and had the exceedingly good fortune to be part of several new work projects, nurturing the efforts of emerging playwrights.

As a theatre director with nearly one hundred productions to his credit, he has remained passionate about fostering student writing, and has helped many young artists realize the thrill of transforming their own words from page to stage.

Burdick’s short play, INSERT TOKEN, was selected for production at BoxFest Detroit, 2016, at Planet Ant Theatre, and was a Financial Scholarship winner for its director, Mycah Leigh Artis. The play was most recently produced by New Jersey’s Rhino Theatre.

In October of 2016, Burdick was the celebrated Playwright of the Month at Baltimore’s “A Work In Progress Theatre,” where his two-act drama, MONESSEN FALLS, received a staged reading at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center. The play made its U.S. Premiere in August of 2019, produced by Good Luck Macbeth Theatre of Reno, Nevada. It is now published, and available through Next Stage Press.

His short play SECRET'S OUT was selected for production as part of Theatre Odyssey’s Twelfth Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival. It was presented in the Jane B. Cook Theatre at the Asolo Center for the Performing Arts in Sarasota, Florida. The play is available through Nigel Publishing.

His full length drama AGENT OF CHANGE was featured as part of the 2019 Jan McArt New Play Reading Series at Lynn University, in Boca Raton, Florida, directed by Wayne Rudisill.

Burdick’s work has also been developed at Athena Theatre, through their “Athena Reads” initiative in New York City, where his play ACCOMMODATION received a private reading. The play received further development in 2019 with Ignition Arts of Oklahoma City, OK at the Lyric Theatre, and Studio Theatre Tierra del Sol in The Villages, FL. It was further workshopped at the Fantasy Theatre Factory in Miami, FL. The play made its World Premiere at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles, produced by Christopher Sepulveda and 3Gems Productions.

Recent productions include Verna Safran Prize winner SIGN HERE FOR ALL THAT REMAINS at Theatre Odyssey in Sarasota, FL, his thriller, TATTOO: A TALE OF TERROR at Radio Theatre Project’s Studio@620 in St. Petersburg, FL, and I’LL LOVE YOU ‘TIL THE COWS COME HOME staged by Itinerant Theatre of Lake Charles, LA, which was also featured at the Bird Theatre Festival in Tottori, Japan under the helm of Rob Urbanati of Queens Theatre.

Greg is affiliated with the CodeRed Playwrights collective: a group of writers from all over the nation who have penned short royalty-free works memorializing incidents of gun violence in schools and places of worship. His play A SHELL OF WHO SHE ONCE WAS, part of their #FAITH series, has been seen on stages in Eugene, OR, Minneapolis, MN, Seattle, WA, and Ames, IA.

A Membership Candidate of Actor’s Equity Association, Greg has also worked professionally on several central Florida stages.

Proud member of the Dramatists Guild, he lives in central Florida.

Plays

  • ACCOMMODATION
    *** Now available through Broadway Licensing under the Dramatists Play Service imprint.

    *** This play made its World Premiere with 3Gems Productions at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles in 2023.

    (Full Length) A concerned parent, whose son is in danger of failing one of his classes, schedules a conference with Celeste Dawkins, her son's high school science teacher....
    *** Now available through Broadway Licensing under the Dramatists Play Service imprint.

    *** This play made its World Premiere with 3Gems Productions at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles in 2023.

    (Full Length) A concerned parent, whose son is in danger of failing one of his classes, schedules a conference with Celeste Dawkins, her son's high school science teacher.

    When accused of not honoring the state and federally-mandated modifications required for her son's different learning style, Dawkins loses her cool in an explosive tirade, provoking a high-stakes lawsuit against the school district.

    With her job on the line, Dawkins raises questions about the inherent risks of making special considerations for students claiming to have unique needs in her classroom, when the real world outside its walls doesn't seem to care.
  • MONESSEN FALLS
    Available for purchase and licensing from Next Stage Press.
    https://www.nextstagepress.com/monessen-falls/

    (Full Length) Cicadas chatter feverishly outside as a middle-aged architect startlingly awakes from a crippling night-terror. Returning to his childhood home for the first time in seventeen years when his mother dies, Kip must grapple with the ghosts of his past, his hostile and...
    Available for purchase and licensing from Next Stage Press.
    https://www.nextstagepress.com/monessen-falls/

    (Full Length) Cicadas chatter feverishly outside as a middle-aged architect startlingly awakes from a crippling night-terror. Returning to his childhood home for the first time in seventeen years when his mother dies, Kip must grapple with the ghosts of his past, his hostile and jobless brother who never managed to move out, and the financially crushing debts now left behind by his parents.

    Set in an aging, former steel town in southwestern Pennsylvania, Kip is joined by his noticeably younger girlfriend, Phoebe. She has come to assist with the funeral arrangements, but discovers quickly that she’s in for much more than she bargained for. Kip’s brother, Ethan, won’t enter the bedroom where their mother died; and tensions rise when the sanctity of that space is abruptly invaded.

    Secrets buried deep are exposed. Old wounds are made fresh. And sibling rivalries scale new heights with potentially frightening consequences. Just as the town of Monessen has found a way to reinvent itself beyond the long-gone glory days of its Steel City heritage, so must two brothers... whose relationship has rusted, after years of neglect.
  • SIGN HERE FOR ALL THAT REMAINS
    (10 Minutes) A widow receives an unexpected delivery.
  • I'LL LOVE YOU 'TIL THE COWS COME HOME
    (Ten Minutes) A woman must wait for a respite care worker to arrive at her home, as her husband's debilitating dementia reaches a point of no return.
  • INSERT TOKEN
    (One Act, Short) After shattering the high score on a popular "brain training" smart phone app, Sebastian finds himself kidnapped, and negotiating for his freedom and the safety of his family.

    What he discovers is a startling revelation about the status of the Internet, and that only he holds the key to unlocking what is placing it in jeopardy.

  • ROOM 27
    (One Act) If you're a legendary rock and roll icon, Room 27 is the last place you'd ever want to be... because Room 27 is a living hell. Literally.

    In a metaphysical mashup of "No Exit," and "Waiting For Godot," Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, and Brian Jones are trapped together in a time-worn dressing room. They're waiting...
    (One Act) If you're a legendary rock and roll icon, Room 27 is the last place you'd ever want to be... because Room 27 is a living hell. Literally.

    In a metaphysical mashup of "No Exit," and "Waiting For Godot," Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, and Brian Jones are trapped together in a time-worn dressing room. They're waiting to go onstage for the Concert To End All Concerts, but the show can't start until the last musician of their band arrives: a drummer.

    When recently departed Bryce Peters walks through the door, members of the infamous "27 Club" enjoy a glimmering moment of hope... but it doesn't last. And their fans are growing impatient.
  • TATTOO: A Tale of Terror
    (Radio Play, Short) For reasons he can't explain, Stephen feels compelled to enter a sketchy looking tattoo parlor that any reasonable person would avoid altogether. Once inside, he encounters a peculiar old woman, who Stephen enlists to become the artist of his baptismal ink job. At the first prick of the needle, he decides to make a break for the door, but the old woman bars his way, with a terrifying...
    (Radio Play, Short) For reasons he can't explain, Stephen feels compelled to enter a sketchy looking tattoo parlor that any reasonable person would avoid altogether. Once inside, he encounters a peculiar old woman, who Stephen enlists to become the artist of his baptismal ink job. At the first prick of the needle, he decides to make a break for the door, but the old woman bars his way, with a terrifying plan in store. (Special Note: please take a moment to listen to the excellent recording of the play performed by the Radio Theatre Project of St. Petersburg, FL. A link to the the SoundCloud file is below.)
  • SECRET'S OUT
    (Ten Minutes) Two strangers waiting outside a lingerie shop have a chance encounter that forever changes their views on women, and the men they are around them.
  • AGENT OF CHANGE
    (Full Length) A retired Vietnam-era Air Force Pilot sits in a VA hospital battling disease that has been linked to the chemicals he spent two years spraying during his tour of duty.

    His bigger fight is for the equal treatment of his twin brother, and others like him, who suffered similar physical consequences after the war.

    When he is about to give up all hope and faith in the...
    (Full Length) A retired Vietnam-era Air Force Pilot sits in a VA hospital battling disease that has been linked to the chemicals he spent two years spraying during his tour of duty.

    His bigger fight is for the equal treatment of his twin brother, and others like him, who suffered similar physical consequences after the war.

    When he is about to give up all hope and faith in the country he loves and swore to defend, he discovers something startling about the woman treating him, learning that the destruction of war can sometimes lead to the creation of something truly beautiful.
  • THE LAST SLICE
    After a steady decline in his abilities, a professional golfer must face the truth about his chances at winning another title before his career is over.
  • SWEATIN' IT
    Alana doesn't much feel like going to school today, but when her mother doesn't believe that she's really sick, she's got to take matters into her own hands.
  • ONE IN THE CHAMBER
    (Short) A teacher learns of a new program being implemented at school.
  • A SHELL OF WHO SHE ONCE WAS
    (Short) In the wake of a shooting that killed four, a newly-made widow seeks a memento.

    Inspired by events in Moscow, Idaho, May 21, 2007. This play may be performed without royalty as part of the Code Red Playwrights Initiative, which aims to collect one play for every American mass shooting. #ENOUGH #FAITH
  • THIRTY DAYS HATH SEPTEMBER - a monologue
    (Monologue) A high school senior counts the days she's been in quarantine.
  • CREATURE COMFORTS
    (Ten Minutes) A Golden Retriever is in a fierce standoff with an English Pointer at the front gate of a dog park. There are rules for entry here, and the newcomer is breaking one of them. It's about to get ugly.
  • MOSTLY CLOUDY
    (Ten Minutes) Jack and Jill climb up the hill to watch the clouds float by, but things get tense when both can sense something odd that's in the sky. Tempers flare and neither dares to own up to the blame; and when the rain starts, there'll be broken hearts, regretting they ever came.