Straton Rushing

Straton Rushing

Straton Rushing is a playwright originally from Sonora, Texas. He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Recent honors include the Bela Kiralyfalvi Award, the Hear Me OutGolden Ear Award, he was a finalist for the 2023 ATHE Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, and received an Honorable Mention in the 2022 William Faulkner Literary Competition.

His works...
Straton Rushing is a playwright originally from Sonora, Texas. He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Recent honors include the Bela Kiralyfalvi Award, the Hear Me OutGolden Ear Award, he was a finalist for the 2023 ATHE Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, and received an Honorable Mention in the 2022 William Faulkner Literary Competition.

His works have been featured with Phoenix Theatre Company, Capital Repertory Theatre, Orpheus Theatre Company, SceneShop, the Festival De La Bête Noire and other companies around the US and internationally.

Recent publications include plays in the Silk Road Review, Apricity Magazine, the Ponder Review and with Smith & Kraus.

Straton holds degrees in Theatre and Philosophy from the University of Texas at Arlington. In May, he received his MFA in Dramatic Writing at Arizona State University where he was recognized as an Outstanding Graduate for Excellence and Innovation in Creative Practice.

By day, he works as the Sales & Marketing Director for Theatre Arlington and teaches part-time at Dallas College Mountian View.

For more info, visit StratonThePlaywright.com
Production inquiries StratonRushing@gmail.com

Plays

  • Mutability
    The small rural town of Craven, Texas is beginning the process of changing, and local gas station owner Frank Hooper is not okay with it. Hoping to scare away the influx of remote-working millennials that see the town as a cute gettaway, Frank has begun posing as a "creepy hillbilly" a-la 'Texas Chainsaw' to freak people out. Once his daughter Mary visits for spring break and discovers his...
    The small rural town of Craven, Texas is beginning the process of changing, and local gas station owner Frank Hooper is not okay with it. Hoping to scare away the influx of remote-working millennials that see the town as a cute gettaway, Frank has begun posing as a "creepy hillbilly" a-la 'Texas Chainsaw' to freak people out. Once his daughter Mary visits for spring break and discovers his hair-brained scheme, the pair find themselves digging up old grudges and arguing. Matters are further complicated by ghosts, and a killer on the loose whose motivations are unclear until it’s too late.
  • Happy Wright
    Happy Wright is a strange person, this much we can say for certain. They love aviation, poetry, and Saturdays. But Happy's mind is plagued with questions, the kind that makes the world really confusing. Loosely inspired by Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days, the show is a portrait of anxiety, bravery, and the help we can give each other when we are willing to.

    Content warning: Discussion of alcoholism, and suicide
  • Someone To Love Me
    Dollie McCutchen is recently separated from her husband in Texas, and has decided to escape to their cabin in rural Wyoming in hopes of finding herself again. She left her phone in a drawer, and plans to stay off the grid for as long as possible. She is met with a horrible snowstorm that leaves her without power, or water. She begins to see ghost and must wade through memories to find her way to safety.
  • Welcome to the Fair
    Huzzah and good morrow y’all! The residents of the west Texas oilfield town of Patterson (population 4,134) have decided to put on their renaissance fair. With failed former professor Dr. Kit Marvin and social outcast Mollie Baptiste as the ringleaders of the operation, and Mollie’s hillbilly cousin Cletus as their main ally - they have to scramble, lie, and cut ever corner they can to keep the fair up to...
    Huzzah and good morrow y’all! The residents of the west Texas oilfield town of Patterson (population 4,134) have decided to put on their renaissance fair. With failed former professor Dr. Kit Marvin and social outcast Mollie Baptiste as the ringleaders of the operation, and Mollie’s hillbilly cousin Cletus as their main ally - they have to scramble, lie, and cut ever corner they can to keep the fair up to county code with she Sheriff looking for any excise to shut the magic down.
  • Ain't the Biggest City
    When an inmate dies at the county jail under suspicious circumstances, the EMT who oversaw the affair is brought in for questioning. She might have a secret or two, but as connections arise more and more secrets arise to the surface.

    Content Warning: This play contains discussions of extreme child abuse
  • Douglas: The Play
    Throughout theatre history, time and time again playwrights look back on their life and write something near and dear to their hearts. The genre of the autobiographical play includes masterworks like The Glass Menagerie, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Yellow Face and Long Day’s Journey into Night. Enter Douglas Jones-Jones, a young, pretentious, half-witted wannabe playwright eager to add his name to the list of...
    Throughout theatre history, time and time again playwrights look back on their life and write something near and dear to their hearts. The genre of the autobiographical play includes masterworks like The Glass Menagerie, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Yellow Face and Long Day’s Journey into Night. Enter Douglas Jones-Jones, a young, pretentious, half-witted wannabe playwright eager to add his name to the list of greats. After dozens of attempts to have his show produced around the US, he finally talked Fort Worth’s SceneShop into giving him a shot. Just a few problems, almost nobody agreed to be in the show other than his ex-girlfriend Maude. Additionally, his life’s story is not particularly interesting and he really fancies himself to be a bit of a genius (he’s not). So, the question is, can two actors who barely get along make this god-awful script work well enough to entertain the good people of Fort Worth for an hour? I heavily doubt it, but we’ll have to wait and see.
  • Enferma
    When Violet O'Neill is handed a cancer diagnosis, she feels she has nothing left to lose. In the coming months, she starts a new relationship, devises a plan to get back at her boss and tangles herself in a web of lies so thick she has to learn a new language to get out of it.
  • Hal and His Atomic Ray Gun
    You know that guy who thinks he was abducted by aliens? Who swears that they experimented on him? Well in this small town in rural Colorado, that guy is Hal. Hal's got a story and he loves to tell it. About his journey and how he wound up homeless camping in front of a convenience store. Everything is business as usual until he runs into another young woman, Valarie who was also abducted by the same aliens.
  • A**hole, the Dog
    A recently released convict is required to volunteer at an animal shelter. She is
    immediately confronted with a psychotic dog and a shift supervisor who doesn't trust her.
  • Nothing Got
    Alex and Graham hate Beckett, but that didn't stop them from accepting the roles of Vladamir and Estragon in a professional production of Waiting for Godot. But then they get to talking, finally really talking, then it gets weird.
  • Clipped
    What begins as another day for work friends Miguel and Billy turns into a serious reflection on relationships, cross-cultural communication and fatherhood.

    Content Warning: This play talks about genitals pretty bluntly.
  • The Only Reason To Quit Smoking
    A person recounts the reason they finally gave up smoking
  • Modern Art
    Three young artist have a debate about art in a gallery that not only mocks why we call art- but mocks the kinds of art we can't help but scratch our heads at.
  • Countdown
    Two friends attempt to hook up at a New Years Eve party but between interruptions and a disappearing condom they wind up having a much more important conversation about the nature of their feelings for one another.
  • Some Sunny Day
    Derived from the lines of Vera Lynn's song "We'll Meet Again", the show follows a year in the life of Will Kolikov, a young man living in the early 2000s trying to make a career in radio when things begin to fall apart. This bittersweet play explores how we pick up the pieces and start over through music, poetry and the stories that need to be told most.

    This show is licensed...
    Derived from the lines of Vera Lynn's song "We'll Meet Again", the show follows a year in the life of Will Kolikov, a young man living in the early 2000s trying to make a career in radio when things begin to fall apart. This bittersweet play explores how we pick up the pieces and start over through music, poetry and the stories that need to be told most.

    This show is licensed by Silver Birchington Plays and can be read for free upon request at their website www.silverbirchingtonplays.com .
  • Round the Decay
    A man's life is in ruins, and his cousin tries to reach out to him. What ensues is a conversation about addition, a bizarre game and a near death experience.