Deneen Reynolds-Knott

Deneen Reynolds-Knott

Deneen Reynolds-Knott has developed work with Liberation Theatre Company’s Writing Residency, Project Y’s Playwrights Group, Rising Circle's INKtank Development Lab and Frank Silvera Workshop’s 3in3 Playwright Residency. Deneen was a member of Clubbed Thumb’s 2019-2020 Early-Career Writers’ Group and received a finalist grant from their 2018 Open-Application Commission. Her full-length play, BABES IN HO-...
Deneen Reynolds-Knott has developed work with Liberation Theatre Company’s Writing Residency, Project Y’s Playwrights Group, Rising Circle's INKtank Development Lab and Frank Silvera Workshop’s 3in3 Playwright Residency. Deneen was a member of Clubbed Thumb’s 2019-2020 Early-Career Writers’ Group and received a finalist grant from their 2018 Open-Application Commission. Her full-length play, BABES IN HO-LLAND, was featured at Playwrights Foundation’s 2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. FLASHES & FLOATERS was presented as part of Orlando Shakespeare Theater's 2020 Playfest. Deneen’s play, BATON, was selected for the 2018 Premiere Play Festival and received a workshop reading at Premiere Stages, the 2017 Playfest at Orlando Shakes and finalist for the 2017 PlayPenn and Bay Area Playwrights conferences. Deneen’s play, ANTEPARTUM, was presented at the 2020 Fire This Time Festival as part of their signature ten-minute play program. She received her MFA in film from Columbia University.

Plays

  • Babes in Ho-lland by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: college, Black women + 7 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: college, Black women, 1990s, love, romance, R&B, class, money, Riot Grrrl
    During a sunless winter in 1996, Ciara & Taryn, two young black women, connect & share their love of SWV & TLC, transforming a dorm room into their sanctuary on a predominantly white university campus. However, the stress of love, financial hardship, and persistent lack of privacy threaten to destroy it.
  • Particularly Meddlesome Ancestors by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Cast: 
    10
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    Genre: adventure, romantic comedy
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    Keyword: afterlife, ancestors + 2 more
    Genre: adventure, romantic comedy
    Keyword: afterlife, ancestors, love, dating
    A particularly meddlesome ancestor is determined to find a soulmate for his living great-great granddaughter, to distract her from dating a man he deems “unworthy”. But the late mother of the “unworthy one” has plans of her own. The potential soulmate’s deceased kin want to know what’s in it for them. To connect the "destined" lovers, this meddlesome ancestor will have to overcome generational and...
    A particularly meddlesome ancestor is determined to find a soulmate for his living great-great granddaughter, to distract her from dating a man he deems “unworthy”. But the late mother of the “unworthy one” has plans of her own. The potential soulmate’s deceased kin want to know what’s in it for them. To connect the "destined" lovers, this meddlesome ancestor will have to overcome generational and philosophical divides to convince other forebears to either help him or get out of the way.
  • Put Yourself Out There by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Cast: 
    8
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: college, graduation + 4 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: college, graduation, loneliness, belonging, dining hall, college friendship
    A lonely grad student visits their undergraduate alma mater to see their college friends, a mix of other alums and current undergrads. Expectations of a happy reunion are challenged as the group grapples with differing views of the past and present. Inspired by discussions between students, faculty, and the playwright, PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE explores graduation as the ultimate test of college bonds as authentic or forced connections.
  • Assuming Positive Intentions by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Cast: 
    7
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: Black women, facilitation + 4 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: Black women, facilitation, healing, collective, professional development, process
    The Sun Porch Collective was a thriving wellness community centering the voices and bodies of black women.
    Then they got cancelled.
    What's better for morale than a mandatory professional development retreat?
  • Shoebox Picnic Road Side: Route One by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Cast: 
    12
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: Outdoor, black family + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, immersive
    Keyword: Outdoor, black family, The Great Migration, food
    In 1955, a black family travels by caravan on Route One from Harlem to visit their matriarch in Littleton, North Carolina. Knowing they were unlikely to be served by eateries along the way, the family prepared a feast placed in shoeboxes lined with tin foil. They’ve pulled over to picnic on the road’s shoulder. This is your invitation to join them.
  • Flashes & Floaters by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: caregiving, family + 6 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: caregiving, family, pregnancy, love, low vision, black solidarity, workers cooperatives, collaboration
    Rachelle prepares to become a "sandwich mom" balancing care for a newborn with looking after her father with progressive vision loss. In an effort to solve the puzzle of this new life, she joins forces with colleagues to form a workers-cooperatives in the face of overwhelming odds.
  • Antepartum by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama
    Genre: drama
    Two pregnant women navigate bedrest and broken expectations in a hospital's Antepartum Unit.
  • Baton by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Recommendations: 8
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: drama, political
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    Keyword: Black women, Race + 7 more
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: Black women, Race, gender roles, police brutality, isolation, loyalty, community, love, regret
    Ava and Tim, a black couple, are on a date interrupted by news of unrest in Baltimore the night of Freddie Gray’s funeral. Ava and Tim grapple with differing feelings about the case. Ava reveals a past engagement to a white cop, detonating a night of accusations, interrogations and confessions.
  • Opposing Ophelia by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama, period + 1 more
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    Keyword: Black women, feminism + 4 more
    Genre: drama, period, political
    Keyword: Black women, feminism, beauty, mother, daughters, activism
    Yvette, a former model/student of the Ophelia Devore School of Modeling & Charm, is confronted with new ideas about beauty, blackness and womanhood, when her daughter, Nina, joins the National Black Feminist Organization in 1973.