Ian August

Ian August

Ian August’s full-length plays include: and All the Emilies in All the Universes (PlayPenn 2022), Zero (2020 Ashland New Plays Festival, Semi-Finalist BAPF), Brisé (2019 Great Plains Theatre Conference, Finalist 2019 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference), The Excavation of Mary Anning (Powerhouse Theatre Reading Series, 2018 Ashland New Plays Festival, DVRF New Playwright Program), Everything You Can Do (To Make...
Ian August’s full-length plays include: and All the Emilies in All the Universes (PlayPenn 2022), Zero (2020 Ashland New Plays Festival, Semi-Finalist BAPF), Brisé (2019 Great Plains Theatre Conference, Finalist 2019 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference), The Excavation of Mary Anning (Powerhouse Theatre Reading Series, 2018 Ashland New Plays Festival, DVRF New Playwright Program), Everything You Can Do (To Make the World a Better Place) (Catalyst: A Theatre Think Tank @ UC Davis), Interviewese (Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Fest, Finalist 2018 New Comedy Fest B Street Theatre), The Goldilocks Zone, (Passage Theatre Company, Semi-Finalist 2015 O’Neill Conference), Donna Orbits the Moon (Tiny Dynamite Productions, NJ Repertory Company, Utah Contemporary Theatre; Barbour Memorial Playwright Award), Missing Celia Rose (NYC Summer Play Festival; Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s “Playfest″; Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society), and Cobbler (Finalist 2019 New Comedy Fest B Street Theatre). Mr. August’s YA play, Stay Safe, will premiere at the 74th Edinburgh International Fringe Festival in the summer of 2022. Other works have been published by Samuel French, Inc., Pipeline / Applause Books, and Smith and Kraus Publishing. Mr. August is a founding member of the Princeton-based playwriting collective, the Witherspoon Circle, a member of the ATG PlayLab, and a graduated member of PlayPenn’s playwriting workshop, The Foundry. He lives at a NJ boarding school with one husband and three cats, named Lentils, Kimchi, and Thomas'.

Plays

  • D.Q.M. or Drag Queen Magic by Ian August
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: drag queen, absurd comedy + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, science fiction
    Keyword: drag queen, absurd comedy, Groundhog Day, drag king, small cast play, contemporary, model minority myth, silly
    Nancy’s life is falling apart: Her boyfriend dumps her, her boss fires her, and her landlord evicts her but keeps her lamp—all in the same day. Nancy turns to disinterested local drag queen Letta Celebrate for help, but not even she is aware of what she unleashes on the unwitting entertainter. Letta finds herself trapped in a time loop in which she must find a way to save Nancy’s life—or be doomed to repeat it...
    Nancy’s life is falling apart: Her boyfriend dumps her, her boss fires her, and her landlord evicts her but keeps her lamp—all in the same day. Nancy turns to disinterested local drag queen Letta Celebrate for help, but not even she is aware of what she unleashes on the unwitting entertainter. Letta finds herself trapped in a time loop in which she must find a way to save Nancy’s life—or be doomed to repeat it forever. In a structure that can only be described as shamelessly stealing from Groundhog Day. D.Q.M. or DRAG QUEEN MAGIC or THE TORTUROUS PURGATORIAL EXPERIENCE OF ONE MISS LETTA CELEBRATE is an outrageous absurdist comedy about assumptions, otherism, and the trope of the Magic Minority, sponsored by Marbles Gourmet Soups™.
  • Children and Art by Ian August
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: mother daughter relationships, modern art + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: mother daughter relationships, modern art, bad parenting, Contemporary art, children, Art world, Art collecting, present day
    FULL LENGTH: When art collector Gwendolyn Luce approaches artist Elaine Lee for her latest work, sight unseen, she never imagined what would be delivered to her Soho gallery: a twelve-year old girl named “Untitled.” Untitled introduces herself as the “future of art”--but as Gwendolyn prepares herself for the debut of the century, her own daughter, Meg, realizes she has to liberate this child--and quickly. And...
    FULL LENGTH: When art collector Gwendolyn Luce approaches artist Elaine Lee for her latest work, sight unseen, she never imagined what would be delivered to her Soho gallery: a twelve-year old girl named “Untitled.” Untitled introduces herself as the “future of art”--but as Gwendolyn prepares herself for the debut of the century, her own daughter, Meg, realizes she has to liberate this child--and quickly. And it’s not long before Elaine, herself, realizes she may have given away the one piece of work that meant anything to her at all.  Children and Art is a dark comedy about the responsibility artists have to their art, that mothers have to their daughters, and how much of our children we actually own, anyway.
  • All the Emilies in All the Universes by Ian August
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama, fantasy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: child loss, coming to terms with loss + 6 more
    Genre: drama, fantasy, science fiction
    Keyword: child loss, coming to terms with loss, stillbirth, motherhood, coping with grief, parallel universes, Alternative Realities, parallel dimension
    FULL LENGTH: Emilie struggles with the devastating loss of her stillborn child in four distinct parallel timelines. But when an unexpected bend in the space / time continuum brings these four grieving Emilies together, they realize that infinite possible realities means that somewhere, somewhen, their lost son was born alive. Emilie, Emilie, Emilie, and Emilie vow to travel through infinite dimensions, risking...
    FULL LENGTH: Emilie struggles with the devastating loss of her stillborn child in four distinct parallel timelines. But when an unexpected bend in the space / time continuum brings these four grieving Emilies together, they realize that infinite possible realities means that somewhere, somewhen, their lost son was born alive. Emilie, Emilie, Emilie, and Emilie vow to travel through infinite dimensions, risking permanent erasure from the multiverse, to find the baby boy they thought they’d lost forever. All the Emilies in All the Universes is a play about coping with grief, the act of pursuing self-acceptance, and finding the truth hidden in yourself in the ever-expanding multiverse around you.
  • Everything You Can Do (To Make the World a Better Place) by Ian August
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    8–12
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Gay and LGBTQ, activism + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: Gay and LGBTQ, activism, left-wing activism, Rights, Lesbian, political protest, dark comedy, absurdism
    FULL LENGTH - Kelly is determined to find Denise, her missing activist girlfriend, even if she has to search every protest and rally in the city. Instead, she finds Sophia, an energetic young social justice warrior with her own peculiar perspectives. Sophia offers to help in the search, but the price for Sophia’s aid may be steeper than Kelly had bargained for. EVERYTHING YOU CAN DO (TO MAKE THE WORLD A...
    FULL LENGTH - Kelly is determined to find Denise, her missing activist girlfriend, even if she has to search every protest and rally in the city. Instead, she finds Sophia, an energetic young social justice warrior with her own peculiar perspectives. Sophia offers to help in the search, but the price for Sophia’s aid may be steeper than Kelly had bargained for. EVERYTHING YOU CAN DO (TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE) is a Faustian dark comedy about the effectiveness of activism, the hidden price of social justice, and how far we are willing to go to make the world a better place.
  • Zero by Ian August
    Recommendations: 12
    ·
    Cast: 
    4–7
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 5 more
    ·
    Keyword: reform school, Non-Binary + 7 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, dark comedy, drama, experimental, fable/folktale, fantasy
    Keyword: reform school, Non-Binary, addiction, teenagers, high school, magical realism, allegory, mental illness, Depression
    FULL LENGTH - Deep in the woods of rural Connecticut lies a monolithic Victorian mansion, the St. Vedastus Academy for Misguided Teens, a refuge for the newly violent, mildly sinister, and willfully corrupt. Nil is at least two of these things, and even in the eyes of more deviant classmates, suffers social death for it. When schoolmate Harrison discovers a seemingly bottomless pit in the forest floor, Nil...
    FULL LENGTH - Deep in the woods of rural Connecticut lies a monolithic Victorian mansion, the St. Vedastus Academy for Misguided Teens, a refuge for the newly violent, mildly sinister, and willfully corrupt. Nil is at least two of these things, and even in the eyes of more deviant classmates, suffers social death for it. When schoolmate Harrison discovers a seemingly bottomless pit in the forest floor, Nil sees an opportunity to claw to the top of the heap. But a strange compulsion begins to threaten their plans, and all the while the pit begins to grow larger and larger and larger, threatening to swallow them all. ZERO is a narrated tale of the inexplicable and the unspeakable, a darkly comedic allegory about the relationship between addiction and empathy, the danger of simple solutions, and whether ‘nothing’ actually exists anyway.

    TRIGGER WARNINGS: This play includes all the things. This ain’t no Disney Channel sh*t.
  • The Excavation of Mary Anning by Ian August
    Recommendations: 14
    ·
    Cast: 
    6–28
    ·
    Genre: biography, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: History, fantasia + 3 more
    Genre: biography, comedy, drama, fantasy
    Keyword: History, fantasia, geology, paleontology, Mary Anning
    FULL LENGTH - Amidst the groaning cliff sides and weather beaten shores of southern England, fossil hunter Mary Anning combs the earth for glimpses of the ancient past. Armed with only her determination, her lucky hammer, and her erstwhile companion, Tray, Mary uncovers secrets that redefine science and religion and philosophy. But 19th century geology is a nobleman’s game, and Mary’s discoveries are buried...
    FULL LENGTH - Amidst the groaning cliff sides and weather beaten shores of southern England, fossil hunter Mary Anning combs the earth for glimpses of the ancient past. Armed with only her determination, her lucky hammer, and her erstwhile companion, Tray, Mary uncovers secrets that redefine science and religion and philosophy. But 19th century geology is a nobleman’s game, and Mary’s discoveries are buried beneath the rubble while the stars of her male counterparts grow ever brighter. The Excavation of Mary Anning is a historical fantasia about things that come from the earth and things that go to the earth, and one woman’s quest to reclaim her legacy in a society that refuses to acknowledge her worth.

    The Excavation of Mary Anning should be performed entirely by women.
  • Cobbler by Ian August
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: gay, LGBTQ + 7 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: gay, LGBTQ, contemporary, modern, homosexuality, dating, Boston, siblings, queer
    FULL LENGTH - Peach and Cherry are brother and sister, best friends for life. They have a lot in common: a love of handsome men, dancing at the club, and tear-jerking movies. But change is hard, and as Cherry's life begins to blossom, Peach becomes fuzzy on how to maintain the status quo. COBBLER: A RECIPE is a play about finding the right balance in life, while navigating the sweet and sour moments...
    FULL LENGTH - Peach and Cherry are brother and sister, best friends for life. They have a lot in common: a love of handsome men, dancing at the club, and tear-jerking movies. But change is hard, and as Cherry's life begins to blossom, Peach becomes fuzzy on how to maintain the status quo. COBBLER: A RECIPE is a play about finding the right balance in life, while navigating the sweet and sour moments that come from loving another person too much.
  • The Goldilocks Zone by Ian August
    Recommendations: 7
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: contemporary, LGBTQ + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: contemporary, LGBTQ, parenthood, family dynamics
    FULL LENGTH - How can life be created when the universe is working against you? Both Andy, in his relationship with Matt—and Franny, in her relationship with Ray, are struggling to answer this question when fate (and the internet) brings them together. Through their budding friendship they believe they find the answer, but their partners have astronomical concerns. The Goldilocks Zone is a comedic drama about...
    FULL LENGTH - How can life be created when the universe is working against you? Both Andy, in his relationship with Matt—and Franny, in her relationship with Ray, are struggling to answer this question when fate (and the internet) brings them together. Through their budding friendship they believe they find the answer, but their partners have astronomical concerns. The Goldilocks Zone is a comedic drama about love and resentment, independence and obligation, and the ability of two couples to figure out just how to create the perfect environment for sustaining life.
  • Brisé by Ian August
    Recommendations: 8
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: drama, movement/physical
    ·
    Keyword: gay, dementia + 4 more
    Genre: drama, movement/physical
    Keyword: gay, dementia, LGBTQ, queer, dance, multimedia
    FULL LENGTH - Following a nasty fall, professional dancer Paul is diagnosed with a rare form of dementia. In a daily video diary, he details his day-to-day life with his new condition. But when his estranged mother arrives, Paul is forced to face hard family truths that had been buried for years, even as everything else slips away. Brisé is a one-man play about voice, about movement, and about holding on...
    FULL LENGTH - Following a nasty fall, professional dancer Paul is diagnosed with a rare form of dementia. In a daily video diary, he details his day-to-day life with his new condition. But when his estranged mother arrives, Paul is forced to face hard family truths that had been buried for years, even as everything else slips away. Brisé is a one-man play about voice, about movement, and about holding on tight to the things we try our hardest to forget.
  • Donna Orbits the Moon by Ian August
    Recommendations: 10
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: anger, housewife + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: anger, housewife, coping with grief, Wounded veterans, Family of A Veteran
    FULL LENGTH - Something is not quite right with Donna: She's a loving mother, a devoted wife, and a minor celebrity to all the bake sale planners in town--but something is making her spacey, and she's not sure what it is. Therapy is out of the question--and church isn't the place to share one's distress. Donna will need to pass through space and through time--all the while listening to an...
    FULL LENGTH - Something is not quite right with Donna: She's a loving mother, a devoted wife, and a minor celebrity to all the bake sale planners in town--but something is making her spacey, and she's not sure what it is. Therapy is out of the question--and church isn't the place to share one's distress. Donna will need to pass through space and through time--all the while listening to an unlikely voice--and try to break free from her gravitational pull to learn just how she can land.
  • Parker and the City in the Sea by Ian August
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    10–11
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: teenagers, high school + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, fantasy, young audiences
    Keyword: teenagers, high school, contemporary fantasy, atlantis, underwater, disabled persons
    HOUR LONG ONE-ACT - Colleen is angry--angry at her peers, angry at her teachers, and angry at her brother, Parker, who imagines himself as an undersea explorer in a one-man submersible. But when faced with the possibility that she might lose everything she has, Colleen must undertake a journey to face her own demons; a journey that carries her from the halls of her high school to the depths of the ocean floor...
    HOUR LONG ONE-ACT - Colleen is angry--angry at her peers, angry at her teachers, and angry at her brother, Parker, who imagines himself as an undersea explorer in a one-man submersible. But when faced with the possibility that she might lose everything she has, Colleen must undertake a journey to face her own demons; a journey that carries her from the halls of her high school to the depths of the ocean floor. PARKER AND THE CITY IN THE SEA is a whimsical teen drama about grief, about family, and about two siblings' quest for redemption. THIS PLAY IS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST or through UPROAR THEATRICS LICENSING.
  • Compelling Spencer by Ian August
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: LGBTQ, gay relationships + 3 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: LGBTQ, gay relationships, love story, college, gay men
    SHORT COMEDY - When Spencer is arrested for arson, his guilt seems pretty clear—but all is not what it appears in this queer comedy about cigarettes, socks, and romantic compulsion.
  • Eleanor Descending a Staircase by Ian August
    Recommendations: 7
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: dada, absurdism + 3 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: dada, absurdism, Painting, art, hilarious
    SHORT COMEDY - A woman would like to buy a print of Marcel Duchamp's famous painting for her husband, but what seems like a simple transaction soon becomes anything but! How does one woman's impulse shopping spree become a maddening journey around the globe? Eleanor Descending a Staircase is a ridiculous comedy infused with tasteless puns, overwrought accents, and occasional echoes of Dadaist philosophy.
  • Frozen Foods by Ian August
    Recommendations: 11
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: existential, meaning of existence + 3 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: existential, meaning of existence, Supermarket, best friends, soccer moms
    SHORT COMEDY - Linda finds Carol in the middle of the frozen foods aisle of the Superfood Market having an existential crisis. Can she snap her friend out of it or will she be sucked into the never-ending cycle of despair?
  • Queens of the Realm by Ian August
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, fantasy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Fantasy, Queens + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, fantasy, science fiction
    Keyword: Fantasy, Queens, post-apocalyptic, sibling rivalry, Fantasy world
    SHORT COMEDY - Four hundred years after the destruction of the earth, in the Land of the Realm, two rival queens vie for control of the kingdom. But when Queen Becky the Brave thwarts the royal ambitions of Queen Molly the Magnificent, can all-out war be far behind? QUEENS OF THE REALM is a fantastical comedy about power, strategy, and sibling rivalry.
  • The Saga of Ginny by Ian August
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, satire + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: censorship, rhymes + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, satire, verse
    Keyword: censorship, rhymes, Profanity, hilarious, silly
    SHORT COMEDY - The rhyming tale of a young woman descending further into depravity gets interrupted by a decency monitor by the name of Frances Carter Cresswell. A hilarious and energetic comedy about censorship.
  • X-Ray Vision at the Motel 9 by Ian August
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: short, brothers + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: short, brothers, drama, steinbeck
    SHORT DRAMA - When Joe tries to get his disabled brother Hank ready for church, Hank reveals a secret that might tear their relationship apart. X-Ray Vision at the Motel 9 is a story about trust, loyalty, and love inspired by Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.
  • Interviewese by Ian August
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: corporate America, office + 3 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: corporate America, office, absurdism, funny, career woman
    FULL LENGTH - The economy sucks, the job market is hell, and four women arrive to the lobby of Hapdo Technologies Incorporated to vie for the coveted position of Senior Accountant: Wilma Bluckle, a brainy introvert with an extraordinary memory; Janet Janet, the model of positivity; Beverly Weathers, an experienced ex-executive with ambition in spades; Poppy Szank, who may or may not have just slept in the wheel...
    FULL LENGTH - The economy sucks, the job market is hell, and four women arrive to the lobby of Hapdo Technologies Incorporated to vie for the coveted position of Senior Accountant: Wilma Bluckle, a brainy introvert with an extraordinary memory; Janet Janet, the model of positivity; Beverly Weathers, an experienced ex-executive with ambition in spades; Poppy Szank, who may or may not have just slept in the wheel well of 747. A voice on the intercom reveals that the interview will begin in ten minutes, but as the women get to know each other, test each other, taunt each other, they begin to fear that the interview may never come. Each becomes more desperate, more impassioned, more competitive, until an unexpected emergency forces them to band together to save themselves from total disaster! Four women enter--only one may leave with a 401K. Interviewese is an absurdist comedy about corporate ambition, ethics and morality, and the lengths that any sane person would go to for the perfect job.