Marcus Scott

Marcus Scott

Marcus Scott is a dramatist & journalist. Full-length works: TUMBLEWEED (finalist: 2017 BAPF & the 2017 Festival of New American Plays at Austin Playhouse; semifinalist: 2022 O’Neill NPC, 2022 Blue Ink Playwriting Award & 2017 Princess Grace Award at New Dramatists; long-listed: 2023 Austin Film Festival Playwriting Competition - 2nd Rounder), SIBLING RIVALRIES (finalist: 2023 Normal Ave’s NAPseries...
Marcus Scott is a dramatist & journalist. Full-length works: TUMBLEWEED (finalist: 2017 BAPF & the 2017 Festival of New American Plays at Austin Playhouse; semifinalist: 2022 O’Neill NPC, 2022 Blue Ink Playwriting Award & 2017 Princess Grace Award at New Dramatists; long-listed: 2023 Austin Film Festival Playwriting Competition - 2nd Rounder), SIBLING RIVALRIES (finalist: 2023 Normal Ave’s NAPseries, 2021 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference & 2021 Judith Royer Excellence In Playwriting Award; semi-finalist: 2022 Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, 2021 Blue Ink Playwriting Award & 2021 Princess Grace Award at New Dramatists; long-listed: 2020 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award), THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD (finalist: 2023 Princess Grace Award at New Dramatists, 2023 Blue Ink Playwriting Award, 2019 Bushwick Starr Reading Series; semifinalist: 2023 BAPF) & CHERRY BOMB (recipient: 2017 Drama League First Stage Artist-In-Residence, 2017 New York Theatre Barn's New Works Series; 2017 finalist for the Yale Institute for Music Theatre). Heartbeat Opera commissioned Scott to adapt Beethoven’s FIDELIO (Co-writer; Met Live Arts at the MET Museum, Mondavi Center at UC Davis, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, The Broad Stage, Rutgers Presbyterian Church, Baruch Performing Arts Center; NYTimes Critics’ Pick).

Scott is the recipient of the WTP Rosalind Ayres-Williams Memorial Scholarship (2022-2024) and is a member of the Art House Productions INKubator Play Lab (2023-2024). Other residencies and retreats: The CRY HAVOC Company's inaugural PlayList writers group (2023), The inaugural Personal Pizza Party Writers' Kitchen cohort (2023), The 2022 Valdez Theatre Conference, The Road Theatre Company's Under Construction 3 Playwrights Group (2022), Mojoaa Performing Arts Company's Southern Black Playwrights Lab (Cohort 2; 2022), Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” Residency at the Guggenheim (2022), Prospect Musical Theater Lab (2021), María Irene Fornés Playwriting Workshop (2021), JACK Governor's Island Artist Residency (2021), Catwalk Artist Residency (2021), The Center at West Park Virtual Performance Residency (2020-2021), Gingold Theatre Group Speaker's Corner Writer (2020-2022), Liberation Theatre Company's Playwriting Residency Fellowship (2018), Athena Theatre Company's Athena Writes Playwriting Fellowship (2018-2019), the inaugural LIT Council at the Tank (2018-2019), Fresh Ground Pepper Artist-In-Residence BRB Retreat (2017), One Co. Writers' Residency at Little Farm (2017) and Goodspeed Opera House Retreat (2013). Scott is a finalist for the 2024-2025 Dramatists Guild Foundation National Fellows Program, 2022 Many Voices Fellowship with Playwrights’ Center, a 2021 NYSAF Founders’ Award finalist and a 2021 Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award semi-finalist. His articles appeared in Architectural Digest, Time Out New York, American Theatre Magazine, Playbill, Elle, Out, Essence, The Brooklyn Rail, among others. BFA: State University College at Buffalo, MFA: NYU Tisch.

Plays

  • There Goes The Neighborhood
    "There Goes The Neighborhood" follows a group of elite young black conservative Republican yuppies, all lifelong friends, as they reunite for a two-week vacation in the Sag Harbor. As they lounge poolside in a summer resort beach house, these bright young things and beautiful people share memories, sparking old rivalries and rekindling the flames of long-lost passion, unbeknownst to them, a masked...
    "There Goes The Neighborhood" follows a group of elite young black conservative Republican yuppies, all lifelong friends, as they reunite for a two-week vacation in the Sag Harbor. As they lounge poolside in a summer resort beach house, these bright young things and beautiful people share memories, sparking old rivalries and rekindling the flames of long-lost passion, unbeknownst to them, a masked killer dressed as a lawn jockey lurks in the shadows looking to get a cut of the action. Originally commissioned and developed by Gingold Theatrical Group.
  • Sibling Rivalries
    "Black excellence is a byproduct of black trauma." Set at a fictional Ivy League school in the years following the Obama Administration, this male-driven political drama follows a diverse group of young black men, all members of a fraternity, who face shifting loyalties and eroded principles when they are forced to compete against one another for a prestigious fellowship. The narrative explores black...
    "Black excellence is a byproduct of black trauma." Set at a fictional Ivy League school in the years following the Obama Administration, this male-driven political drama follows a diverse group of young black men, all members of a fraternity, who face shifting loyalties and eroded principles when they are forced to compete against one another for a prestigious fellowship. The narrative explores black camaraderie, competitive suffering, race, elitism, male bonding, school bullying, apex predators, homosexuality, machismo, brotherhood and toxic masculinity. This is a play with music (can be performed without music). Developed at Liberation Theatre Company and QuickSilver Theatre Company.
  • Tumbleweed
    Following an interracial family living in a townhouse within the Morningside Park area of New York’s Upper West Side over the course of a weekend, TUMBLEWEED is a slice of life drama about a young girl named Willow whose off-putting natural hair combined with both her family’s open acceptance of it and lack of maintenance, as well as her blooming womanism, causes controversy in the household. Tensions stir even...
    Following an interracial family living in a townhouse within the Morningside Park area of New York’s Upper West Side over the course of a weekend, TUMBLEWEED is a slice of life drama about a young girl named Willow whose off-putting natural hair combined with both her family’s open acceptance of it and lack of maintenance, as well as her blooming womanism, causes controversy in the household. Tensions stir even more so when they get a visit from the patriarch’s estranged no-nonsense mother, a former affiliate of the Black Panther party. The play explores beauty standards both in and out of the black community, ethnic relations, the mixed race family, coming of age, interracial marriage and parenting, relationships, womanist identity and the visibility of black men in the family dynamic.
  • Fidelio
    Heartbeat Opera Presents Beethoveen's Fidelio. A black activist is wrongfully incarcerated. His wife, Leah, passes as a man to infiltrate the system and free him. But when injustice reigns, one woman's grit may not be enough to save her love. Featuring the voices of imprisoned people, this daring adaptation pits corruption against courage, hate against hope. Written in collaboration with Ethan Heard.
  • Cherry Bomb
    Cherry Bomb follows savvy teenage boy Franklin, who revolts against the education system once the arts programs are cut from his school curriculum. When Franklin’s fearless actions inadvertently domino into another student’s suicide, he spirals into sex, drugs and ruin. A rock musical that blends the Motown/Stax funk-soul sound with electroclash music, Cherry Bomb explores the current and timely topic of the...
    Cherry Bomb follows savvy teenage boy Franklin, who revolts against the education system once the arts programs are cut from his school curriculum. When Franklin’s fearless actions inadvertently domino into another student’s suicide, he spirals into sex, drugs and ruin. A rock musical that blends the Motown/Stax funk-soul sound with electroclash music, Cherry Bomb explores the current and timely topic of the decline of arts in schools, the age gap between teenagers and adults, rebellion, child abuse, grieving a loss, ethics in modern psychiatry and prescribing medication to juveniles—all of which affect Franklin and lead to his self-discovery.
  • Carte Blanche
    After a string of anti-LGBT attacks, a trio of young security guards stay after hours and decide to take the law into their own hands. But can these mean gays stop poking, prodding, projecting, guilt-tripping, stonewalling, scapegoating, minimizing, triangulating and attacking each other long enough to catch the target? Carte Blanche is about community, allyship and safety in numbers. This play was written in...
    After a string of anti-LGBT attacks, a trio of young security guards stay after hours and decide to take the law into their own hands. But can these mean gays stop poking, prodding, projecting, guilt-tripping, stonewalling, scapegoating, minimizing, triangulating and attacking each other long enough to catch the target? Carte Blanche is about community, allyship and safety in numbers. This play was written in development at Cry Havoc Playlist.
  • The Redshirts
    Inspired by the dramatic sci-fi space opera Star Trek, “The Redshirts” follows three low-ranking security personnel with a bone to pick. Sick-and-tired of being sick-and-tired of the frequent bloodshed from the ultra-violent invasions that occur on their coveted starship and the overlords that commandeer it, the trio put plans into motion that could create change unlike anything anyone has ever seen. There’s...
    Inspired by the dramatic sci-fi space opera Star Trek, “The Redshirts” follows three low-ranking security personnel with a bone to pick. Sick-and-tired of being sick-and-tired of the frequent bloodshed from the ultra-violent invasions that occur on their coveted starship and the overlords that commandeer it, the trio put plans into motion that could create change unlike anything anyone has ever seen. There’s just a catch-22: There may be a lot more cannon fodder and sacrificial lambs when the battle is over. “The Redshirts” is a satirical dramedy about protest culture, liberation and echo chambers done through a workplace comedy and science-fiction lens.
  • Wookiees in The Wilderness
    Bishop and Smokey are best pals. Smokey will do anything for Bishop, who is in the midst of recovering from a recent trauma. Bishop will do anything for Smokey including go out to the mountainside wilderness of the Lake of the Ozarks to prep him for his upcoming Wilderness Survival test for the Eagle Scouts. But as the sundown begins and night falls upon them, the boys are reminded to truly be prepared for...
    Bishop and Smokey are best pals. Smokey will do anything for Bishop, who is in the midst of recovering from a recent trauma. Bishop will do anything for Smokey including go out to the mountainside wilderness of the Lake of the Ozarks to prep him for his upcoming Wilderness Survival test for the Eagle Scouts. But as the sundown begins and night falls upon them, the boys are reminded to truly be prepared for anything. Wookiees in the Wilderness received its world premiere at The Fire This Time Festival.
  • Sundown Town
    “Sundown Town” follows two newly-minted sophomore students fresh from their first year at university who have returned home in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under quarantine and taking shelter within their homes, just as these two sexually curious and sexually-active young men hop online to unleash their carnal desires, news of a horrific incident prompts them to not only ask questions about the worth of...
    “Sundown Town” follows two newly-minted sophomore students fresh from their first year at university who have returned home in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under quarantine and taking shelter within their homes, just as these two sexually curious and sexually-active young men hop online to unleash their carnal desires, news of a horrific incident prompts them to not only ask questions about the worth of the black body in America, but also its endurance. Premiered at the Abingdon Theatre Company's Virtual Festival Of Short Plays.
  • Forever and a Day
    In Forever and a Day, boy genius Corey and his smarty-pants best pals Dimitri and Dakota are triggered by viral videos of young black people dying and ultimately go on a journey to discover The Fountain of Youth, also known as The Elixir of Life. Corey and his friends come to the conclusion that by creating the cure for eternal youth and immortality, they might circumvent and combat the rampant violence brought...
    In Forever and a Day, boy genius Corey and his smarty-pants best pals Dimitri and Dakota are triggered by viral videos of young black people dying and ultimately go on a journey to discover The Fountain of Youth, also known as The Elixir of Life. Corey and his friends come to the conclusion that by creating the cure for eternal youth and immortality, they might circumvent and combat the rampant violence brought on against young black people. Conceived for Across A Crowded Room in the Bruno Walter Auditorium within at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Book and Lyrics by Marcus Scott, music by Steven Silverstein.
  • Chimerical Colors: Archibald Motley at the End of the Rainbow
    A monologue from Jazz Age modernist painter Archibald Motley Jr. as the Chicago-based outsider recalls coming to New York at the zenith of the Harlem Renaissance, his nephew Willard and their struggle caught between worlds. A radio play written for The Classical Theatre of Harlem's Icons: Harlem Renaissance in Motion Project in collaboration with Venus Radio Theater.
  • The Kwanzaa Party
    When Hell’s Kitchen twunk Donatello brings his long-term silver fox boyfriend Jamal to his family estate in New England to ring in the holidays, he’s unprepared when his over eager SJW older sister and her woke AF friends decide to honor his beau with an impromptu celebratory Kwanzaa celebration, very much to their chagrin. The Kwanzaa Party is a comedy-drama with a farcical and satirical underbelly that...
    When Hell’s Kitchen twunk Donatello brings his long-term silver fox boyfriend Jamal to his family estate in New England to ring in the holidays, he’s unprepared when his over eager SJW older sister and her woke AF friends decide to honor his beau with an impromptu celebratory Kwanzaa celebration, very much to their chagrin. The Kwanzaa Party is a comedy-drama with a farcical and satirical underbelly that explores liberal elitism and the limousine liberal, Slacktivism, coolhunting, appropriation, interracial romance, queer relationships and, of course, Kwanzaa. A Commissioned OOTB/Weathervane Holiday Short Play.
  • Longview
    Self-isolated in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, three adult siblings living in three different major cities (New York City, Los Angeles and London) meet via Zoom after one of them posts an alarming note to their social media pages, creating panic and igniting the flame of their own lingering resentments and frustrations with one another. Developed at the Astoria Performing Arts Center as part of “The...
    Self-isolated in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, three adult siblings living in three different major cities (New York City, Los Angeles and London) meet via Zoom after one of them posts an alarming note to their social media pages, creating panic and igniting the flame of their own lingering resentments and frustrations with one another. Developed at the Astoria Performing Arts Center as part of “The Insiders: Musicals from the Quarantine.” With a concept, book and lyrics by Marcus Scott, music by Blake Allen and an additional song by Marc Chan, this quasi- chamber pop musical with electronic and “traditional” Tin Pan Alley influences was inspired by well-documented true events.
  • Black Card
    Two Olympian fencers—one from North America, one from Africa—meet for a late-night spar session the night before they are to square off on the world stage for the gold medal. Eventually the session spirals into a heated duel between two black men and the matter of representation.
  • Free-Fall
    A former prisoner is reentering society and is tasked with finding a job and shelter while battling self-pity and self-doubt. A fresh-faced volunteer takes on the former convict as her new client, assigned to help him secure these basic tenants of happiness. But could their shared anxiety of being of use stand in the way of real progress as model citizens or is it better to just give up? Composed by Michael...
    A former prisoner is reentering society and is tasked with finding a job and shelter while battling self-pity and self-doubt. A fresh-faced volunteer takes on the former convict as her new client, assigned to help him secure these basic tenants of happiness. But could their shared anxiety of being of use stand in the way of real progress as model citizens or is it better to just give up? Composed by Michael Lawton. Written in one weekend in response to Neighbor Corps Re-Entry Services, a non-profit community development corporation, and challenged with incorporating random props.
  • Call & Response
    Police do 20,000 no-knock raids a year. Civilians often pay the price when they go wrong. Peter Bowers made a phone call whereupon DaQuan Howard, attending his sister’s sweet sixteen birthday party was viciously gunned down by a S.W.A.T. team. Earlier that day, Peter was uninvited to the celebration by Joelle, the birthday girl. In a local supermarket, Peter is accompanied by college student Tracee House and S....
    Police do 20,000 no-knock raids a year. Civilians often pay the price when they go wrong. Peter Bowers made a phone call whereupon DaQuan Howard, attending his sister’s sweet sixteen birthday party was viciously gunned down by a S.W.A.T. team. Earlier that day, Peter was uninvited to the celebration by Joelle, the birthday girl. In a local supermarket, Peter is accompanied by college student Tracee House and S.W.A.T. captain John Rivera, the man responsible for using tactical leadership to ensure lethal force against the victim. Throughout the conversation the three discuss the events as they happened and the impending consequences of the actions of both call and responder. Call-And-Response explores race relations in America, white male privilege, dog-whistle politics, swatting and police brutality.
  • Natural Selection
    Three young men plot an act of domestic terror in the comfort of a dorm room, but are they triggered to take the lives of innocents out of fury or are they simply trying to destroy their own self-hatred? Natural Selection tackles contemporary topics such as mass shootings, gun reform, white supremacy, the model minority myth and assimilation for a timely critique on America now and it’s future. Inspired by Elliot Rodger and Seung-Hui Cho.
  • Blood Orange
    Dorian, an 18-year-old African-American high school senior, tries to make amends with Vladimir, his twentysomething ex-boyfriend before he goes off to college. Only Vladimir, still in love with Dorian, has plans of his own to get him back and they involve the sensual Lothario, Tanner. Blood Orange is a power play about boys with nothing but time on their hands.
  • Double Rainbow
    Double Rainbow is a political comedy-drama that follows Lea and Michael, two far-left democratic LGBT rights activists, under arrest and facing criminal charges. The charge: Assault and Battery. The crime: Outrageous or justified? Representing them is Stuart, an accomplished and young African American civil rights attorney who agreed to represent the two young revolutionaries out of curiosity. Staged in an...
    Double Rainbow is a political comedy-drama that follows Lea and Michael, two far-left democratic LGBT rights activists, under arrest and facing criminal charges. The charge: Assault and Battery. The crime: Outrageous or justified? Representing them is Stuart, an accomplished and young African American civil rights attorney who agreed to represent the two young revolutionaries out of curiosity. Staged in an interrogation room, tensions rise and fall as Stuart tries to thread together the series of events that led them there.
  • Malaise
    To love and be present, it takes a real man to do that. Returning from a disastrous commute on the MTA train system, college student Oscar finally arrives to his destination--the bachelor pad of an old friend, Eduardo. Both men get more than what they bargained for and are pushed to answer questions that erode away at their machismo, prejudices, reputations and accountability, or lack there of. Ultimately, both...
    To love and be present, it takes a real man to do that. Returning from a disastrous commute on the MTA train system, college student Oscar finally arrives to his destination--the bachelor pad of an old friend, Eduardo. Both men get more than what they bargained for and are pushed to answer questions that erode away at their machismo, prejudices, reputations and accountability, or lack there of. Ultimately, both men are forced into a coming of age.
  • Grand Larceny
    Inspired by scandal surrounding NYC socialite scammer Anna Delvey, "Grand Larceny" follows two women—a working class hotel concierge and a high-powered executive assistant—and their acquaintance with a vivacious cosmopolitan confidence trickster. Conceived for Across A Crowded Room in the Bruno Walter Auditorium within at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Book by...
    Inspired by scandal surrounding NYC socialite scammer Anna Delvey, "Grand Larceny" follows two women—a working class hotel concierge and a high-powered executive assistant—and their acquaintance with a vivacious cosmopolitan confidence trickster. Conceived for Across A Crowded Room in the Bruno Walter Auditorium within at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Book by Marcus Scott, lyrics by Kathryn Funkhouser, music by Declan Zhang.
  • The Third Degree
    Rob and Bobby, a gay May-December couple living in NYC's Meatpacking District and on the brink of the 7 Year Itch, invite a third to party and play in their luxury renovated industrial penthouse loft apartment. Prospects of an evening of titillation turns into a night of terror and a lesson in modern day social graces. Written for Exquisite Corpse Company's annual Drunk 24. Theme: Just A Preference....
    Rob and Bobby, a gay May-December couple living in NYC's Meatpacking District and on the brink of the 7 Year Itch, invite a third to party and play in their luxury renovated industrial penthouse loft apartment. Prospects of an evening of titillation turns into a night of terror and a lesson in modern day social graces. Written for Exquisite Corpse Company's annual Drunk 24. Theme: Just A Preference. Co-written with Louis DeVaughn Nelson.
  • The Vitruvian Man
    Inspired by “The Gingerbread Man," this sci-fi electro-R&B synth operetta follows Lazarus, an android created for Bobby, a man grieving the loss of his longtime partner and the detached engineer who cooked up a plot for their chance meeting. Written in collaboration with Avi Amon.
  • The Uncanny Valley
    Two young women, Faith and Destiny, hold a man hostage in an interrogation room. But is he responsible for the disappearance and violent murder of a young woman and if so, how does one find justice when injustice looms eternal?
  • Always A Scout; Or, Scouts For Life
    Smokey and Topher are lost and find themselves stranded miles away from civilization. In their voyage back to civilization, the stumble upon a lone cabin in the woods where they meet Mongoose and Badger, two former scouts who’ve been marooned for decades. Written for Exquisite Corpse Company's annual Drunk 24. Theme: Giving Thanks. Co-written with Jordan G. Teicher.