Greg Hatfield

A celebrated literary author’s quiet novel is on its way to becoming a major motion picture—just not the one he wrote.

2025 WINNER: BEST SHORT PLAY, NEW YORK CITY NEW PLAY FESTIVAL!
2024 Waterworks Festival Finalist.
2024 Heartland Theater Festival Finalist.
2024 Tampa Bay Theatre Festival Finalist.
2024 Zoom reading from Tiger’s Heart Players.
2025 Selection of Cincinnati Playwright’s Initiative’s Spring New Voices Series.

Amanda and Edward are two successful divorced theater people in this one-act comedy who can’t seem to find their next project. Edward, who is a playwright, is in a “fallow period”, while Amanda doesn’t want to commit to anything for fear of failing. This leads to excessive bickering between them while they try to find a solution.
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"A play about theater people being presented to theater people always seems to be a good combination. I think any production company would be happy to have this play as their choice for the Festival and I would be very happy to see it performed on stage. "

"I respect and love Noel Coward as well as any patron of the theatre, and this homage to him does not disappoint. It is a frivolous confection with purely affected characters and sharp, witty, sometimes dueling dialogue. It would be so much fun to stage."
(Both quotes from 2024 Pittsburgh New Works Theater Festival)

Published by Next Stage Press, available February 2024

"Effective" "Clearly a lot of thought and care (were) put into each of these individual characters" -- Austin Film Festival

"Hatfield presents a compact historical fiction, an American theater dynasty. It's a charming portrait of "the life" and the sacrifices folks made to live it.”

Synopsis of The Cabot Comedies by Greg Hatfield

The Cabot Comedies is the story of an American theatrical family and how they became one of the foremost dynasties of the stage.

The play is a hit, but two of the lead actors don’t feel it’s working and their performances aren’t up to their standard, so they want out. A one-act comedy.

"(Greg Hatfield) has a knack for witty dialogue!" --Pittsburgh New Works Festival, 2019

"The dialogue is witty. The characters are sophisticated, quirky, likable. The working out of the plot is clever. Lily’s bravery in seeing her dilemmas clearly, albeit indirectly, is touching." CPI

Shortlisted: The William Inge Theater Festival, 2020

Writers Lily Palmer and Theodore Barkley are the star writers for Manhattan magazine. But things will change once Barkley gets an offer from a movie studio and has to move to California.

In this comedy, an aspiring playwright finishes a ten minute play and wants to share it with a friend. Race and gender neutral and appropriate for all ages, with no sets or scenery.

Published by Next Stage Press in The Cabot Comedies.

Three actors are up for the same part in this one-act set in 1951 Hollywood.

"This is a nimble, witty play on words." CPI

Mundy Tuesday Friday is a fast paced, screwball comedy, reminiscent of the films of Howard Hawks and Frank Capra, with the dialogue style of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. The play takes place in a small office space, and we meet three office workers, who have become best friends. Their dialogue together is fast, precise and funny. As in the Hawks and Capra films, their tone shifts after receiving some bad news, and they have to face their future together.

I did want to add that I've gotten some very strong and positive feedback on this play from some of the festivals I've entered. The coordinator of the New York New Works Festival called it "a very clever show" and the Pittsburgh New Works Festival said it was "an uniquely entertaining theater piece, with a lot of very funny moments."

"The story is preposterous but produces laugh lines." CPI

What could be better than a sequel to the greatest movie ever made? An agent and a director will find out as they negotiate for the rights in this comedy.

Finalist for the Pittsburgh New Works Theater Festival, 2018.
Reading for the Pittsburgh New Works Reading Series, 2018

Synopsis of The Great Stalinski by Greg Hatfield

Cast: Two men and one woman. Set decoration and props are minimal.
Setting: New York City, 1978.

The Great Stalinski is a throwback to the older days of Broadway, when family dynasties and stars of the boards were truly part of a theatrical family.

The three children of stage legends Charles and Virginia Cabot, John Charles Cabot, brother Monty, and sister Veronica, the last remaining descendants, have all made their mark in the theater, but it looks like the family dynasty is about to end with their reign.

Their work takes them all over the world, but tonight they have gathered to attend the funeral of the “world’s greatest Shakespearean actor”, The Great Stalinski. Eccentric, over-bearing, yes, but his genius could not be denied and Stalinski reveled in the praise and recognition his skills afforded him.

It seems the Cabots have more in common with Stalinski than meets the eye, as Veronica is his widow, who has arranged his funeral, and John Charles who will be delivering the eulogy.

The play is a comedy, filled with theatrical fun facts to know and tell. The characters are smart, sophisticated and funny and will be fun to play for any actor.

It's really a Three Stooges play, minus Curly. Howie and Fine are department store clerks working in the Returns Department. Let's just say their customer service skills aren't the best in the world, until Fay West comes in, making their heads spin. It's a fast-paced laugh riot, that clocks in about 10-12 minutes. 4 men, 2 women.

Published by Next Stage Press as part of The Cabot Comedies

In this one-act comedy, superstar actor Jack Cabot is furious when his prized possession of a Hamlet script once owned by Henry Irving goes missing and he blames another actor of stealing it. He conspires with other members of his show business family to figure out how to get it back, even if he has to kill the thief.

Published by Next Stage Press as part of The Cabot Comedies

"(F)antastic repartee in the script. Both on and offstage, the dialogue is great. All the characters bring good energy to the play and hold your interest to the end. Overall, this is a cute romantic play - light and uncomplicated. This play will hit with a production company or acting group, it just needs to find the right now.

Sisters and others are acting in plays such as Pygmalion, Hamlet. etc.
Virginia, the youngest, and Charles, her leading man, carry most of this play. Their dialogue, on and offstage, makes for lots of witty repartee.
Romantic gestures and mannerisms have you wondering what's actually in their scripts and what is really happening between them in real life.
All the characters bring good energy to the play and hold your interest to the end."

-- Pittsburgh New Works Festival, 2021

Synopsis

Setting: Kansas City, 1948

The scenes take place in a theater and the sisters’ dressing room. The theater scenes can be performed on a bare stage. The dressing room should have three areas that have the sisters’ makeup tables, random costuming and other accessories that actors would have. Since this is a touring company, it doesn’t have to be elaborate.

Three Sisters in Repertory is the story of the three Fleming sisters, particularly the youngest, Virginia, in 1948.

The sisters are traveling in a theatrical repertory company and Virginia has the lead in all the plays. Joining her is Charles Cabot, the son of famous actor John Cabot, and the last of the Cabot acting dynasty. In the play are excerpts from Pygmalion, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Hamlet.

Virginia and Charles don’t see eye-to-eye on approaches to acting, but need to work it out quickly because the shows open in just a matter of days.

Three Sisters offers backstage glimpses of theater life and the pressures the road company faces as they bring theater to people throughout the country.

Popular writer, Theodore Barkley delivers a stunning lecture on Modern Subdivision Zoning in 1954.