Thaddeus McCants

Thaddeus McCants

Thaddeus McCants (he/him) was Black and Jewish way before Drake made it cool, but he’s also a Brooklyn-based writer originally from Madison, Wisconsin.

As a playwright, he’s a New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellow, Theatre J Expanding the Cannon Fellow, Theater Masters Visionary Playwright, KCACTF National Finalist, Goldberg New Play Prize Finalist, and a Semi-Finalist for both the Eugene O...
Thaddeus McCants (he/him) was Black and Jewish way before Drake made it cool, but he’s also a Brooklyn-based writer originally from Madison, Wisconsin.

As a playwright, he’s a New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellow, Theatre J Expanding the Cannon Fellow, Theater Masters Visionary Playwright, KCACTF National Finalist, Goldberg New Play Prize Finalist, and a Semi-Finalist for both the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference & American Blues Theatre Blue Ink Award.

As a Television Writer, he was a writer on the second season of HBOMax's ‘JULIA’, is developing his own series ‘LIT LOUNGE’ with BET+, and is the co-writer of multiple AUDIBLE Originals with Author James Patterson and VICE Media.

He proudly holds his MFA from NYU and BFA from Ithaca College.

Plays

  • The Only Thing You Came to Hear by Thaddeus McCants
    Cast: 
    1
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    Genre: biography, comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: LSD, blm + 4 more
    Genre: biography, comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: LSD, blm, baseball, MLB, Black Athletes, 70s Activism
    Once called the Muhammad Ali of Baseball, Major League Pitcher Doc Ellis relives the most memorable moment of his career, the 1970 No-Hitter he threw while on LSD. While in the churning whitewater of memory, Doc might finally find the clarity he has been searching for since that day.
  • No Different than Cotton or Cobalt by Thaddeus McCants
    Cast: 
    5–7
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: Cannabis, war on drugs + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, tragedy
    Keyword: Cannabis, war on drugs, blm, weed, gentrification, Commodity
    FULL LENGTH DRAMA. A fable on Cannabis's journey from disproportionally policed street drug to White corporate wonder crop, 'No Different than Cotton or Cobalt' highlights a young White woman's journey from illegal weed dealer to small canna-business owner and the Black and Brown bodies left in that journey's wake. When an old friend arrives to work for her, he brings her illegal past...
    FULL LENGTH DRAMA. A fable on Cannabis's journey from disproportionally policed street drug to White corporate wonder crop, 'No Different than Cotton or Cobalt' highlights a young White woman's journey from illegal weed dealer to small canna-business owner and the Black and Brown bodies left in that journey's wake. When an old friend arrives to work for her, he brings her illegal past with him and the walls may literally come crumbling down around them.
  • In the Room, Waiting by Thaddeus McCants
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    7
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    Genre: comedy, drama
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    Keyword: fate, choice + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: fate, choice, compassion, pregnancy, teenagers, abortion, family, ensemble, people of color, blm
    FULL LENGTH COMEDY - No matter where you come from, everyone who comes into the hospital is forced to wait.

    ‘IN THE ROOM, WAITING’ highlights a turbulent young couple’s discovery of an unwanted pregnancy
    and how that decision will ripple out across the rest of their lives. As denizens file in from every
    strata-of -society and corner-of-crazy, they unknowingly guide Malcolm and...
    FULL LENGTH COMEDY - No matter where you come from, everyone who comes into the hospital is forced to wait.

    ‘IN THE ROOM, WAITING’ highlights a turbulent young couple’s discovery of an unwanted pregnancy
    and how that decision will ripple out across the rest of their lives. As denizens file in from every
    strata-of -society and corner-of-crazy, they unknowingly guide Malcolm and Aisha along their rocky road.
    A bawdy but moving look at fate, choice, and compassion.
  • The First Two in Idaho by Thaddeus McCants
    Cast: 
    5–6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, farce + 1 more
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    Keyword: bedroom farce, small town + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, farce, zoom
    Keyword: bedroom farce, small town, blm, adult romantic comedy
    FULLL LENGTH INTERRACIAL BEDROOM FARCE. A young Black couple moves to a tiny, all-White ski resort town in Sun Valley, Idaho. A poorly chosen Halloween costume by one and a romantic past between two will start a farcical chain reaction that will bring two marriages to their breaking points.

    Written for Zoom but truly wants to be performed live, slamming doors and all.
  • A Place Just For Us by Thaddeus McCants
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: growing up, growing apart + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: growing up, growing apart, Phasing, love, youth, Jewish Judaism Queer, judaism, LGBTQ
    FULL LENGTH DRAMA - Phasing is a compositional technique in which the same repetitive phrase is played on two musical instruments, in steady but not identical tempi. Thus, the two instruments gradually shift out of unison.

    A postulation on human-phasing, A Place Just for Us is the story of two young Jewish women - one white and one of color - who meet in the storage closet of their summer camp....
    FULL LENGTH DRAMA - Phasing is a compositional technique in which the same repetitive phrase is played on two musical instruments, in steady but not identical tempi. Thus, the two instruments gradually shift out of unison.

    A postulation on human-phasing, A Place Just for Us is the story of two young Jewish women - one white and one of color - who meet in the storage closet of their summer camp. Year after year they take refuge from the storm of life; bringing in the weight of the world outside and helping each other take a little of that weight off. Come hell or high water, they continue to meet even as they navigate growing up and growing apart. As time goes by, as all songs in phase do, they fall in and out of sync with each other. Over the years their ideals shift and adjust and seemingly irreconcilable chasms appear. Can young love last? Can love exist just inside one room? Is the world outside simply too much to bear?
  • 2078 Refugee by Thaddeus McCants
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: dark comedy, political
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    Keyword: refugee, immigration + 3 more
    Genre: dark comedy, political
    Keyword: refugee, immigration, nationalism, xenophobia, compassion
    ONE ACT - A reaction to the current refugee crisis at our boarder and worldwide, 2078 Refugee postulates that sooner or later, literally and figuratively, we will all end up in the same boat. 6 people fleeing what was formerly the United States of America as refugees. With lingering animosity, and brutal humanity, everyone is fighting for the America that once was while dealing with the fact that those ideals,...
    ONE ACT - A reaction to the current refugee crisis at our boarder and worldwide, 2078 Refugee postulates that sooner or later, literally and figuratively, we will all end up in the same boat. 6 people fleeing what was formerly the United States of America as refugees. With lingering animosity, and brutal humanity, everyone is fighting for the America that once was while dealing with the fact that those ideals, and the country as they knew it, might no longer exist.
  • Delayed by Thaddeus McCants
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
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    Keyword: love, Relationships + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: love, Relationships, travel, Airport
    10 MIN ROMANTIC COMEDY - A fledgling couple is on the way home from a horrendous way-to-soon Caribbean vacation. Now their flight is delayed, and the casualty might just be their young relationship.
  • Last Line of Defense by Thaddeus McCants
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: security guard, security
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, parody/spoof, political, satire
    Keyword: security guard, security
    10 MIN COMEDY - Two guards contemplate their duty to work, society, and each other as they watch their security screens in a New York City high-rise on the night of an epic invasion.