Daphne Silbiger

Daphne Silbiger

Daphne (they/she) is a playwright, dramaturg, and musician based in Brooklyn. Their writing has been developed in New York and abroad, they were a 2023 MacDowell Fellow, and they play with the band Go Home.

Plays

  • Very Blue Light
    Marfa, TX, 2022--Magna was likely abducted by aliens, but her friends don't believe her. She seeks out the fabled Marfa Mystery Lights hoping for answers, and discovers that the secrets of the cosmos are both monumentally far-reaching and disarmingly mundane. VERY BLUE LIGHT is a play about isolation and doubt, revising relationships, and the implications of the existence of unidentified aerial phenomena.
  • Dirtbag Stacks
    Two sisters perish at the hands of their mother's lover. A woman invents the world's greatest bedspread, only to see the idea stolen by a major Swedish furniture chain. A couple navigates their shared erotic interest in food. With episodes spanning time and space while remaining rooted in the experiences of the titular hero, DIRTBAG STACKS takes up the "cold bath" juxtaposition of horror and...
    Two sisters perish at the hands of their mother's lover. A woman invents the world's greatest bedspread, only to see the idea stolen by a major Swedish furniture chain. A couple navigates their shared erotic interest in food. With episodes spanning time and space while remaining rooted in the experiences of the titular hero, DIRTBAG STACKS takes up the "cold bath" juxtaposition of horror and erotica pioneered by the Grand-Guignol, and asks, what stories are the building blocks of the author's dirtbag imagination?
  • O, THE HUMANITY
    A short trip. First, two astronauts on their way to Mars must defend their ship from the attacking Earth-bound whales. Then, a papa and baby whale trek forward on their way to colonize the Mariana Trench. With "whale songs" and melodramatic flair, O THE HUMANITY is a one act that looks askance at our impulse to pursue colonialist solutions to the climate crisis.
  • Summer People
    In a small town in Poland, 1871, a girl is born to two ill-fated Jewish lovers who discover that their families are tragically intertwined. The girl is sent away to live in the city, and will go on to be the matriarch of a far-reaching family tree. Part One of the "Rachel Trilogy," the story outlines the fraught origins of a family's spiritual center.
  • I Love How You Love Me
    A small Alaskan town. Georgie is moving to the lower 48. Charlotte and William have been engaged for too long, they say. A kind gesture gets misinterpreted, and all three tumble ungracefully into short-lived non-monogamous arrangement which brings out the worst and best.
  • Six Years Old
    Adalaide is six years old, and she knows a few things: her stupid babysitter Kim is stupid, her younger brother Dewey is a naked mole rat, and she does NOT like being treated like a girl. Though Kim takes Adalaide’s frustrations seriously and tries to offer support, Adalaide’s family and peers discourage her, leaving her to seek out dangerous measures in order to transform into who she was born to be (her hero...
    Adalaide is six years old, and she knows a few things: her stupid babysitter Kim is stupid, her younger brother Dewey is a naked mole rat, and she does NOT like being treated like a girl. Though Kim takes Adalaide’s frustrations seriously and tries to offer support, Adalaide’s family and peers discourage her, leaving her to seek out dangerous measures in order to transform into who she was born to be (her hero, Han Solo). A play about kids for adults, Six Years Old is a comic and poignant reflection on the wild fantasies and serious desires of queer childhood.
  • Pound
    Outside a major city in Texas, Moishe is doing his bar mitzvah project at a dog shelter. The shelter coordinator likes that he follows the rules, and his parents like having time to themselves. But, when the family dog gets sick and they seek the shelter's unethical end-of-life services, Moishe stands up to the adults in his life and callously intervenes in a system which he perceives as particularly cruel...
    Outside a major city in Texas, Moishe is doing his bar mitzvah project at a dog shelter. The shelter coordinator likes that he follows the rules, and his parents like having time to themselves. But, when the family dog gets sick and they seek the shelter's unethical end-of-life services, Moishe stands up to the adults in his life and callously intervenes in a system which he perceives as particularly cruel. A play about religious duty, kink, institutional operation, and how taking matters into one's own hands sometimes isn't the best choice.