Dayna Smith

Dayna Smith

Dayna Smith is a Boise-based playwright, dramaturg and director with a BA in Theatre Arts, Dramatic Writing from Boise State University. Dayna has worked as a playwright and dramaturg at The Kennedy Center; Seven Devils New Play Foundry; Echo Theatre Company; HMBG Foundation's National Winter Playwright's Retreat; HomeGrown Theatre; Boise Contemporary Theater; Little Theater of Alexandria; and the...
Dayna Smith is a Boise-based playwright, dramaturg and director with a BA in Theatre Arts, Dramatic Writing from Boise State University. Dayna has worked as a playwright and dramaturg at The Kennedy Center; Seven Devils New Play Foundry; Echo Theatre Company; HMBG Foundation's National Winter Playwright's Retreat; HomeGrown Theatre; Boise Contemporary Theater; Little Theater of Alexandria; and the Boise State University Theatre Majors' Association. Her plays have been finalists for Unicorn Theatre, The Playwrights' Center, and semifinalists for Seven Devils New Play Foundry, Headwaters New Play Festival and SPACE on Ryder Farm. She has worked for Seven Devils New Play Foundry, The Playwrights' Center and Boise Contemporary Theater. Dayna is also a recipient of a Higher Education Research Council Undergraduate Fellowship and an Idaho Commission on the Arts Quickfunds Grant. Additionally, she is the Artistic Director and a co-founder of Boise's Campfire Theatre Festival.

Plays

  • Big Bang Playground by Dayna Smith
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 7 more
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    Keyword: suicide, Depression + 7 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, experimental, fantasy, movement/physical, romantic comedy, science fiction, tragedy, verse
    Keyword: suicide, Depression, LGBTQ, queer, experimental, grief, space, astronomy, the big bang
    Two twenty-something women fall wildly in and out of love, a scientist grapples with the death of his mother, and a strange, glowing crystal from Jupiter begins to have effects on Earth. BIG BANG PLAYGROUND tells a big story about astrophysics, outer space, obnoxious greeting cards, and the enduring, interstellar and absolutely insane power of love.
  • A Land of Plenty by Dayna Smith
    Recommendations: 8
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    Cast: 
    11
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    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 2 more
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    Keyword: Donner Party, responsibility + 5 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, drama, tragedy
    Keyword: Donner Party, responsibility, parenthood, parental responsibility, American Dream, Frontier, American West
    [WORK IN PROGRESS] FULL LENGTH PLAY: A brave group of pioneers make the pilgrimage west in search of a better life. As winter rapidly approaches and the travelers are trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains, some rise to meet the challenge of survival and some have a long way to fall. A story of determination, responsibility and of the American dream, A Land of Plenty examines what American families in search of prosperity really look like.
  • Nuclear Family by Dayna Smith
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: Robots, suburban America + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, science fiction
    Keyword: Robots, suburban America, America, technology, engineering, love, humanity, Relationships
    FULL LENGTH PLAY: It’s the not so distant future and robots are working our jobs, running our families and fulfilling our every need. DAD, MOM, SON and DAUGHTER live a seemingly normal middle-class American life with the assistance of their household bot NiNa, but with every gain there is a cost. Can the family stay connected in a world where the definitions of "love" and "humanity" become...
    FULL LENGTH PLAY: It’s the not so distant future and robots are working our jobs, running our families and fulfilling our every need. DAD, MOM, SON and DAUGHTER live a seemingly normal middle-class American life with the assistance of their household bot NiNa, but with every gain there is a cost. Can the family stay connected in a world where the definitions of "love" and "humanity" become more and more ambiguous as the years press on?
  • The Burnouts by Dayna Smith
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: at-risk youth, growing up + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: at-risk youth, growing up, coming of age, expectations, making choices, consequences
    FULL LENGTH PLAY: Teetering on the edge of adulthood, Kate, Tim and Marco's futures are blank slates. But when a prank goes terribly wrong and leaves a classmate dead, their options begin to unravel. Can they push past their demons to live lives they can be proud of, or are they destined to be burnouts forever?
  • To Be An Invincible Woman by Dayna Smith
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 1 more
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    Keyword: women, History + 4 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, drama
    Keyword: women, History, feminism, Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, afterlife
    TEN MINUTE PLAY: Eleanor was the First Lady. Amelia was a record-breaking pilot. They're both dead. In TO BE AN INVINCIBLE WOMAN, two historical women and best friends meet again in whatever place waits beyond death to face the way they were separated, what they could have been and what they were.
  • The Everlasting Dream by Dayna Smith
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    6–9
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    Genre: adventure, biography + 4 more
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    Keyword: History, racism + 5 more
    Genre: adventure, biography, docudrama/historic, period, political, young audiences
    Keyword: History, racism, discrimination, black lives matter, Martin Luther King Jr., Segregation, time travel
    FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES, ONE ACT: When her classmate refuses to let her play baseball with the boys and her friend Connor fails to stick up for her, Alexis feels she'll never be seen as equal. A whirlwind of frustration and a foul ball later, and Alexis and Connor are sent back in time to the 1930s-- a time where equal treatment of others is notably absent and discrimination is in full force. They meet Marty,...
    FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES, ONE ACT: When her classmate refuses to let her play baseball with the boys and her friend Connor fails to stick up for her, Alexis feels she'll never be seen as equal. A whirlwind of frustration and a foul ball later, and Alexis and Connor are sent back in time to the 1930s-- a time where equal treatment of others is notably absent and discrimination is in full force. They meet Marty, a doubtful boy without much faith in the possibility of change-- only to find out "Marty" is actually young Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As Alexis and Connor try to find out a way to get home, the changes they make to the past affect the future. Can they convince Marty to rise to find his place in history? And can they make any progress against discrimination with just some hope and an old textbook at their fingertips?