Susan Miller

Susan Miller

Susan Miller is the winner of two Obies, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for her plays "A Map Of Doubt And Rescue" and "My Left Breast." She was awarded 2nd Prize in the 2014 Arch & Bruce Brown Playwrights Competition for her play, "Average American." Her work has been done by The Public Theatre, Second Stage, The Mark Taper Forum, New York Stage...
Susan Miller is the winner of two Obies, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for her plays "A Map Of Doubt And Rescue" and "My Left Breast." She was awarded 2nd Prize in the 2014 Arch & Bruce Brown Playwrights Competition for her play, "Average American." Her work has been done by The Public Theatre, Second Stage, The Mark Taper Forum, New York Stage & Film, ATL's Humana Festival, Ojai Playwrights Festival, Naked Angels, The Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, and New Georges, among others. She was a Core Writer at The Playwrights Center in Minneapolis. Miller is Executive Producer/Writer of the acclaimed Indie webseries, "Anyone But Me," for which she received the Writers Guild of America Award in New Media. Other plays: "Nasty Rumors And Final Remarks," "The Grand Design," "It’s Our Town, Too," "Confessions of a Female Disorder," "Reading List," "Cross Country." Television: Showtime's “The L Word” (Consulting Producer/Writer)" and ABC's “Thirtysomething” (Producer/writer). Her play, "20th Century Blues," was produced in Contemporary American Theatre Festival's 2016 Season. "20TH CENTURY BLUES" received its Off Broadway premiere in the 2017/18 season, directed by Emily Mann.

Plays

  • 20TH CENTURY BLUES by Susan Miller
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: women's friendships, sexuality + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: women's friendships, sexuality, American politics, Race
    Four women meet once a year for a ritual photo shoot, chronicling their changing selves, as they navigate the complications of history. But when their private photographs taken over 40 years threaten to go public, relationships are tested, forcing the women to confront who they are and how they'll deal with whatever lies ahead. "20th Century Blues" is a sharply funny and evocative play that...
    Four women meet once a year for a ritual photo shoot, chronicling their changing selves, as they navigate the complications of history. But when their private photographs taken over 40 years threaten to go public, relationships are tested, forcing the women to confront who they are and how they'll deal with whatever lies ahead. "20th Century Blues" is a sharply funny and evocative play that questions our place in the world and with one another.

    "Critics Pick! Susan Miller's 20th Century Blues is empathetic and timely." Deadline.com

    "These are fully rounded people. Representative of a lot of women who want to see themselves on state. It's a diverse play as well." PBS Theater Talk

    "A brilliant play. Miller's script is clever and wise, bursting with great lines and naked truths." Curve Magazine

    "20th Century Blues breaks the mold when it comes to the female ensemble dramedy...with poignant but still laugh-out-loud social commentary on the process of aging in America, razor sharp one-liners and thought provoking questions." BroadwayWorld.com
  • A MAP OF DOUBT AND RESCUE by Susan Miller
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: drama, experimental + 1 more
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    Keyword: ethics, small town + 1 more
    Genre: drama, experimental, political
    Keyword: ethics, small town, Fictional Hollywood History
    The Editor of a local newspaper writes a "Mistake" column as he confronts flaws in his own character. Taking us from a small American town to Hollywood and people coping with a natural disaster, as the play draws on the canvas of our history and the struggle to connect.

    SUSAN SMITH BLACKBURN PRIZE
    PINTER PRIZE IN DRAMA
  • CENSUS by Susan Miller
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: human history, Identity struggles + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: human history, Identity struggles, class, magical realism
    When Jacob, a newly hired census taker, makes a field visit to the home of Gloria and attempts to get answers to standard government questions, he discovers that the objective facts he's seeking are not always so, as Gloria peels back the layers and confronts him with a different reality. That she is Black and he is white complicates their encounter in unexpected and mysterious ways.
  • MY LEFT BREAST by Susan Miller
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: parenthood, LGBTQ + 1 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: parenthood, LGBTQ, breast cancer
    One Woman play exploring parenthood, the breakup of a relationship, and transformation
    Winner OBIE award
    Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
    Published by Playscripts, Inc.

  • IT'S OUR TOWN, TOO by Susan Miller
    Cast: 
    7–10
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: youth, family + 4 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: youth, family, Gay Straight, LGBTQ, one act, life and death.
    A modern take on Thornton Wilder's masterpiece. This one act explores the relationships of two lesbian and gay couples and their straight, young adult children who fall in love. In this version the STAGE MANAGER is played by a female.
  • AVERAGE AMERICAN by Susan Miller
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    7–8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: LGBTQ, women + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: LGBTQ, women, contemporary culture
    A serio-comic look behind the scenes at the making of a groundbreaking (fictional) lesbian TV series.

    Finalist Reva Shiner Comedy Award 2019 - Bloomington Playwrights Project
    Semi Finalist Chicago Blues Theatre 2015
    2nd PRIZE The 2014 Arch and Bruce Brown Playwriting Competition
  • IT'S OUR TOWN, TOO by Susan Miller
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    7–8
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: family, LGBTQ + 1 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: family, LGBTQ, youth
    A gay interpretation of Thornton Wilder's classic.

    Publisher: Playscripts



  • NASTY RUMORS AND FINAL REMARKS by Susan Miller
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: mortality, sexuality + 1 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: mortality, sexuality, family
    A charismatic woman suffers a cerebral hemorrhage and her friends, lovers, and son with their shared and difficult history gather in a hospital waiting room.

    OBIE Award
    Finalist Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
  • CONFESSIONS OF A FEMALE DISORDER by Susan Miller
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6–7
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: sexual identity, college + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: sexual identity, college, coming of age
    The journey of a young woman into adulthood.
  • ARTS AND LEISURE by Susan Miller
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy
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    Keyword: millennials, antihero + 1 more
    Genre: dark comedy
    Keyword: millennials, antihero, fame
    An English Professor and his Millenial filmmaker girlfriend hold J.D Salinger hostage in his own home in hopes of seeing his unpublished manuscripts.
  • FOR DEAR LIFE by Susan Miller
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: dinner, marriage + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: dinner, marriage, career, parenthood
    Contemporary relationships and their struggles

    Finalist Susan Smith Blackburn Prize