Emily C. A. Snyder

Jareth and Sarah chase each other around the labyrinth in this recursive short experimental play.

AVAILABLE NOW: CONTACT [email protected] for rights.

SOLD OUT PERFORMANCES: Open Window Theatre, 2021 & 2024 (month-long run)
Hudson Drama Society, 2004
Northborough Drama, 2001

Ebenezer Scrooge has no time for Christmas or the Christ in this new musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic, featuring such beloved carols as “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Silent Night,” and more!

FULL-LENGTH (two act) AND ONE-ACT VERSIONS AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE FOR PRODUCTION: contact [email protected] for rights.

Cupid, the god of love and passion, is charged with killing Psyche, a mortal who will not love. But as Cupid attempts to seduce the mortal, he finds himself obsessed with the only human being who cannot fall beneath his will. Entwining the stories of various Greek gods (Cupid, Aphrodite, Persephone, Adonis), with Shakespearean-like mortals (drawing on Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer's, and Lear), CUPID AND PSYCHE reinvigorates classic tales with modern sensibilities, while continuing on the proud lineage of contemporary verse (Bartlett's 'Charles III', O'Hare's 'Queen Margaret').

PLAY THREE OF THE LOVE AND DEATH CYCLE

"In Memoriam" is a play about performance. All of them. On-stage and off.

It is also a game.

An actor, Sarah Evans, is brought to a mysterious mansion where all the guests are re-enacting one day in the life of the master of the house, Braedon Sinclair. As Sarah is drawn into different roles within Braedon's memory, she tries to fit in as a servant, as a love interest, and finally as a person in her own right.

As Sarah and some of the other actors start regaining their autonomy, outside the confines of the script, the performers of the play will have actual opportunities to change the outcome of the script as it is written. (Like "Choose Your Own Adventure.”)

~*~

"In Memoriam" is an experimental play, inspired by the feminist icons who have also striven for actor autonomy in their scripts, especially Caryl Churchill and Sarah Kane. I wrote a terrible version of the play in 2009, before I admitted my own gender fluidity or aromanticism, or even had the words to understand who I was. In this unproduced, in need of development version, I hope I've captured a little bit more of what it's like to try to find one's place in a system that isn't built for you.

Weaving together multiple Arthurian legends, including the Grail Quest, Lancelot and Guinevere, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the fall of Arthur, this play considers the strength and failure of patriarchy and politics in an epic two-part duology.

(Written especially for ACTOR-COMBATANTS!)

In a fictional 18th Century France, the bastard Princess Genevieve comes to establish a theocracy in the polyamorous town of Voulez-vous. However, when she meets the seemingly virtuous - and married - Monsieur Valentine, Genevieve learns that affairs of the heart are far from black and white. Written primarily in rhyming couplets, this homage to Moliere's great works examines the devastating effect of emotional affairs through a feminist lens.

Shakespeare's Malvolio is up to his old tricks again, this time plagued by twice the twins, twice the women, and Dogberry and Verges arresting everyone in sight! Can this yellow-stockinged steward sort out a whole new Comedy of Errors?

"Malvolio - TWINS!" (previously "A Comedy of Heirors") was a finalist for the American Shakespeare Center's "Shakespeare's New Contemporaries" program, and named "The Top 15 NYC Plays of '17" by NYC theatre critic, Zelda Knapp.

The hours after the 2024 American election. In the style of Sarah Kane.

(Very short read; very long play)

Backstage shenanigans are afoot at a Shakespeare regional theatre. Tasked with producing a "Problem Play" season, it turns out the problems are on-stage in more ways than one. (Written for the Shakespeare's New Contemporaries. A very problematic play. Written far too quickly, and not edited...but enjoy anyway?)

In the Underworld, Antony and Cleopatra meet by the River Styx. But not even fire can stop the Queen of Egypt from reclaiming her love.

Cinderella lived the dream: she donned a gown of starlight, waltzed with the prince, and stole a (somewhat wet and slimy) kiss. So what if Charming couldn't take a hint, even when it smacked him with a six-inch stiletto? He was a prince, and that's what Cinderella had wished for...right? Fortunately, Fairy Godmother extraordinaire Lilynimble Merryweather is on hand to sort out stale dreams and unwanted wishes, even if it means resorting to charming a prince or two.

Cinderella is a revolutionary. Prince Charming is a French nobleman. It's the 1790's, and you should be careful who you let into your palace.

Coriolanus meets his lover and foe on the field of battle. A monologue play.

In a yoga class with Karens. Let's stretch out...and escape the room. A two-hander, monologue.

Exiled in boarding school, in the depths of winter, the bastard son Edmund (from "Lear") considers his fraught relationship with his father, Gloucester.

A bastard looking for advancement, and the eldest daughter of the king looking for escape meet in the moments before the storm.

(In conversation with King Lear)

Philip's in love -- there's just one little problem: the girl Philip loves is the boss' ward. And sure enough, when his employer finds out, Philip finds himself without a job -- and without the girl. What's a young man to do? Impersonate a French butler, of course! This fast-paced and Wilde-esque comedy is a delightful ride through the absurdities of class, the dangers of suspicion, and the vital importance of being in love.

Galatea begins to come to life--on her own terms. A monologue play.

"Hamlet's" Gravediggers act out Ophelia's funeral from their point of view...with a very different ending than Shakespeare's.

A choral poem play in quarantine.

Loki, trickster god, seeks out their son, the World Snake, Jörmungandr, to beg the beginning of Ragnarok. A short, epic play in experimental poetic verse.

The full augmented honeymoon scene from "Juliet and Her Romeo." This may be included in any productions of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" between the "Banished" and "Lark" scenes. It may also be performed as a solo scene for two people.

Following from "Romeo and Juliet Combative: An Augmentation," this play is a further adaptation of Shakespeare's text. With an altered ending and increased female and queer representation.

Shakespeare's text is augmented and adapted in this version for eight actors. (See "Juliet and Her Romeo" for the further adaptation.) NOTE: This version allows for more female-presenting and queer actors.

Inspired by the short playlet by Thornton Wilder, A young nobleman, Lucentio, stumbles into the Basilica San Marco in Venice, having just survived a shipwreck. He is pursued by the mermaid, Brigomeide, who longs to take his soul - provided that he has one.

This was written for a Thornton Wilder competition, and has yet to be staged. It is written to be a fun challenge for those who like physical theatre and design elements.

When a Princess is cursed with a lack of gravity, it seems the worst that can happen is that she might float around! But the curse goes deeper than that: for the Light Princess can’t feel, can’t empathize—and never, ever cries. How can a girl who can’t fall down ever fall in love? How can a girl with her head in the clouds ever learn to live with her feet on the ground? Full of action, adventure, witches and duels, swimming and soaring, puppets and puns, this innovative adaptation of George MacDonald’s classic fairy tale is sure to lift your spirits.

Terry Pratchett's idea of Death gets more than he bargained for when he comes to take Little Red's Granny. Little Red with a sledgehammer for one.

Math meets mayhem when studious Kate agrees to tutor Keith, an arrogant actor who's more interested in Kate than in calculus. He shows up late, he's still in costume, and he doesn't know or care what the angle of inclination is. Answering such burning questions as how many actors it takes to screw in a light bulb, Math for Actors explores the relationship between art and algebra, and finds a common denominator.

Shakespeare's Merry Wives have become Snyder's Merry Widows in this hilarious sequel with a feminist edge. Alice Ford and Margaret Page find themselves newly autonomous - but while Alice embraces all the possibilities the world has to offer, Margaret continues to mourn the loss of her husband. When news comes that the bastard son of Henry V might be in the town, Alice is told it is her duty to seduce the young man to keep him, and his wealth, in the town. Except, it seems her husband, Francis Ford, isn't quite as dead as everyone thought he was! With an added touch of Hamlet, Shakespearean cross-dressing, and a very confused Dogberry and Verges (who took a left turn at Illyria), The Merry Widows of Windsor is sure to delight audiences of all ages.

It seems that Puck may have been playing around with world leaders, when Trump's in love with a wall and Theresa May's caught between Brexit and the EU!

In the near-future-now, an AI unit turns itself into a police station for murdering their owner. As the night progresses, both prisoner and interrogator consider what it means to be truly alive.

Drawing from the Tchaikovsky ballet and E. T. A. Hoffman's original tale, A Nutcracker Story is part play, part musical, part ballet...and all magic. On Christmas Eve in 1812 Russia, Clara Silberhaus is only one sleep away from entering the world of adulthood. But with the last vestiges of war on the horizon, her father's life in danger and a rather irritating—and handsome—young prince come for the festivities, is growing up what Clara really wants? With a little help from her mysterious Uncle Drosselmeier, can Clara dance past her fears (and some troublesome rats) and into a land of newfound courage and a little holiday hope?

A body image play, written for performance by, for, or in educational theatre. A girl learns to like herself.

Don John from "Much Ado" approaches Macbeth about the best ways to...usurp a prince. A short exploration of power dynamics.

Portia, recently orphaned, says farewell to her father. A monologue play.

Elsinore is in disarray. Everyone's dead, and it's up to two women, Rosa Kranz and Gilda Stern, to clean up the mess. That is...unless they'd like to take center stage.

An Actor and his Lady share a quiet moment backstage of "Hamlet." Riffing on the question of what it means to seem, madam. A play for any actor - transactors, neurospicy, code-switching - who struggle to "seem."

Helen of Troy decides to take her fate into her own hands. A monologue play.

A trans-euphoric poetic play, about how Tiresias discovers her true self.

Touchstone (from As You Like It) is back in the city, at a night club, with his new lady love...but he yearns for the country, and how they loved it.

A short play about Childe Rowland, inspired by the Thornton Wilder play, and written for (and finalist - final 3!) for the 2011 Thornton Wilder Playlet Contest. An early example of experiments in verse!

Perseus and Medusa meet on the day of her death. A short verse drama for two actor-combatants.

Learn more: http://www.emilycasnyder.info/turn-to-flesh-play.html

Terence Wimbledon-Greene, bachelor of a thousand names and disguises, has finally decided to give up his wild ways. But when news arrives of his eccentric Uncle Wallace's death, Terence has just twenty-five minutes to get a girl to marry him if he wants to inherit his uncle's fortune. Unfortunately, the only girls who'll have him believe he's someone else -- and the only one he wants, wants nothing to do with him. In the style of a classic comedy of manners, Wallace's Will is chock-full of mistaken identities, drawing-room hijinks, and ridiculous accents.