Zan (Zanne) Hall

Zan (Zanne) Hall

Playwright. Jazz piano/flute musician. Former jet aircraft mechanic.

Zan has been called a "Swiss Army knife writer." She is an award-winning playwright (Playwrights Choice Award - Edward Albee Contest (Valdez Theatre Conference); Playwrights First! 1st place (Manhattan); Stanley Award finalist; plus numerous regional play contests). Zan is an eclectic writer of dark comedies,...
Playwright. Jazz piano/flute musician. Former jet aircraft mechanic.

Zan has been called a "Swiss Army knife writer." She is an award-winning playwright (Playwrights Choice Award - Edward Albee Contest (Valdez Theatre Conference); Playwrights First! 1st place (Manhattan); Stanley Award finalist; plus numerous regional play contests). Zan is an eclectic writer of dark comedies, serious quests, murder mysteries. She has worked in various mediums writing radio dramas for NPR; podcasts for The Actors Fund; stage and independent film. "I like to experiment with my work in order to make it better defined for audience understanding with a clear purpose. I also like honing it with details that enrich the theatrical experience."

Plays

  • The Homeless Mayor
    Miracles can happen, especially when a DNA study is involved. A nod to Twain's "Prince & the Pauper" finds the Mayor of Token City, a brash egocentric political pundit who unwittingly changes places with a twin brother, a savvy homeless person who takes on the fight to change City Hall from corrupt to dazzling.
  • SILVER HORIZONS or how I learned to love black holes
    The play is about the interrelationships of people coping with physical and emotional diseases while trying to maintain an equilibrium in the furor of life’s challenges. It has had workshops with the Dramatists Guild Institute.

    BETTE is an astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History who also happens to have Multiple Sclerosis and is a divorcee because her ex-husband could not cope with...
    The play is about the interrelationships of people coping with physical and emotional diseases while trying to maintain an equilibrium in the furor of life’s challenges. It has had workshops with the Dramatists Guild Institute.

    BETTE is an astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History who also happens to have Multiple Sclerosis and is a divorcee because her ex-husband could not cope with the progression of her disease. Her bipolar daughter LYNETTE moved back with her mother after leaving a professorial position at Hunter College because she felt overwhelmed with her emotional disorder.

    Their friend FREDRIC is in a mid-career, mid-life crisis and although he has a cavalier attitude he is unsure how to cope with the changing technology which has taken his job from him and challenges his ability to survive.

    BEN is an astrophysicist at AMNH who is working on a Black Hole Theory with Bette and they are about to embark on an amazing discovery. He strikes up a warm relationship with BETTE who is unsure how to take a new romance in her tumultuous life.


  • W.A.S.P.
    A story about seven women who flew warplanes for the U.S. during WWII. Their existence deleted from history, they fought for recognition and recently won the 2009 Congressional Gold Medal.

    "From a pool of national and international playwrights Zan’s play W.A.S.P. (Women Airforce Service Pilots) was a clear standout." Michael Mueller, Head of Acting, Fullerton College, CA.



  • The Star Seekers
    A recovering drug addict, Diamond is a woman determined to free herself from a life that has spiraled out of control by reaching back into her past heritage. This is a mystical play emphasizing the drama of the human spirit, a drama of human values.

    This play has had workshops at Primary Stages, NYC and the Dramatists Guild Institute
  • Nowhere Else To Go But Out
    The play is a mystical romance. It is also a Playwrights First! winner (NYC) and Stanley Award finalist.

    Jessica has traveled from Chicago, Illinois to woodlands just outside of the city to commit suicide. She ingests a fair number of pills but it is not enough to kill her. She falls into a deep sleep under a tree but is awakened by a thunderstorm, the cold rain reviving her.

    ...
    The play is a mystical romance. It is also a Playwrights First! winner (NYC) and Stanley Award finalist.

    Jessica has traveled from Chicago, Illinois to woodlands just outside of the city to commit suicide. She ingests a fair number of pills but it is not enough to kill her. She falls into a deep sleep under a tree but is awakened by a thunderstorm, the cold rain reviving her.

    She sees a cabin through the rain that looks abandoned. She goes to it in the hopes of finding shelter for a brief respite. She knocks several times but no one answers. She enters. David, the cabin's inhabitant, seemingly appears out of nowhere and is angry that she has invaded his privacy.

    Throughout the course of the play, Jessica discovers that her protector is her jailor, unwilling to let her leave the cabin. As the play unfolds, he discovers he also is a prisoner of the cabin. David is an odd man who suffers memory lapses and is unable to recall events past 1934. The play twists and turns through emotional and romantic turmoil between the characters, ending on a surreal mystical note.
  • Ethereal Killer
    In this dark comedy, Midge Evans is about to have her first nightmare therapy session with bizarre Dr. Scott, who is in reality a psychopathic killer. (30 minutes)

    IAAM Productions independent film ("If Only We Were Normal") 2019.
    Audience Choice Winner with Shawnee Playhouse. Shawnee, Pa
    Off-Broadway Studio Theatre, IAAM Productions
    Winner One-Act Play Festival,...
    In this dark comedy, Midge Evans is about to have her first nightmare therapy session with bizarre Dr. Scott, who is in reality a psychopathic killer. (30 minutes)

    IAAM Productions independent film ("If Only We Were Normal") 2019.
    Audience Choice Winner with Shawnee Playhouse. Shawnee, Pa
    Off-Broadway Studio Theatre, IAAM Productions
    Winner One-Act Play Festival, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA

  • Shop Till You Drop
    A woman's descent into compulsive shopping and her struggle to return to sanity.

    Playwrights Choice Award, Edward Albee Play Contest in Valdez, Alaska
  • The Soda Can
    The Soda Can is a true incident involving two homeless men, one an emotionally unstable schizophrenic, the other a Vietnam vet who is a coke addict. They meet at LaGuardia Airport in the middle of the night and fight over the rightful ownership of a discarded soda can that ends in murder. (20 min)

    Produced by the Actors Institute, NYC
  • Shoes & Pudding
    SARAH is a woman in her 60s with a Multiple Sclerosis and is slated to move into a nursing home. She lives with her daughter LYNETTE who is going through a divorce. SARAH doesn’t want to move out of her home but she doesn’t want to be a burden to her daughter. Both women make life decisions based on the miscommunication between them. (10 min)

    Developed with Tina Howe at the Dramatists Guild Institute workshop.
  • Lotto & Raffles & Sweepstakes - Oh My!
    Mamie Fleischbottom is a million dollar sweepstakes winner - to her regret. (10 min)

    Developed with Tina Howe Dramatists Guild Institute workshop
  • Ethereal Killer
    Midge is about to have her 1st psychotherapy session with a psychopath, unbeknownst to her, making it her last psychotherapy session but the beginning of a beautiful working relationship of Murder Inc. (10 minutes)

    Festival award and production with Studio Players, Lexington, KY.
    Six Women Play Contest production.
  • The Counterfeit Dick
    Bernard Fiddlefeiffer is a whiney hypochondriac whose life is about to spin out of control. He is a hot 1930s writer of detective fiction who is the opposite of Dan Kulligan, the alter-ego dashing hero of his novels. Kulligan, very real to a devoted reading audience, becomes a little too real for Bernard, making an unwanted three-dimensional appearance in his life. (15 min)

    This play won...
    Bernard Fiddlefeiffer is a whiney hypochondriac whose life is about to spin out of control. He is a hot 1930s writer of detective fiction who is the opposite of Dan Kulligan, the alter-ego dashing hero of his novels. Kulligan, very real to a devoted reading audience, becomes a little too real for Bernard, making an unwanted three-dimensional appearance in his life. (15 min)

    This play won contest finalist with Shawnee Playhouse and was produced, winning Audience Favorite.
  • The Punch Bowl Bumpoff
    Written in the terse, clipped style of the old-time 1930s hack masters of mystery, The Punch Bowl Bumpoff is a farcical send-up of the dime detective novel. Our snoopy shamus, Slats Flannagan, has bent elbows with the likes of Sam Spade and Nick Charles at John’s Grill in San Francisco. He once shared an office with Philip Marlowe, who’s still tailing him for back rent.

    Slats is investigating...
    Written in the terse, clipped style of the old-time 1930s hack masters of mystery, The Punch Bowl Bumpoff is a farcical send-up of the dime detective novel. Our snoopy shamus, Slats Flannagan, has bent elbows with the likes of Sam Spade and Nick Charles at John’s Grill in San Francisco. He once shared an office with Philip Marlowe, who’s still tailing him for back rent.

    Slats is investigating the death of millionaire toy magnate Simoleans Van Rich who was murdered at the Got-It-All Country Club in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. On the ill-fated gala evening he was to receive the Prestigious Man Award he was found in the cocktail lounge drugged and drowned in the punch bowl, his head held under the floating fruit slices.

    Our sleuth sets out to solve a murder that takes him into a world of intrigues of the rich and powerful as well as connections to the Chinese syndicate involving opium smuggling and stolen imperial art treasures.

    Characters: 11. 7 men, 3 women, 1 either sex. One of the main characters is doubled which makes 10 actors.
    Running time: Two Acts. Approximately 1:20.
    Two sets.
  • An Incredible Journey to Chauyuan
    Half-Tibetan, half-Chinese Hsu comes of age in Communist China with all the prejudice surrounding Tibetans living in the People's Republic of China. Hsu's journey to Chauyuan to see his friend who has become a holy spirit is one of magical realism as he grows up and wiser. The play lends itself to fantasy and imaginative staging. (60 min)

    Published by Samuel French.
  • Last Ride on the Carousel
    John is a mentally delayed man who has decided to move from his home and establish an independent life for himself in the world. This isn't easy with an overprotective elderly mother who questions John's ability to do so and also fears living alone. Sensitive comedy-drama about the angst of growing old and youth's need to explore life.