Grace McLeod

Grace McLeod is a queer playwright and screenwriter from New York City who is also proud to call Los Angeles home. Her play HERLAND received a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere in 2019 and her play CLOSING COSTS will receive its world premiere at Geffen Playhouse in 2027. As a playwright, Grace has had her work produced, developed, optioned, and/or commissioned by No Guarantees Productions, The Playwrights Realm, Ashland New Plays Festival, Goodman Theatre, IAMA Theatre Company, Chalk Repertory Theatre, Redtwist Theatre, MOXIE Theatre, Greenway Court Theatre, Greenhouse Theater Center, The 24 Hour Plays, and many more. On the film/TV/podcast side, Grace is currently a member of AGBO’s Storytellers Collective and has developed projects with companies including HappyBad...

Grace McLeod is a queer playwright and screenwriter from New York City who is also proud to call Los Angeles home. Her play HERLAND received a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere in 2019 and her play CLOSING COSTS will receive its world premiere at Geffen Playhouse in 2027. As a playwright, Grace has had her work produced, developed, optioned, and/or commissioned by No Guarantees Productions, The Playwrights Realm, Ashland New Plays Festival, Goodman Theatre, IAMA Theatre Company, Chalk Repertory Theatre, Redtwist Theatre, MOXIE Theatre, Greenway Court Theatre, Greenhouse Theater Center, The 24 Hour Plays, and many more. On the film/TV/podcast side, Grace is currently a member of AGBO’s Storytellers Collective and has developed projects with companies including HappyBad Bungalow, Mucho Mas Media, Picturestart, Hartbeat, and Temple Hill Entertainment. Her short film work has screened at festivals such as NewFest and the Tribeca Film Festival, and once across Times Square as part of the “Midnight Moment” series, the world’s largest, longest-running digital art exhibition. Grace is a graduate of the University of Chicago, where she was the recipient of the Olga and Paul Menn Foundation Prize for Playwriting. She is represented by Gersh and Artists First. www.gracemcleod.com

Scripts

Closing Costs

by Grace McLeod

Synopsis

Buying a house in Los Angeles these days is a joke. But buying a 3-bed 2-bath Spanish-style bungalow in Atwater Village is… a farce. CLOSING COSTS is a raucous send-up of the American dream, the Hollywood dream, and the real estate market in one of the most beautiful, expensive, and apocalyptic cities on earth. Let the bidding war begin.

Buying a house in Los Angeles these days is a joke. But buying a 3-bed 2-bath Spanish-style bungalow in Atwater Village is… a farce. CLOSING COSTS is a raucous send-up of the American dream, the Hollywood dream, and the real estate market in one of the most beautiful, expensive, and apocalyptic cities on earth. Let the bidding war begin.

TABOO!

by Grace McLeod

Synopsis

It’s Game Night on the Upper West Side! A close-knit group of "nice white parents" gathers for friendly competition and kid-free fun, but on the day their daughters draw their public school lottery numbers, game night gets a little... fraught. As the drinks flow and the Jenga blocks fall, their animal instincts take over. In an education system where the winners take all, losing is not an option.

It’s Game Night on the Upper West Side! A close-knit group of "nice white parents" gathers for friendly competition and kid-free fun, but on the day their daughters draw their public school lottery numbers, game night gets a little... fraught. As the drinks flow and the Jenga blocks fall, their animal instincts take over. In an education system where the winners take all, losing is not an option.

The Communist Revolution: A Ninth-Grade European History Project (There Will Be a Practical Demonstration)

by Grace McLeod

Synopsis

Furious at the state of the world (and at her venture capitalist dad), 15-year-old Sasha takes her history class project to the extreme by pitching a tent in her family's backyard and inviting her shy classmate Tommy to join her protest and start the Communist Revolution with her. Daughter vs. dad, tent vs. house, communism vs. capitalism: the ultimate showdown ensues in this dark comedy about privilege, power...

Furious at the state of the world (and at her venture capitalist dad), 15-year-old Sasha takes her history class project to the extreme by pitching a tent in her family's backyard and inviting her shy classmate Tommy to join her protest and start the Communist Revolution with her. Daughter vs. dad, tent vs. house, communism vs. capitalism: the ultimate showdown ensues in this dark comedy about privilege, power, and how the apple never falls far from the tree.

Herland

by Grace McLeod

Synopsis

After graduating from high school, Natalie gets a summer internship working for Jean, a recently-divorced woman in her 70s who has no plans to move into a typical retirement home. Natalie helps Jean and her two best friends design an alternative: a DIY utopia where they can live out the next chapter of their lives. They plot the future together inside Jean’s garage, where relics of Jean’s ex-husband (and his...

After graduating from high school, Natalie gets a summer internship working for Jean, a recently-divorced woman in her 70s who has no plans to move into a typical retirement home. Natalie helps Jean and her two best friends design an alternative: a DIY utopia where they can live out the next chapter of their lives. They plot the future together inside Jean’s garage, where relics of Jean’s ex-husband (and his locally famous Bruce Springsteen cover band) still linger. HERLAND is a play about women growing up, growing old, and rocking out to the beat of their own drums.

2007

by Grace McLeod

Synopsis

It’s February 2007 and Lucy’s world is falling apart around her. Her mom Eileen has just been diagnosed with breast cancer, high school isn't what she expected, she can’t ignore her growing feelings for her best friend Alison, and her idol -- a certain world-famous, blonde pop star -- is newly bald and undergoing a very public breakdown. 2007 is a queer coming-of-age comedy about mothers and daughters, what it...

It’s February 2007 and Lucy’s world is falling apart around her. Her mom Eileen has just been diagnosed with breast cancer, high school isn't what she expected, she can’t ignore her growing feelings for her best friend Alison, and her idol -- a certain world-famous, blonde pop star -- is newly bald and undergoing a very public breakdown. 2007 is a queer coming-of-age comedy about mothers and daughters, what it really means to be a "good" role model, and the crippling pressure to maintain our public selves in times of private crisis.

ZOOMPROMMM.mp4

by Grace McLeod

Synopsis

Annabelle and Max hate each other. But for the next hour, they have to create a video presentation on "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" for their final project of high school. It's May 2020, and the thin line between meaninglessness and meaning, living and surviving, and Zoom and real life is growing thinner by the second. Also, they have a Zoom Prom later. Ew. Tacky.

Annabelle and Max hate each other. But for the next hour, they have to create a video presentation on "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" for their final project of high school. It's May 2020, and the thin line between meaninglessness and meaning, living and surviving, and Zoom and real life is growing thinner by the second. Also, they have a Zoom Prom later. Ew. Tacky.

Scare Me

by Grace McLeod

Synopsis

When Alex gets hired at a Halloween pop-up store in Los Angeles, she's thrilled to start her gap year with her first real job. As she and her older, jaded co-workers scramble to meet their sales goal and push superhero capes and fake blood on strangers, they each struggle to distinguish the masks they wear from the masks they sell. SCARE ME is a dark comedy about the fear of being yourself, the desire to be...

When Alex gets hired at a Halloween pop-up store in Los Angeles, she's thrilled to start her gap year with her first real job. As she and her older, jaded co-workers scramble to meet their sales goal and push superhero capes and fake blood on strangers, they each struggle to distinguish the masks they wear from the masks they sell. SCARE ME is a dark comedy about the fear of being yourself, the desire to be somebody else, and the danger of getting attached to something that was always meant to be temporary.

you, too

by Grace McLeod

Synopsis

Kat and Sam are sisters. Sometimes best friends. Sometimes enemies. Sometimes acquaintances. Always sisters. “you, too” follows them from early childhood in the 70s through adulthood in the present, chronicling the specific frustrations and joys of sisterhood, aging, and navigating the relationship between our younger selves, older selves, and all the selves in the middle.

Kat and Sam are sisters. Sometimes best friends. Sometimes enemies. Sometimes acquaintances. Always sisters. “you, too” follows them from early childhood in the 70s through adulthood in the present, chronicling the specific frustrations and joys of sisterhood, aging, and navigating the relationship between our younger selves, older selves, and all the selves in the middle.

Harder, Faster

by Grace McLeod

Synopsis

Alone in her bedroom, a horny queer teenager journeys deep into her own personal dreamscape in search of satisfaction. A ten-minute play about having your First Orgasm.

Alone in her bedroom, a horny queer teenager journeys deep into her own personal dreamscape in search of satisfaction. A ten-minute play about having your First Orgasm.