Tyler Joseph Rossi

Tyler Joseph Rossi

Tyler Joseph Rossi is a Playwriting MFA Candidate at Catholic University of America. He is a Core member of the Lancaster Dramatists’ Platform and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Playwriting awards/honors include END OF THE LINE: A BONNIE AND CLYDE PLAY (Andrew W. Mellon Grant, SCARP Grant from Elizabethtown College), VERBOTEN (Kennedy Center Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop Semi-Finalist),...
Tyler Joseph Rossi is a Playwriting MFA Candidate at Catholic University of America. He is a Core member of the Lancaster Dramatists’ Platform and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Playwriting awards/honors include END OF THE LINE: A BONNIE AND CLYDE PLAY (Andrew W. Mellon Grant, SCARP Grant from Elizabethtown College), VERBOTEN (Kennedy Center Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop Semi-Finalist), The Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive (Invitee 2019, 2020), and Theatre Lab's Fair Play Initiative (Finalist).

Plays

  • Metrosexual Coalcracker by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: family drama, toxic families + 1 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: family drama, toxic families, Toxic Masculinity
    Metrosexual Coalcracker struggles with the reality of living with a toxic family in small town Pennsylvania. Moss is not out to his family and lives in plain sight with his husband, Link. Link comes home one night to find that Moss has been shot by his drunken, homophobic twin. Moss, unable to upset his family, will not seek medical attention and the young men's apartment becomes a revolving door of family...
    Metrosexual Coalcracker struggles with the reality of living with a toxic family in small town Pennsylvania. Moss is not out to his family and lives in plain sight with his husband, Link. Link comes home one night to find that Moss has been shot by his drunken, homophobic twin. Moss, unable to upset his family, will not seek medical attention and the young men's apartment becomes a revolving door of family members, distant friends, and unconcerned parties. Moss must decide what he is willing to take - other than bullets, of course.
  • Verboten by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 9
    ·
    Cast: 
    9
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: World War II, swing music + 3 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, period, tragedy
    Keyword: World War II, swing music, swing dance, nazi germany, Youth Rebellion
    Hamburg, Germany, 1936. The Nazis have banned swing music. A group called the Swing Youth danced to swing and jazz as a form of resistance.

    VERBOTEN follows a group of friends, their struggle to survive, and their choice to resist in the heart of pre-war Germany.
  • What Melvin Bought for This Week's Game Night by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 7
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
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    Keyword: Ouija board, god + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: Ouija board, god, comedy, dark comedy
    It's time for the weekly game night at Melvin and Quincy's apartment. This week, it's Melvin's choice and he decides to order a Ouija Board off Amazon. What could possibly go wrong?
  • Trojan Horse by Ikea by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: fable/folktale
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    Keyword: Trojan Horse, Trojan War + 3 more
    Genre: fable/folktale
    Keyword: Trojan Horse, Trojan War, grief, loss, Athena
    Epeius, carpenter of the Trojan Horse, battles a table from Ikea, the goddess Athena, and grief.
  • After The Climb (a ten minute Greek Tragedy) by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale + 2 more
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    Keyword: Ancient Greek Myth, orpheus and eurydice + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale, musical, tragedy
    Keyword: Ancient Greek Myth, orpheus and eurydice, folk music, tragedy
    the aftermath of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set just past the Rainbow Valley of Mount Everest.
  • End of the Line: a Bonnie and Clyde Play by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: bonnie and clyde, 1930s + 3 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, tragedy
    Keyword: bonnie and clyde, 1930s, crime, Clyde Barrow, full length
    The Great Depression held an America whose "Land of Opportunity" felt barren. It was an America of broken promises. It was here where our would-be bank robbers grew up -- where Bonnie met Clyde. It was a hard scrabble life, one that they desperately wished to out-drive. By exploring the humans amidst their legend, End of the Line: a Bonnie and Clyde Play seeks to tell, in a new light, the gritty story of the notorious outlaws.
  • Drowners by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    11
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: wreckers, shipwreck + 6 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, period, tragedy
    Keyword: wreckers, shipwreck, feud, Hatfields and McCoys, cornwall, cornish, curses, family
    Shipwrecking. Curses. Family feuds.

    These are rough waters. Rougher still are the people in them.
  • Lucrezia/Cesare by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    10
    ·
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 4 more
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    Keyword: Borgia, Papacy + 2 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, drama, faith-based, movement/physical, tragedy
    Keyword: Borgia, Papacy, renaissance, drama
    Their father is Pope of Rome in Renaissance Europe.
    Cesare claws for something more than a Cardinal's hat. Ambition drives him onward.
    Lucrezia strives to be something more than a bargaining chip for her father. She longs to be free.
  • Penthesilea: The Woman Who Killed Achilles by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    9
    ·
    Genre: adventure, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: greek theatre, Trojan War + 3 more
    Genre: adventure, drama, movement/physical, tragedy
    Keyword: greek theatre, Trojan War, Greek Gods, war, doubling
    Achilles has killed Hector and all of Troy mourns. Elsewhere, The Queen of the Amazons must atone for the death of her sister. As the daughter of Ares, where else should she look for it than on the battlefield?

    It's time to go back to Troy. Will you join me?
  • trojan car bomb by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    12–19
    ·
    Genre: drama, period + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: the Troubles, Irish - British Troubles + 2 more
    Genre: drama, period, tragedy
    Keyword: the Troubles, Irish - British Troubles, inspired by Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida
    TROJAN CAR BOMB focuses on the intimacies of war and family in the lens of violence, religion, and nationality as seen in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida – a work that resonated with me; it showed war as something that lives in perpetuity and as something no one truly can or will win. My hope is that the spirit of that work is in the foundation of TROJAN CAR BOMB and may further that conversation of how we...
    TROJAN CAR BOMB focuses on the intimacies of war and family in the lens of violence, religion, and nationality as seen in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida – a work that resonated with me; it showed war as something that lives in perpetuity and as something no one truly can or will win. My hope is that the spirit of that work is in the foundation of TROJAN CAR BOMB and may further that conversation of how we approach and live in times of conflict.
  • Dead Men Don't Sing by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Cast: 
    7–9
    ·
    Genre: adventure, biography + 5 more
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    Keyword: anne bonny, mary read + 8 more
    Genre: adventure, biography, docudrama/historic, drama, movement/physical, period, tragedy
    Keyword: anne bonny, mary read, jack rackham, Blackbeard, pirate, 1700s, adventure, imaginative, ensemble, play with music
    A swashbuckling, sapphic love story, Dead Men Don't Sing follows a pirate's life for notorious Anne Bonny as she takes to the high seas on a new adventure. But will matters of the heart distract her from keeping the crew afloat?

    Blackbeard may be dead, but there's still shanties to be sung.
  • Queen Of by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    10
    ·
    Genre: adventure, docudrama/historic + 2 more
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    Keyword: Grace O'Malley, Mary Queen of Scots + 6 more
    Genre: adventure, docudrama/historic, drama, tragedy
    Keyword: Grace O'Malley, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, renaissance, power, love, doubling, accents
    Follow Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, and Grace O'Malley as they struggle with and against one another to maintain power within their own courts.

    This play is currently under construction. Check back later!
  • Pyre. by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: suspense, Scottish + 3 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, horror, mystery/thriller, period, tragedy
    Keyword: suspense, Scottish, witches, period, waulking
    Scotland, 1616. King James is King of Scotland and England. "Witches" burn under his rule - victims of public hysteria. Rather than fall victim, herself, a woman barters with a demon for power and security in this Renaissance thriller.

    *this is an early draft
    **this play was written as part of The Dramatists Guild of America's End of Play Initiative (2022)
  • Study of a Father, 1564. by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Painting, artist + 3 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, faith-based, period
    Keyword: Painting, artist, English Renaissance, father/daughter relationship, a play for two actors
    A woman rediscovers her father in this two person play about struggles of faith, family, and painting set during the English Renaissance.
  • Crucifixation by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama, faith-based
    Genre: drama, faith-based
    Tech rehearsal for an easter pageant gets tense in Alabama.

    *very early draft, looking for development opportunities
  • The Devil Pours It Steady by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama, period + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: family drama, secrets + 3 more
    Genre: drama, period, tragedy
    Keyword: family drama, secrets, prohibition, bootlegging, Character Driven
    Bootlegging. Legacy. Secrets. Spend a day with the Price family and watch it all unravel.
  • Laurel and Hardy and Chaplin by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: laurel and hardy, charlie chaplin + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, movement/physical
    Keyword: laurel and hardy, charlie chaplin, chaplin, comedy, drama, vaudeville, movement
    A "what if" play. What if Laurel, Hardy, and Chaplin met in a recently busted speakeasy? What if we were able to see the men behind their movies? What if we learned they weren't as happy as their on-screen personas?

    *very early draft, looking for development opportunities.

  • Prometheus Burning: an adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    1–3
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Frankenstein, movement
    Genre: adaptation, drama, horror, melodrama
    Keyword: Frankenstein, movement
    This is a one-person adaptation of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, however, it could also be done with two or three actors. Experimentation is highly encouraged. Stage directions reflect the first production. You can follow them or use them as a springboard for your own theatrical conventions.
  • Looking for Hylas (a 6-minute play) by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: adaptation
    ·
    Keyword: Greek mythology, heracles + 1 more
    Genre: adaptation
    Keyword: Greek mythology, heracles, Hercules
    A modern adaptation of the Heracles and Hylas myth set at a seaside bar.
  • "When Lucifer Met Hanuman" or "A Rebirth Play" by Tyler Joseph Rossi
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, faith-based + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: pluralism, rebirth + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, faith-based, movement/physical
    Keyword: pluralism, rebirth, devil, lucifer, hanuman, reincarnation, forgiveness and redemption
    At some point between death and rebirth, time stops.

    Lucifer is left to question who he is, how he got here, why he's here in the first place. Thankfully, he has Hanuman to help him out.