Danielle Wirsansky

Danielle Wirsansky

Danielle Wirsansky is from Jacksonville, FL. She received a BA in Theatre and BA in English (Creative Writing) with a minor in History from Florida State University in Spring of 2016. Danielle enrolled in Florida State University’s History graduate program in Fall of 2016, majoring in Modern European History and minoring in Public History.
During her graduate studies, she has served as the...
Danielle Wirsansky is from Jacksonville, FL. She received a BA in Theatre and BA in English (Creative Writing) with a minor in History from Florida State University in Spring of 2016. Danielle enrolled in Florida State University’s History graduate program in Fall of 2016, majoring in Modern European History and minoring in Public History.
During her graduate studies, she has served as the Communications Officer for the History Graduate Student Association (2016-2018) and the FSU Campus Editor of Uloop News (2015-2018). She also founded and served as the President of White Mouse Theatre Productions, a theatre company for social change, with a particular focus on using theatre as a platform for public history (2016-2018).
Her plays, pieces of public history meant to teach audiences about history, have been performed both nationally and internationally, from Florida State University to the Boston Conservatory at Berklee to the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust NYC to the Stage Art School in Viborg, Denmark. More information on her work can be found at www.DanielleWirsansky.com.

Plays

  • Law Makers by Danielle Wirsansky
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 2 more
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    Keyword: Emmeline Pankhurst, Millicent Fawcett + 6 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, melodrama, political
    Keyword: Emmeline Pankhurst, Millicent Fawcett, based on a true story, World War I, feminism, suffrage, British history, women's right to vote
    Emmeline Pankhurst  was a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement who helped women win the right to vote. Millicent Garrett Fawcett was an English feminist, intellectual, political and union leader, and writer. She is primarily known for her work as a campaigner for women to have the vote.

    The two women headed different suffragette organizations and had very...
    Emmeline Pankhurst  was a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement who helped women win the right to vote. Millicent Garrett Fawcett was an English feminist, intellectual, political and union leader, and writer. She is primarily known for her work as a campaigner for women to have the vote.

    The two women headed different suffragette organizations and had very different tactics in trying to gain women the right to vote. They started off in the same organization but Millicent left and formed her own organization when Emmeline took over and began using militant tactics.

    This play is an imagined meeting between the two of them before they became more publicly ostracized.
  • Devil on the Wall by Danielle Wirsansky
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 3 more
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    Keyword: Holocaust, World War II + 6 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, drama, political, tragedy
    Keyword: Holocaust, World War II, History, based on a true story, mother and daughter, Hannah Szenes, Jewish, espionage
    Devil on the Wall is about Hannah Szenes, who was a real life spy for the British during WWII. This ten minute play
    gives a snap shot into one night of her life after she has been captured by Gestapo forces and depicts Hannah making the hardest choice of her life.
  • Infinity of Delight by Danielle Wirsansky
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: adventure, biography + 2 more
    Genre: adventure, biography, docudrama/historic, melodrama
    Infinity of Delight tells the story of Susan Travers and Colonel Marie Pierre Keonig during WWII. It highlights their whirlwind romance and explores the fragility of love and how love means different things to different people.
  • Heartbeats by Danielle Wirsansky
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: adventure, biography + 2 more
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    Keyword: World War II, Russian history + 7 more
    Genre: adventure, biography, docudrama/historic, melodrama
    Keyword: World War II, Russian history, based on a true story, Natalia Pehskova, Galya Tchaikovskaya, women soldiers, female soldier, LGBTQ, Lesbian
    Heartbeats is about the uncertainty women in combat during WWII felt and how war can provide moments and relationships of intimacy that otherwise would be impossible. It is a representation of a moment in the life of real life Soviet soldiers, Natalia Peshkova and Galya Tchaikovskaya, in the 1940s.
  • Mr. Yo Mama by Danielle Wirsansky
    Cast: 
    9–25
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    Genre: adventure, comedy + 5 more
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    Keyword: yo mama jokes, super hero plays + 1 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, dark comedy, farce, movement/physical, parody/spoof, satire
    Keyword: yo mama jokes, super hero plays, short parody
    A young child is being bullied relentlessly until a new kind of super hero... Mr. Yo Mama.... steps in to save the day. Mr. Yo Mama defends those in need with yo mama jokes, settling the age old dilemma: sticks and stones may break my bones or do words cut even deeper?
  • Tied to a Bugle: The WWII Memoirs of George Aigen by Danielle Wirsansky
    Cast: 
    6–12
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    Genre: adventure, biography + 4 more
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    Keyword: World War II, Dachau + 6 more
    Genre: adventure, biography, docudrama/historic, drama, movement/physical, political
    Keyword: World War II, Dachau, Holocaust, PTSD, military, war story, verbatim, Greek chorus
    This is a piece of verbatim theatre created from interviews with George Aigen, a WWII veteran who helped to liberate the concentration camp Dachau. It is written with his permission. This play starts with George's teenage recollections of WWII and then his accounts abroad in the army as an Engineer.
  • Every Rose by Danielle Wirsansky
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 2 more
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    Keyword: Eileen Nearne, espionage + 4 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, drama, tragedy
    Keyword: Eileen Nearne, espionage, spies, Torture, based on a true story, World War II
    A young woman is hauled to a French prison, tortured, interrogated, and accused of being a spy. It takes all of
    her wits to keep herself safe... as well as her secrets. Based on the real life story of Eileen Nearne, a spy for the British in WWII.
  • Million Dollar Wound by Danielle Wirsansky
    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: adventure, biography + 5 more
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    Keyword: Elsie Ott, World War II + 5 more
    Genre: adventure, biography, dark comedy, docudrama/historic, melodrama, musical, tragedy
    Keyword: Elsie Ott, World War II, medicine, PTSD, based on a true story, aviation, American history
    Million Dollar Wounds is about Elsie Ott, the nurse during WWII that was assigned to the first medical evacuation flight in history-- with only 24 hours notice, having never flown before, with no medical equipment or assistance, and patients with a motley variety of injuries, diseases, and mental illnesses. The play delves into how war can provide moments and relationships of intimacy and camaraderie between...
    Million Dollar Wounds is about Elsie Ott, the nurse during WWII that was assigned to the first medical evacuation flight in history-- with only 24 hours notice, having never flown before, with no medical equipment or assistance, and patients with a motley variety of injuries, diseases, and mental illnesses. The play delves into how war can provide moments and relationships of intimacy and camaraderie between people from all walks of life and how even in darkness, light and new life can be found. You can see a simple production of it at a festival at Florida State University (start at 45:52-52:50) here: https://youtu.be/Zb9uDgMAzdM
  • The Vulgarity of Grace by Danielle Wirsansky
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 2 more
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    Keyword: Gracia Mendes Nasi, based on a true story + 4 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, drama, period
    Keyword: Gracia Mendes Nasi, based on a true story, Portuguese, Jewish, feminism, History
    The Vulgarity of Grace is about Gracia Mendes Nasi of 1500s Europe. It has 2w/1m and runs about 20 minutes. The play showcases a pivotal moment of the Mendes sisters relationship where Reyna (Gracia's sister) discovers that her husband, after his death, has left control of his business to Gracia instead. Gracia was one of the first women in Europe to have a position of power, as a business woman, outside of a husband's grasp.
  • Shadow of Darkness by Danielle Wirsansky
    Cast: 
    16–30
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama + 5 more
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    Keyword: Holocaust education, Adapation + 3 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, fable/folktale, musical, period, political, tragedy
    Keyword: Holocaust education, Adapation, classical mythology, education, dark
    An adaptation of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, the musical follows the romantic relationship between two people living in Germany in 1942: Izaak, an up-and-coming German musician, and Eliora, a Jewish woman, who is living and working illegally after the passing of the Nuremberg Laws. When a miscommunication causes Eliora and the other Jewish women in their village to be imprisoned in Sobibor...
    An adaptation of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, the musical follows the romantic relationship between two people living in Germany in 1942: Izaak, an up-and-coming German musician, and Eliora, a Jewish woman, who is living and working illegally after the passing of the Nuremberg Laws. When a miscommunication causes Eliora and the other Jewish women in their village to be imprisoned in Sobibor concentration camp, Izaak must use his brother's ties to the Nazi party to find her, battling with his own morals in the process.
  • Alarm of the People by Danielle Wirsansky
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 6 more
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    Keyword: Famous Serial Killers, Marcel Petiot + 4 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, drama, horror, melodrama, mystery/thriller, political, tragedy
    Keyword: Famous Serial Killers, Marcel Petiot, World War II, psychological, Violent Femmes, based on a true story
    Alarm of the People is an imagined confrontation between real life serial killer, Marcel Petiot, and a young police officer. The two play a dangerous game of cat and mouse amidst carnage, each looking for answers from the other. Trying to pry secrets from each other, it quickly becomes very unclear just who the cat is and who is the mouse.