Nancy Temple

Nancy Temple

Nancy Temple has been involved in the arts all her life, as a tapestry weaver, design teacher and space planner. She has had many short plays performed at festivals, including Image Theater’s Fem Noire Festival for women playwrights and Playwright Platform Festival—where “Dog Park Afternoon” won Best Play award. Other plays which have been selected for various theater festivals include "Tiger Lilies,...
Nancy Temple has been involved in the arts all her life, as a tapestry weaver, design teacher and space planner. She has had many short plays performed at festivals, including Image Theater’s Fem Noire Festival for women playwrights and Playwright Platform Festival—where “Dog Park Afternoon” won Best Play award. Other plays which have been selected for various theater festivals include "Tiger Lilies," "Call Me Jess," "The Ties that Bind," and "Inked!" "Frank and Rachel" has been selected for almost a dozen different festivals. She has also written full length plays. "The Caregivers" is published in the ARTemis Wisdom Anthology, and it received a staged reading by the Actors Studio of Newburyport. Her comedic play for high-school or college theater groups, "Victoria for President! 1987" has been published by Next Stage Press. Nancy received her MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University in 2021.

Plays

  • A Letter by Nancy Temple
    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: family, a mother's love + 7 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: family, a mother's love, adoption, A Family drama, all female cast, All female cast by female playwright, issues of color, character of color, racial discrimination
    “The Letter” explores the relationship between May, a white single mother, and her fifteen-year-old, dark-skinned daughter Jen, adopted from South India, with whom she has a tense relationship. May’s sister Su brings her a letter from Chuck, the son May gave up for adoption at birth. When May tells Jen about Chuck, Jen feels threatened by the prospect of competition for May’s love. She tests May by claiming to...
    “The Letter” explores the relationship between May, a white single mother, and her fifteen-year-old, dark-skinned daughter Jen, adopted from South India, with whom she has a tense relationship. May’s sister Su brings her a letter from Chuck, the son May gave up for adoption at birth. When May tells Jen about Chuck, Jen feels threatened by the prospect of competition for May’s love. She tests May by claiming to be pregnant; May reacts with anger. A physical struggle ensues, and harsh words are spoken. Jen runs away from home. Jen admits to her friend Lucy that she isn’t really pregnant. Lucy helps May understand that Jen fears her mother will abandon her for Chuck. May then realizes she must give up her hope of reuniting with her biological son in order to save her relationship with her adopted daughter.
  • Victoria for President! 1872 by Nancy Temple
    Cast: 
    15–30
    ·
    Genre: biography, comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: high school, college + 8 more
    Genre: biography, comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, political, young audiences
    Keyword: high school, college, biographical drama, American history, women in politics, Victoria Woodhull, historical comedy, women's issues, large cast, large female cast
    This comedic play highlights the dramatic moments of a singular life. Victoria Woodhull, a believer in spiritualism, free love, suffrage, and labor rights, was the first woman to run for President, in 1872. She was also the first woman to address Congress, to open, with her sister Tennessee, the first brokerage firm in New York, the first to publish a weekly paper. She was variously considered the devil...
    This comedic play highlights the dramatic moments of a singular life. Victoria Woodhull, a believer in spiritualism, free love, suffrage, and labor rights, was the first woman to run for President, in 1872. She was also the first woman to address Congress, to open, with her sister Tennessee, the first brokerage firm in New York, the first to publish a weekly paper. She was variously considered the devil incarnate and the people’s savior. Kate, a high school student, is doing a history project about Victoria Woodhull. Her friend Leah visits, bringing a Ouija board, and together they summon the spirit of Victoria from the past.
  • Frank and Rachel by Nancy Temple
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: drama, strangers meeting + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: drama, strangers meeting, dreams unfulfilled, Hope
    Two strangers meet at a bus stop outside a Walmart. A conversation ensues, in which Rachel
    complains of being stifled by her husband Rob’s rules and Frank describes his gambling
    addiction. They reveal their hopes of escape and discover they share dreams of travel to India.
    Each encourages the other to break free of the obstacles they face. There is first conflict, then
    harmony. In...
    Two strangers meet at a bus stop outside a Walmart. A conversation ensues, in which Rachel
    complains of being stifled by her husband Rob’s rules and Frank describes his gambling
    addiction. They reveal their hopes of escape and discover they share dreams of travel to India.
    Each encourages the other to break free of the obstacles they face. There is first conflict, then
    harmony. In the end they part, Rachel to return home to Rob, perhaps to announce her trip to
    India, while Frank remains at the bus stop
  • The Caregivers by Nancy Temple
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: caregiving, betrayal + 3 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: caregiving, betrayal, drama, women, elder abuse

    “The Caregivers” focuses on the tangled relationships between three women: Ruth (80s), mother of Louise (60s) and Patti (50s). The play is about how all of these women manipulate and betray one another in various ways, in order to serve their own interests, and about what and how all of them suffer as a result. It is a play about unacknowledged limitations, meanness, compromise, incompetence—but also...

    “The Caregivers” focuses on the tangled relationships between three women: Ruth (80s), mother of Louise (60s) and Patti (50s). The play is about how all of these women manipulate and betray one another in various ways, in order to serve their own interests, and about what and how all of them suffer as a result. It is a play about unacknowledged limitations, meanness, compromise, incompetence—but also about vulnerability and the need for love—and about what happens when these different impulses and characters, with different agendas, collide.
  • Ties That Bind by Nancy Temple
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: mother and daughter, mother + 7 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: mother and daughter, mother, daughters, adoption, family, female characters, female characters by female playwright, a mother's love, secrets and lies
    Carol and her daughter Kim meet to discuss Kim's upcoming wedding. A furious Kim reveals that she has just learned that she is adopted and demands to know why Carol has always hidden this from her. Carol reluctantly reveals that Kim was born in prison. Kim later admits to secrets of her own. Mother and daughter must come to terms with painful revelations in order to reconcile.
  • Dog Park Afternoon by Nancy Temple
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    ·
    Keyword: romantic comedy, dogs + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: romantic comedy, dogs, high school
    Carla and Joe, both twenty-somethings, meet at a dog park; their dogs are off stage. At first friendly, they both learn that there is something about the other’s dog that has created a problem in their life. Joe’s dog has been a pest at Carla’s bakery, whereas Carla’s dog has been yapping in the apartment building they all share. They quarrel. Their dogs, however, are having a good time. Carla admits her...
    Carla and Joe, both twenty-somethings, meet at a dog park; their dogs are off stage. At first friendly, they both learn that there is something about the other’s dog that has created a problem in their life. Joe’s dog has been a pest at Carla’s bakery, whereas Carla’s dog has been yapping in the apartment building they all share. They quarrel. Their dogs, however, are having a good time. Carla admits her dog needs therapy, and Joe has an idea for Carla’s bakery to make dog cupcakes. They reconcile and make a date as Carla exits.