Kirsten Greenidge

Kirsten Greenidge

Playwright Laureate of Boston, Kirsten's plays include COMMONGROUND: REVISITED, OUR DAUGHTERS, LIKE PILLARS, LITTLE ROW BOAT; OR, CONJECTURE, THE GREATER GOOD, ZENITH, BALTIMORE, MILK LIKE SUGAR, THE LUCK OF THE IRISH, SANS-CULOTTES IN THE PROMISED LAND, and BOSSA NOVA. Her work most of explores race, gender, class, and how these intersect in twentieth and twenty first century American society. Kirsten...
Playwright Laureate of Boston, Kirsten's plays include COMMONGROUND: REVISITED, OUR DAUGHTERS, LIKE PILLARS, LITTLE ROW BOAT; OR, CONJECTURE, THE GREATER GOOD, ZENITH, BALTIMORE, MILK LIKE SUGAR, THE LUCK OF THE IRISH, SANS-CULOTTES IN THE PROMISED LAND, and BOSSA NOVA. Her work most of explores race, gender, class, and how these intersect in twentieth and twenty first century American society. Kirsten has enjoyed development experiences at the Family Residency at Space at Ryder Farm, Huntington Summer Playwrights Workshop, the O'Neill, Bay Area Playwrights, among others. Her work has been produced at MetroStage Company, La Jolla Playhouse, the Kennedy Center, LTC3 (Lincoln Center 3), Playwrights Horizons, The Huntington Theatre Company, Company One Theatre, Mosaic Theatre, Humana Festival/Actor's Theatre Of Louisville, and Yale Repertory Theatre. She is the proud recipient of an Obie Award (The Luck of the Irish), San Diego Critics Award, two Independent Reviewers of New England Awards, two Edgerton Awards, a former National Endowment for the Arts Residency Grant to work with Woolly Mammoth Theatre, a Lucille Lortel nomination recipient, and a past KC/ACTF Kennedy Center Lorraine Hansberry Award winner. Kirsten is currently working on a micro-commission of her play MATILDE: A FABLE, as well as MORNING, NOON, AND NIGHT (Company One Theatre Spring 2024), ONE PENNY DOWN, commissioned by Writer's Theatre of Chicago, and a musical adaptation of journalist Lauren Sandler's THIS IS ALL I GOT. She is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Boston University where she overseas the School of Theatre's Playwrighting track of study for undergraduates, is Chair of Theatre Arts, co-Chair of Performance, and School of Theatre Director-Elect. She is also a very proud recipient of a 2023 Lily Award.

Plays

  • MORNING, NOON, AND NIGHT by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama, fantasy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Post-pandemic, Mental Health + 3 more
    Genre: drama, fantasy, science fiction
    Keyword: Post-pandemic, Mental Health, mothers & daughters, loneliness and isolation, black female lead
    Mia just wants her daughter to listen without talking back. Dailyn just wants her mom to quit being so overbearing. And they both just want everything to be perfect for when older sister Alex comes home for her birthday. But when a mysterious visitor from a digital dimension arrives on Mia’s doorstep, the very concepts of home and perfection are challenged.
    Reality and social media blur together in the...
    Mia just wants her daughter to listen without talking back. Dailyn just wants her mom to quit being so overbearing. And they both just want everything to be perfect for when older sister Alex comes home for her birthday. But when a mysterious visitor from a digital dimension arrives on Mia’s doorstep, the very concepts of home and perfection are challenged.
    Reality and social media blur together in the newest play from Boston’s own master playwright Kirsten Greenidge. An eccentric reflection of post-pandemic life, Morning, Noon, and Night navigates familial reckoning, digital surveillance, and the ways we can love each other after three long and traumatic years.
  • The Anonymous Lover (Adaptation of the Opera by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de St. Georges) by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    6–20
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, melodrama + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de St. Georges + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, melodrama, opera, period, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de St. Georges, black opera, black female lead
    Written in 1780 by the virtuoso Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the chamber opera The Anonymous Lover tells the story of Léontine, a wealthy young widow disenchanted with the notion of love, who starts receiving letters from an anonymous admirer. In this joyful new co-production by Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Philadelphia, Bologne’s stirring music is complemented by a fresh book adaptation from the...
    Written in 1780 by the virtuoso Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the chamber opera The Anonymous Lover tells the story of Léontine, a wealthy young widow disenchanted with the notion of love, who starts receiving letters from an anonymous admirer. In this joyful new co-production by Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Philadelphia, Bologne’s stirring music is complemented by a fresh book adaptation from the pen of Obie Award-winning Boston playwright Kirsten Greenidge, mixing English dialogue with the original French singing. Don’t miss an evening of lighthearted mishaps, heartfelt melodies, and endearing characters that will inspire you to root for true love!
  • ONE PENNY DOWN by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    8–12
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: Anna Karennina, black motherhood + 4 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, experimental, movement/physical, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: Anna Karennina, black motherhood, daughters, adapation, promenade theater, devised scenes
    Part adaptation part inspiration, One Penny Down draws from Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in a lyrical revisting of this work's key themes.

    In THIS rendition, we follow new mom Summer as she contemplates life and new love around the time of her first Mother's Day. But there's also Summer's fascination with her husband's family. And also Summer's estrangement...
    Part adaptation part inspiration, One Penny Down draws from Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in a lyrical revisting of this work's key themes.

    In THIS rendition, we follow new mom Summer as she contemplates life and new love around the time of her first Mother's Day. But there's also Summer's fascination with her husband's family. And also Summer's estrangement from her own family. And also the mall and one June night when all that Summer holds close comes into even closer focus.
  • Common Ground: Revisted by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    12–15
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, period
    ·
    Keyword: Boston Bussing, Common Ground + 5 more
    Genre: adaptation, period
    Keyword: Boston Bussing, Common Ground, American race relations and racism, 1970s America, Boston, School Integration, Black civil rights
    This riveting and intricately woven world premiere play brings Boston’s history to life in the 1960s and 70s, culminating in three families’ experiences in court-mandated busing. Diverse in both race and class, what can these families’ experiences tell us about our own time? Especially when Boston Public Schools are more segregated in 2021 than they were in 1974. Common Ground Revisited is inspired by Anthony...
    This riveting and intricately woven world premiere play brings Boston’s history to life in the 1960s and 70s, culminating in three families’ experiences in court-mandated busing. Diverse in both race and class, what can these families’ experiences tell us about our own time? Especially when Boston Public Schools are more segregated in 2021 than they were in 1974. Common Ground Revisited is inspired by Anthony Lukas’ landmark Pulitzer Prize winning book, which The New York Times praises as an “epic of American city life.” Developed with ArtsEmerson, this unique work comes from Obie Award winners Melia Bensussen and Kirsten Greenidge, reteaming for the first time since their acclaimed Huntington production of Luck of the Irish.
  • OUR DAUGHTERS, LIKE PILLARS by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: African American Female Artists, black female roles + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: African American Female Artists, black female roles, black female lead, A Family Drama-Comedy
    Lavinia is bringing her sisters and mother on a much-needed family vacation. She has planned the week to the smallest detail – antiquing in the afternoons, grilled steaks for dinner, absolutely no cellphones allowed – and if Lavinia gets her way, they will stay forever. What will her sisters have to say?
  • BEACON by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    9
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: restaurant, older female leads + 1 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: restaurant, older female leads, Black stories
    Excecutive chef and culinary visionary Virginia Halloway has finally opened her dream restaurant in her dream location— the very neighborhood where she and childhood friend Shannon overcame hardship years ago. But not everyone is pleased by Virginia’s good fortune, and the eatery’s presence, once a symbol of local-girl-makes-good now promises something that is anything but.
  • Feeding Beatrice: A Gothic Tale by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama
    ·
    Keyword: Black-magic realism, New England Gothic + 3 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama
    Keyword: Black-magic realism, New England Gothic, New England Black Characters, ghost story, suburban ghost story
    It starts with the sound of a spoon scraping against glass and the wet noise of lips smacking together. June and Lurie have a haunting new houseguest – and she’s ravenously hungry. They do their best to keep her fed and happy, but Beatrice always demands more. As she burrows deeper and deeper into their lives, the couple faces a horrific question: what will it cost to exorcise Beatrice forever?
  • Little Row Boat, or, Conjecture by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: American history
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, experimental
    Keyword: American history
    As the French Revolution brews outside, teenage slave Sally Hemings gets her first taste of freedom while serving in Thomas Jefferson’s Paris home. Inside, she becomes involved in one of the most speculated about and scandalous relationships in American history. With verve, humor, and music, playwright Kirsten Greenidge imagines how events unfolded in the Jefferson household for the family and “servants” alike...
    As the French Revolution brews outside, teenage slave Sally Hemings gets her first taste of freedom while serving in Thomas Jefferson’s Paris home. Inside, she becomes involved in one of the most speculated about and scandalous relationships in American history. With verve, humor, and music, playwright Kirsten Greenidge imagines how events unfolded in the Jefferson household for the family and “servants” alike. Little Row Boat is a visceral and intricate story of convictions, contradictions, and sacrifice in the pursuit of liberty.
  • The Greater Good by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    9–13
    ·
    Genre: drama, experimental + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: American education, contemporary social issues + 1 more
    Genre: drama, experimental, immersive
    Keyword: American education, contemporary social issues, Black female protagonist
    Welcome to Gleason Street—where the teachers are underpaid, the head of school is overwhelmed, and we do NOT talk about that thing that happened at the last parents council meeting (so don’t bother asking about it).

    As the audience tours the struggling elementary school, each classroom explored and each encounter witnessed could upend our assumptions about the ways we educate, govern, and...
    Welcome to Gleason Street—where the teachers are underpaid, the head of school is overwhelmed, and we do NOT talk about that thing that happened at the last parents council meeting (so don’t bother asking about it).

    As the audience tours the struggling elementary school, each classroom explored and each encounter witnessed could upend our assumptions about the ways we educate, govern, and collectively strive toward the greater good. Equal parts playful and provoking, Obie Award winner Kirsten Greenidge’s Greater Good is a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience.
  • ZENITH by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    6–9
    ·
    Genre: drama, tragedy
    ·
    Keyword: motherhood
    Genre: drama, tragedy
    Keyword: motherhood
    It seems that hardly a day goes by that the media doesn’t confront us with yet another unspeakable act. Kirsten Greenidge’s Zenith teases out the complex and interwoven threads of one life that ends shockingly. Daring in structure and rich in detail, this play makes us question whether we can ever truly fathom another human being.
  • Desert In (conceived: christopher oscar pena/Joy Kecken Ellen Reid, with Nathalie Joachim, Vijay Iyer, A. Rey Pamatmat, Emma O'Halloran, RyanHaddad, Wang Lu,Shelley Washington, Quentin Ngyuyen-Duy, Nico Muhly, Jesse Sanchez, Michael Abels, Roxie Perkins by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    12–20
    ·
    Genre: experimental, opera
    ·
    Keyword: love, queer love + 2 more
    Genre: experimental, opera
    Keyword: love, queer love, opera, virtual opera
    Lost souls are found, love is rekindled, and secrets are exposed at a mysterious motor lodge in the American West. Created by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid, playwright christopher oscar peña, and director James Darrah, desert in is a groundbreaking, new eight-part miniseries that reveals a supernatural story of love, loss, and the price of memories.
  • Baltimore by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    9–12
    ·
    Genre: drama, political + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: college, race relations + 3 more
    Genre: drama, political, young audiences
    Keyword: college, race relations, multi-racial, black female lead, American race relations and racism
    When a racially-charged incident divides her first-year students, reluctant resident advisor Shelby finds herself in the middle of a conversation she does not want to have. As pressure to address the controversy mounts from residents, the new dean, and even her best friend, Shelby must decide if she will enter the fray or watch her community come apart at the seams. Sharp, funny, and searing, Baltimore is a...
    When a racially-charged incident divides her first-year students, reluctant resident advisor Shelby finds herself in the middle of a conversation she does not want to have. As pressure to address the controversy mounts from residents, the new dean, and even her best friend, Shelby must decide if she will enter the fray or watch her community come apart at the seams. Sharp, funny, and searing, Baltimore is a timely drama about racism on college campuses.
  • The Luck of the Irish by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: drama, period
    ·
    Keyword: american race relations, Black period play + 4 more
    Genre: drama, period
    Keyword: american race relations, Black period play, 1950's Boston, Boston, race and real estate, ghost buying
    When Hannah and her sister Nissa invite a long time friend of the family’s to a memorial picnic for their grandmother, they learn that the deed to the house their family has called home for decades is being mysteriously “reclaimed.” The news forces Hannah into a tailspin as she wrestles with her relationship with the town she’s called home. Interlaced with Hannah’s struggles are glimpses of the past when the...
    When Hannah and her sister Nissa invite a long time friend of the family’s to a memorial picnic for their grandmother, they learn that the deed to the house their family has called home for decades is being mysteriously “reclaimed.” The news forces Hannah into a tailspin as she wrestles with her relationship with the town she’s called home. Interlaced with Hannah’s struggles are glimpses of the past when the deal that procured their home came to fruition.
  • Milk Like Sugar by Kirsten Greenidge
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: friendship
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: friendship
    It is Annie Desmond’s sixteenth birthday and her friends have decided to help her celebrate in style, complete with a brand new tattoo. Before her special night is over, however, Annie and her friends enter into a life altering pact. When Annie tries to make good on her promise to her friends, she is forced to take a good look at the world that surrounds her. She befriends Malik, who promises a bright future,...
    It is Annie Desmond’s sixteenth birthday and her friends have decided to help her celebrate in style, complete with a brand new tattoo. Before her special night is over, however, Annie and her friends enter into a life altering pact. When Annie tries to make good on her promise to her friends, she is forced to take a good look at the world that surrounds her. She befriends Malik, who promises a bright future, and Keera, whose evangelical leanings inspire Annie in a way her young parents have not been able to do. In the end Annie’s choices propel her onto an irreversible path in this story that combines wit, poetry, and hope. (5W 2M)