TyLie Shider

TyLie Shider is an American writer and the inaugural playwright in residence at ArtYard. A 2022-23 McKnight Fellow in Playwriting at the Playwrights' Center (PWC), he is a recipient of Premiere Stages' Liberty Live commission, two consecutive Jerome Fellowships (PWC), and an I Am Soul playwright in residence at the National Black Theatre (NBT).

Recent projects include, the fall 2022 NJ premiere of Certain Aspects of Conflict in the Negro Family at Premiere Stages, The Gospel Woman (NBT), Whittier (PWC), and his filmmaking debut Sign O' the Times. Screenwriting credits include: Truant. He holds a BA in Journalism from Delaware State University and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU. A proud member of the Dramatist Guild, he is currently a Professor of Playwriting at Augsburg University...

TyLie Shider is an American writer and the inaugural playwright in residence at ArtYard. A 2022-23 McKnight Fellow in Playwriting at the Playwrights' Center (PWC), he is a recipient of Premiere Stages' Liberty Live commission, two consecutive Jerome Fellowships (PWC), and an I Am Soul playwright in residence at the National Black Theatre (NBT).

Recent projects include, the fall 2022 NJ premiere of Certain Aspects of Conflict in the Negro Family at Premiere Stages, The Gospel Woman (NBT), Whittier (PWC), and his filmmaking debut Sign O' the Times. Screenwriting credits include: Truant. He holds a BA in Journalism from Delaware State University and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU. A proud member of the Dramatist Guild, he is currently a Professor of Playwriting at Augsburg University, and a staff writer for Minnesota Playlist.

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Scripts

Lift Every Voice: A Letter to the Editor

by TyLie Shider

Cast Size
3
Genre
docudrama/historic

The story centers on Junebug, a 12-year-old boy in the 1960’s South, who learns of James Meredith’s attempt to enroll as the first African American at the University of Mississippi. When the editor of “The Oxford Eagle,” a local newspaper, expresses her negative opinions on integration, Junebug takes matters into his own hands and confronts these views, speaking out for equality and inclusion.

This multimedia...

The story centers on Junebug, a 12-year-old boy in the 1960’s South, who learns of James Meredith’s attempt to enroll as the first African American at the University of Mississippi. When the editor of “The Oxford Eagle,” a local newspaper, expresses her negative opinions on integration, Junebug takes matters into his own hands and confronts these views, speaking out for equality and inclusion.

This multimedia piece celebrates the courage and resilience of everyday Americans during the Civil Rights Movement.

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Whittier

by TyLie Shider

Cast Size
8
Genre
docudrama/historic,
drama,
political

Whittier is a contemporary docudrama following a diverse community of neighbors quarantined in Whittier, Minneapolis, days after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.

From TyLie: “This multimedia docudrama is inspired by the Minneapolis-based graffiti, lawn signs, and murals created in protest of Floyd’s murder. The piece is adapted from focus groups, interviews, and small talks that I conducted with...

Whittier is a contemporary docudrama following a diverse community of neighbors quarantined in Whittier, Minneapolis, days after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.

From TyLie: “This multimedia docudrama is inspired by the Minneapolis-based graffiti, lawn signs, and murals created in protest of Floyd’s murder. The piece is adapted from focus groups, interviews, and small talks that I conducted with neighbors, small business owners, and community leaders of faith, during the 2020 uprisings in my neighborhood. Essentially it is an ensemble drama about a community connected by tragedy.”

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Shoptalk

by TyLie Shider

5
Cast Size
3
Genre
comedy,
drama,
faith-based

For Shine, a routine trip to the barbershop becomes a comic, but vivid, portrait of what happens to the feelings society has not given us permission to feel out loud.

For Shine, a routine trip to the barbershop becomes a comic, but vivid, portrait of what happens to the feelings society has not given us permission to feel out loud.

Bastard

by TyLie Shider

3
Cast Size
4
Genre
drama,
period

It is 1965. Ishmael, a nomadic guitarist, is incarcerated for vagrancy. To make parole he needs a residence. When he returns home to bury his father on a 24 hour furlough, he has until midnight to solicit the support of his estranged family and reclaim his inheritance.

It is 1965. Ishmael, a nomadic guitarist, is incarcerated for vagrancy. To make parole he needs a residence. When he returns home to bury his father on a 24 hour furlough, he has until midnight to solicit the support of his estranged family and reclaim his inheritance.

The Temple

by TyLie Shider

1
Cast Size
3
Genre
drama,
faith-based,
tragedy,
verse

In the house of the bloodguilty, in the wake of a recent murder, Dinah, the curious daughter of devout parents, conjures a vexed ghost who begs honor for the shame his murder engenders in heaven; but when her mother senses him, she urges Dinah to defend the family to ensure the release of her father from a system that echoes slavery. The allegorical drama examines familial and romantic soul ties to interrogate...

In the house of the bloodguilty, in the wake of a recent murder, Dinah, the curious daughter of devout parents, conjures a vexed ghost who begs honor for the shame his murder engenders in heaven; but when her mother senses him, she urges Dinah to defend the family to ensure the release of her father from a system that echoes slavery. The allegorical drama examines familial and romantic soul ties to interrogate the history of justice in America and the nebulous relationship between God, Man, and Sin.

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