William J. Meyer

William J. Meyer

Hi. I write things.

I'm a playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. I enjoy writing about spiritual crisis, misplaced guilt, religious terror, environmental madness, and cosmic chaos. Sometimes robots.

I wrote and directed an hour-long version of my play The Birthing Pit, a Gothic Romance at the end of the American Revolutionary War, in the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival....
Hi. I write things.

I'm a playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. I enjoy writing about spiritual crisis, misplaced guilt, religious terror, environmental madness, and cosmic chaos. Sometimes robots.

I wrote and directed an hour-long version of my play The Birthing Pit, a Gothic Romance at the end of the American Revolutionary War, in the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Audiences called it "Entrancing," "Beautiful," "Haunting," "Ambitious," "Touching," and "Macabre."

My independent audio fiction has been chosen as a Platinum Selection of the HEAR Now Festival • A Showcase Selection of the PodTales Festival • Co-Winner of the Audio Verse Awards' Writing of a New Spoken Word Production • and awarded Best Speculative Fiction Story (Long Form) from the Parsec Awards

I'm from Wisconsin but now live in Los Angeles. I miss the snow but not the cold.

Plays

  • In the Presence of Things Unseen by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    6–8
    ·
    Genre: drama, horror + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: bigotry, indoctrination + 5 more
    Genre: drama, horror, period, political, science fiction, tragedy
    Keyword: bigotry, indoctrination, demagogue, technology, science fiction, period, war
    Sometime after the war, the new recruit of a secretive Clinic is dismayed when she is prematurely thrust into the line of duty and forced to communicate with an ancient, extra-dimensional intelligence. The terrifying experience triggers confrontational memories of her recently deceased brother, invites the erosion of her ethics, and underscores the Clinic’s promise of power.

    An Atomic Gothic sci-...
    Sometime after the war, the new recruit of a secretive Clinic is dismayed when she is prematurely thrust into the line of duty and forced to communicate with an ancient, extra-dimensional intelligence. The terrifying experience triggers confrontational memories of her recently deceased brother, invites the erosion of her ethics, and underscores the Clinic’s promise of power.

    An Atomic Gothic sci-fi set in a fictitious nation during the 1950s.
  • The Sound of Many Oceans by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama, horror + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: trauma, conspiracy + 8 more
    Genre: drama, horror, mystery/thriller, science fiction, tragedy
    Keyword: trauma, conspiracy, science, manipulation, gaslighting, sound, invention, deception, astronomy, absurd
    Alex believes a micro-circuitry device has been attached to his body to reshape his brain and prevent him from hearing the sound of oceans. His friend and Confidant Jules agrees to search his body. Later, Advocate Jules interrogates Kelly, determined to uncover the secret location of an invisible, formless being of cryptic and dangerous power.

    A sci-fi conspiracy set beneath the stars and within the mind.
  • The Birthing Pit by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    4–5
    ·
    Genre: drama, horror + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: Sex, religion + 8 more
    Genre: drama, horror, mystery/thriller, period, tragedy
    Keyword: Sex, religion, Terror, colonialism, war, gothic, romance, repression, Sea shanty, American Revolution
    They followed the blood. And the blood followed the gold.

    At the end of the American Revolutionary War, John and Castella flee a mysterious pestilence in the Caribbean.

    But as they sail home during a supernatural storm, the condemned Atabei kills the ship’s captain— and tragedy stalks all three.

    A Gothic Romance at the end of the American Revolutionary War.
  • All Praise the Ikon by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    8–17
    ·
    Genre: drama, political + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: book banning, indoctrination + 8 more
    Genre: drama, political, science fiction
    Keyword: book banning, indoctrination, technology, education, isolation, bureaucracy, occupation, Dystopia, science fiction, religion
    An Instructor suggests to a fellow educator there may be ways of resisting the occupying bureaucracy which takes its orders from an Algorithm allegedly serving the sacred Ikon.

    A play about friendship, isolation, and betrayal.
  • Waiting to Die in a Tent, A Few Thoughts on Valhalla by William J. Meyer
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Vikings, valkyrie + 6 more
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale, fantasy, period
    Keyword: Vikings, valkyrie, warriors, wounded warrior, absent father, Fathers and Daughters, death, Norse mythology
    The old viking warrior Einarr and his young friend Mikel battle to protect their distant city of Reidun. When Einarr is mortally wounded, Mikel sets out to locate Einarr’s estranged daughter Kára for a final father-daughter reunion. But before they can return, a mysterious figure finds Einarr alone-- and about to breathe his last.

    A short play about a father and a daughter in the Viking Age.
  • The Maimed King of Three Hundred Winters by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: adventure, fable/folktale + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: King Arthur, Holy Grail + 7 more
    Genre: adventure, fable/folktale, faith-based, fantasy, period
    Keyword: King Arthur, Holy Grail, Jesus, England, Arthurian legend, friendship, close friendship, deep friendship, Crisis of Faith
    Joseph and Evelake arrive on the shores of England, planning to secret the Holy Grail inland to the town of Glastonbury. The brigand tracking them might be the least of their perils. . .

    A short play about friendship, faith, and the Holy Grail.
  • How High This Final Tally by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: Death Penalty, Newspaper + 4 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, period, political, zoom
    Keyword: Death Penalty, Newspaper, journalist, Politics, politician, Wisconsin
    Christopher Latham Sholes, newspaper publisher and politician, successfully campaigned to end capital punishment in the state of Wisconsin, resulting in the State Assembly passing his Death Penalty Repeal Act on March 9, 1853.

    A monologue.
  • A Wish For My Forever by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    1–2
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, fable/folktale + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: moon, monologue + 6 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, fable/folktale, fantasy, radio drama, science fiction, zoom
    Keyword: moon, monologue, romance, theory, science, astrophysics, time, existential
    A lonely being reflects on waiting four and a half billion years to be reunited with its absent lover.

    A monologue.
  • Monologues, Excerpts by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: adventure, drama + 11 more
    ·
    Keyword: monologue
    Genre: adventure, drama, fable/folktale, fantasy, horror, melodrama, mystery/thriller, period, political, science fiction, tragedy, young audiences, zoom
    Keyword: monologue
    Excerpts from longer works, intended for actors seeking monologues for auditions, reels, and performance.

    From The Sound of Many Oceans, Sting of the Scorpion, Waiting to Die in a Tent..., The Birthing Pit, Secrets of the Eyebringer, The House That Jack Built, And Worms Do Not Destroy.