Rachel Bonds

RACHEL BONDS
Rachel Bonds is a playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and writer for scripted podcasts. Her plays have been developed or produced by Roundabout Theatre Company, Ars Nova, MCC, Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theater Company, The McCarter, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Studio Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and New York Stage & Film, among others.

Her plays include: JONAH (Roundabout Theatre Company, dir. Danya Taymor); THE LONELY FEW (with music & lyrics by Zoe Sarnak, MCC, The Geffen, dir. Trip Cullman and Ellenore Scott); GOODNIGHT NOBODY (McCarter, dir. Tyne Rafaeli); SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON, with songs by The Bengsons (Ars Nova & WP Theatre, dir. Anne Kauffman); CURVE OF DEPARTURE (South Coast Rep, Studio Theatre...

RACHEL BONDS
Rachel Bonds is a playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and writer for scripted podcasts. Her plays have been developed or produced by Roundabout Theatre Company, Ars Nova, MCC, Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theater Company, The McCarter, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Studio Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and New York Stage & Film, among others.

Her plays include: JONAH (Roundabout Theatre Company, dir. Danya Taymor); THE LONELY FEW (with music & lyrics by Zoe Sarnak, MCC, The Geffen, dir. Trip Cullman and Ellenore Scott); GOODNIGHT NOBODY (McCarter, dir. Tyne Rafaeli); SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON, with songs by The Bengsons (Ars Nova & WP Theatre, dir. Anne Kauffman); CURVE OF DEPARTURE (South Coast Rep, Studio Theatre, Northlight, dir. Mike Donahue); AT THE OLD PLACE (La Jolla Playhouse, dir. Jaime Castañeda); FIVE MILE LAKE (South Coast Rep, McCarter, Shattered Globe); SWIMMERS (Marin Theatre Co, Sky Cooper Prize); THE WOLFE TWINS (Studio Theatre); ALMA (Atlantic Theatre Company commission); MICHAEL & EDIE (NY Times Critic's Pick); WINTER GAMES (Humana Festival, Heideman Award, Public Radio's "Playing on Air"); ANNIVERSARY (EST’s Marathon of One-Act Plays, Sam French OOB Festival Winner and Public Radio’s “Playing on Air.”); and BIRD ("Playing on Air" co-commission with David Auburn).

She is the recent recipient of the 2024 Laurents/Hatcher Prize for JONAH. She has also received the Weissberger Award, the Sky Cooper Prize, and the Heideman Award. Bonds was the 2016 Tow Foundation Playwright in Residence at Ars Nova. She is an Alumna of EST’s Youngblood, Ars Nova’s Play Group and SPACE on Ryder Farm’s Working Farm Writers’ Group. She has also been both a Fr. William Ralston Fellow and a Tennessee Williams Scholar at The Sewanee Writers’ Conference. She has served as a frequent Volunteer/Playwright for the 52nd Street Project.

She recently finished writing the scripted series The Boars’ Nest, starring Mandy Moore, for Audible, is currently developing an original scripted series, also for Audible, adapting JONAH into a feature, and preparing for 2025/26 commercial run of her and Zoe Sarnak’s original musical THE LONELY FEW. Bonds is a proud parent and a parent-artist advocate. Originally from the mountains of Tennessee, she is now based in Brooklyn. www.rachelbonds.com

Scripts

JONAH

by Rachel Bonds

Synopsis

Ana is on scholarship at a boarding school far from home, deeply and distinctly alone until she crosses paths with day student Jonah. They navigate the edges of this new relationship, tentative and heady, but something else is stirring, and what begins as an exploration of new, exultant desire shifts into more complex negotiations of intimacy and survival. A story of fracture and resilience, what bodies carry...

Ana is on scholarship at a boarding school far from home, deeply and distinctly alone until she crosses paths with day student Jonah. They navigate the edges of this new relationship, tentative and heady, but something else is stirring, and what begins as an exploration of new, exultant desire shifts into more complex negotiations of intimacy and survival. A story of fracture and resilience, what bodies carry and what they can release, and the radical possibilities of trust.

GOODNIGHT NOBODY

by Rachel Bonds

Synopsis

A group of old friends reconnect after years apart. What begins as a giddy reunion shifts into more complex explorations of art, grief, and the spirit.

A group of old friends reconnect after years apart. What begins as a giddy reunion shifts into more complex explorations of art, grief, and the spirit.

THE LONELY FEW, with Music & Lyrics by Zoe Sarnak

by Rachel Bonds

Synopsis

Lila, a preternaturally gifted songwriter and raucous performer is suffocating in her rural Kentucky town until Amy, a successful touring musician ragged from the road, passes through and upends her life. A love story about two women from utterly different worlds who find they need one another.

Lila, a preternaturally gifted songwriter and raucous performer is suffocating in her rural Kentucky town until Amy, a successful touring musician ragged from the road, passes through and upends her life. A love story about two women from utterly different worlds who find they need one another.

CURVE OF DEPARTURE

by Rachel Bonds

Synopsis

On a balmy New Mexico night in a too-small motel room, a "ragtag little group" gathers in anticipation of the funeral that has brought them together. But the dearly departed is the least of their concerns as they all grapple with the curves life has thrown them.

On a balmy New Mexico night in a too-small motel room, a "ragtag little group" gathers in anticipation of the funeral that has brought them together. But the dearly departed is the least of their concerns as they all grapple with the curves life has thrown them.

SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON, a play with songs by THE BENGSONS

by Rachel Bonds

Synopsis

While navigating the unsettling waters of young adulthood, twin sisters Ray and Joey return home to find their father in a moment of crisis. Under the cover of late-night, small-town shadows, sleep is elusive, connections are frayed, and the southern summer heat presses in. Sundown, Yellow Moon is an ethereal, honest, funny and sad play about seeing old faces with new eyes, and the liminal space between loss and...

While navigating the unsettling waters of young adulthood, twin sisters Ray and Joey return home to find their father in a moment of crisis. Under the cover of late-night, small-town shadows, sleep is elusive, connections are frayed, and the southern summer heat presses in. Sundown, Yellow Moon is an ethereal, honest, funny and sad play about seeing old faces with new eyes, and the liminal space between loss and letting go.

SWIMMERS

by Rachel Bonds

Synopsis

Coyotes evading police. Billboards predicting the end of the world. It’s been a strange day at the office and it’s only 9AM. A play exploring the relationships we take most for granted: those with the people we work with every day.

Coyotes evading police. Billboards predicting the end of the world. It’s been a strange day at the office and it’s only 9AM. A play exploring the relationships we take most for granted: those with the people we work with every day.

FIVE MILE LAKE

by Rachel Bonds

Synopsis

A moving portrait of a group of young people, yearning to make the right choices—and facing the choices they have already made—as they journey into their thirties in a rapidly transforming world.

A moving portrait of a group of young people, yearning to make the right choices—and facing the choices they have already made—as they journey into their thirties in a rapidly transforming world.

AT THE OLD PLACE

by Rachel Bonds

Synopsis

Facing a breaking point, a middle-aged woman returns to her childhood home to hide with a bottle and book of poetry. But a chance encounter with two young people camped out on her lawn leads to the discovery of the common bond that connects uncommon people. This keenly-observed, slice-of-life play evokes long nights spent on the grass with friends, considering the roads not taken – and the best way forward.

Facing a breaking point, a middle-aged woman returns to her childhood home to hide with a bottle and book of poetry. But a chance encounter with two young people camped out on her lawn leads to the discovery of the common bond that connects uncommon people. This keenly-observed, slice-of-life play evokes long nights spent on the grass with friends, considering the roads not taken – and the best way forward.

THE WOLFE TWINS

by Rachel Bonds

Synopsis

Lewis invites his estranged sister Dana on a trip to Rome to reconnect. But when he befriends a beautiful stranger, old wounds fester and intimate secrets are revealed.

Lewis invites his estranged sister Dana on a trip to Rome to reconnect. But when he befriends a beautiful stranger, old wounds fester and intimate secrets are revealed.

ALMA

by Rachel Bonds

Synopsis

Just as Millie's new relationship with Tavi begins to deepen, she finds herself drawn to Will, a lonely cartoonist, whose secrets share a strange symmetry with her own.

Just as Millie's new relationship with Tavi begins to deepen, she finds herself drawn to Will, a lonely cartoonist, whose secrets share a strange symmetry with her own.