Abe Johnson

Abe Johnson (all pronouns) writes about folks being haunted by sad/funny/scary/gay ghosts-- sometimes all at once.

Currently based in Atlanta, Abe’s work has been recognized at the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival (2026 Festival Winner “Migration Season”), earned residencies with Powerhouse Theater @ Vassar, Theatrical Outfit, and Sundress Academy for the Arts, as well as being named a two-time Lambda Literary Fellow (mentored by Phillip Howze and Luis Alfaro). Other credits include developing work with the Tank NYC (Frontera Series), Workshop Theater, Horizon Theater, Synchronicity Theater, Essential Theater, OutFront Theater, and Working Title Playwrights among others. Finalist credits include the National Playwrights Conference, Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor, SPACE on Ryder...

Abe Johnson (all pronouns) writes about folks being haunted by sad/funny/scary/gay ghosts-- sometimes all at once.

Currently based in Atlanta, Abe’s work has been recognized at the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival (2026 Festival Winner “Migration Season”), earned residencies with Powerhouse Theater @ Vassar, Theatrical Outfit, and Sundress Academy for the Arts, as well as being named a two-time Lambda Literary Fellow (mentored by Phillip Howze and Luis Alfaro). Other credits include developing work with the Tank NYC (Frontera Series), Workshop Theater, Horizon Theater, Synchronicity Theater, Essential Theater, OutFront Theater, and Working Title Playwrights among others. Finalist credits include the National Playwrights Conference, Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor, SPACE on Ryder Farms, and the National Young Playwrights Residency.

Abe is the literary manager for the North Georgia New Play Festival (Woodstock Arts) and has served on the Artistic Council for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference (reader: 2019-2024), also reading for Playwrights Realm (2021-2023).

Scripts

Cabin 6 Is Not Okay

by Abe Johnson

Synopsis

Zeke is trying his hardest to keep Blue Mountain Sleepaway Camp afloat this summer as their assistant-director, but when the head camp director is missing, his camp counselors (the audience) can’t remember their morning duties, and there are bloody messages in strange formations spread throughout the forest trails? Maybe this quarter-life-crisis summer gig wasn’t worth it after all. We’ll spend summer camp on...

Zeke is trying his hardest to keep Blue Mountain Sleepaway Camp afloat this summer as their assistant-director, but when the head camp director is missing, his camp counselors (the audience) can’t remember their morning duties, and there are bloody messages in strange formations spread throughout the forest trails? Maybe this quarter-life-crisis summer gig wasn’t worth it after all. We’ll spend summer camp on the mountain with Zeke, holding staff meetings, awarding camp badges to brave “camp counselors” (the audience), and working together to unravel the mystery of what the hell the Cabin 6 boys are doing out in the woods every night.

pits

by Abe Johnson

Synopsis

This is eighth grade. Ben's a loser. Lucas might be a psycho. And Mr. X is just trying to survive his first year teaching science. When the 3 of their lives intersect in "Educating the Heart" -- the school's new social emotional learning class-- they'll be forced to figure out where the classroom ends and the real world begins. Whether it's Fortnite marathons in a (maybe haunted?) basement, or getting sucked...

This is eighth grade. Ben's a loser. Lucas might be a psycho. And Mr. X is just trying to survive his first year teaching science. When the 3 of their lives intersect in "Educating the Heart" -- the school's new social emotional learning class-- they'll be forced to figure out where the classroom ends and the real world begins. Whether it's Fortnite marathons in a (maybe haunted?) basement, or getting sucked into the darkest pits of middle school (and the internet), make sure you get to class on time or the abyssal loneliness of middle-school-boyhood will get you!

migration season

by Abe Johnson

Synopsis

It's the annual Jekyll Island Youth Birdwatching Competition and high school seniors Sylvia and Lane are ready to absolutely DOMINATE for the 4th year in a row. Honestly? It's barely a competition when you're such iconic bestie-warbler-whisperers.

Except this year... the extra-credit lacrosse himbos can actually tell a stork from a seagull. Not to mention the arrival of an unexpected parent chaperone threatens...

It's the annual Jekyll Island Youth Birdwatching Competition and high school seniors Sylvia and Lane are ready to absolutely DOMINATE for the 4th year in a row. Honestly? It's barely a competition when you're such iconic bestie-warbler-whisperers.

Except this year... the extra-credit lacrosse himbos can actually tell a stork from a seagull. Not to mention the arrival of an unexpected parent chaperone threatens to destroy this duo's guaranteed glory. Over the course of the weekend, we'll ping-pong across the beaches and forests of Jekyll Island, tracking Sylvia and Lane's path to teen birdwatching glory while unraveling a dark mystery that shakes the core of this senior-year victory-lap weekend.

we're gonna win this year

by Abe Johnson

Synopsis

4 parents sit on the sidelines of a peewee football field in Rome, Georgia. It's unbearably hot. It's freezing cold. It's raining. The air is thick with mosquitoes and fireflies. They win games. Their kids are growing up. They lose games. Is that kid becoming a jerk? These helmets cost too much. Is that one too sensitive? Jesus, look at that arm, that foot, that heart, that brain, the dreams that kid has. Told...

4 parents sit on the sidelines of a peewee football field in Rome, Georgia. It's unbearably hot. It's freezing cold. It's raining. The air is thick with mosquitoes and fireflies. They win games. Their kids are growing up. They lose games. Is that kid becoming a jerk? These helmets cost too much. Is that one too sensitive? Jesus, look at that arm, that foot, that heart, that brain, the dreams that kid has. Told em if we win county this year we'll spend a weekend at Tybee Island, or Gulf Shores, or maybe just Chattanooga, we don't have the money but we'll find it this year.

Their kids are gonna move out of town someday.
But they'll all be here forever.

DEAD GAY BODY

by Abe Johnson

Synopsis

Everything is perfectly fine at Ronald Reagan High School! Cheerleaders and football players hold hands in hallways. Teachers smile really, really, *really* big. And sure, there's a string of mysterious gay deaths, but let's focus on the positive right now!... No? Fine.

After a particularly public death of a particularly gay student ("Twinkie McBottoms") with a particularly public last statement ("I Hate...

Everything is perfectly fine at Ronald Reagan High School! Cheerleaders and football players hold hands in hallways. Teachers smile really, really, *really* big. And sure, there's a string of mysterious gay deaths, but let's focus on the positive right now!... No? Fine.

After a particularly public death of a particularly gay student ("Twinkie McBottoms") with a particularly public last statement ("I Hate Straight People"), Ronald Reagan High's Counselor is thrust into action, determined to create a safe space... for straight students to feel safe again. She will team up with the first gay student body president, a fragile football player, a garden-loving Principal, and even the audience to organize a "Diversity Day" that these heterosexuals will never forget. But first, we have to figure out: why are there dead gay bodies popping up all over school? And who the heck has even heard of Laramie, Wyoming?

sleepwalkers (10-minute)

by Abe Johnson

Synopsis

Maya shouldn't be hunting down her old flame at the high school reunion. She definitely, definitely shouldn't be standing in his front yard. That would make things weird. Maybe, even, a nightmare.

Maya shouldn't be hunting down her old flame at the high school reunion. She definitely, definitely shouldn't be standing in his front yard. That would make things weird. Maybe, even, a nightmare.