Abraham Johnson

Abraham Johnson

Abraham Johnson writes Big Messy Queer Plays that center around audience experience. Abe has developed work with the New Georgia Group, the Horizon Theater, Process Theater, Out of Box Theater, Essential Theater, Synchronicity Theater, Langhorne Players, the Classic City Fringe Festival, and the Lionheart Theater Company. The Lambda Literary Foundation has recognized them as a two-time Playwriting Fellow at the...
Abraham Johnson writes Big Messy Queer Plays that center around audience experience. Abe has developed work with the New Georgia Group, the Horizon Theater, Process Theater, Out of Box Theater, Essential Theater, Synchronicity Theater, Langhorne Players, the Classic City Fringe Festival, and the Lionheart Theater Company. The Lambda Literary Foundation has recognized them as a two-time Playwriting Fellow at the 2017 and 2018 Emerging LGBTQ Voices Retreats, which included publication in the annual "EMERGE" anthologies. Abe has also recieved residency with the Sundress Academy for The Arts, and was a two-time finalist for the Greenhouse Residency at SPACE on Ryder Farms. Abe uses any pronouns, feels most powerful when wearing overalls, and recently completed a literary internship at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center during the 2019 Summer Season.

Plays

  • ROOTLESS by Abraham Johnson
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, adventure + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: grief, Maternity + 3 more
    Genre: adaptation, adventure, drama, fantasy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: grief, Maternity, Post-grad, forests, Southern drama
    It's, like, not an issue... totally *not* a big deal... but whose idea was it to throw this super sexy little bachelorette weekend at an abandoned camping ground in nowhere Tennessee? And why is that bear drinking wine with us?

    Gwen, Jo, and Dianne have been friends since middle school, but after college their friendships slacked when they all went separate ways. This weekend is supposed to...
    It's, like, not an issue... totally *not* a big deal... but whose idea was it to throw this super sexy little bachelorette weekend at an abandoned camping ground in nowhere Tennessee? And why is that bear drinking wine with us?

    Gwen, Jo, and Dianne have been friends since middle school, but after college their friendships slacked when they all went separate ways. This weekend is supposed to change all that though, as everyone gathers to throw Gwen a bachelorette party... planned by Dianne's new hippy girlfriend... in the middle of the Appalachian forests. Yikes. As the night unfolds, secrets come to light and the forest manifests their anxieties around relationships, monogamy, and the roaring loneliness of post-grad life. If you like plays with talking bears, Big Relationship Questions, and pollen falling from the sky like snow, this is the script for you.

    Originally developed at the 2017 Lambda Emerging Queer Voices Retreat, this magical play riffs on "The Bacchae" to explore the question: What does it mean to rip your roots out of the ground for another person? For some, nothing. For some, everything.
  • DEAD GAY BODY by Abraham Johnson
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 6 more
    ·
    Keyword: queer, Hate Crimes + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, farce, melodrama, parody/spoof, political, satire
    Keyword: queer, Hate Crimes, body horror, Mental Health, It Gets Better
    Strange, homosexual things are happening at Ronald Reagan High after the suicide of Twinkie McBottoms.

    When Twinkie's last words are discovered--"I hate straight people"-- the school counselor is thrust into action, determined to create a safe space for straight students to be themselves again. She will have to team up with the first openly gay student body president, a secretly...
    Strange, homosexual things are happening at Ronald Reagan High after the suicide of Twinkie McBottoms.

    When Twinkie's last words are discovered--"I hate straight people"-- the school counselor is thrust into action, determined to create a safe space for straight students to be themselves again. She will have to team up with the first openly gay student body president, a secretly senstive 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?
    *
    If you like queer anger, straight people being idiots, and LGBTQ history, this is a play for you.

Recommended by Abraham Johnson

  • Book Club by Maddie Dennis-Yates
    8 Jul. 2019
    “ Maddie once again uses her killer command of language and tension to create a world of bubbles that need to be popped. "Book Club" nails the potential for civil conversation to hide boiling problems, and this cringe-laugh tension only grows until the final, strange, striking image. Awesome script that should be produced more! ”
  • Lost in Storm King by Maddie Dennis-Yates
    17 Jun. 2019
    “ I loved this script! It plays with language in such a refreshing, lovely way that makes you fall in love with the characters so quickly. The dialogue beautifully rides the border between natural language and the poetry of characters coping with how lost they are. The strangeness of setting takes it to an even more fun and exciting level-- from being lost in Storm King, to blurring realities and dimension as they go deeper into the forest-- so the tension makes you feel like anything could pop out from anywhere at any second. Wonderful! Everyone should produce this play! ”
  • Man Boobs by J. Julian Christopher
    5 Apr. 2019
    “ Loved this dark, sexy, heart-breaking play. Marty and Spence are so loveable and flawed that they jump off the page. Made me want to give them both a big hug and made me hope that this play gets produced more! ”
  • Nightbird by R. Eric Thomas
    1 Apr. 2019
    “ Read this play, then produce this play, then get other theaters to produce this play, then repeat... The dialogue is electric, the characters are so instantly loveable, and the ending!! Gorgeous. I caught myself holding my breath for that entire last scene. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Excited to see this play take over stages everywhere. ”
  • The Forest by Lia Romeo
    1 Apr. 2019
    “ I read this play a week ago and the images still feel totally vivid. Lots of retina-burn in this script. It's beautiful and tragic and messy and fun and awkward and just a lovely play. Finishing the last scene made me call my mom. Really, really love this! ”