Mary Poindexter McLaughlin

Mary Poindexter McLaughlin

Mary Poindexter McLaughlin holds a BA in English from Stanford University, where she received Stanford's Golden Grant Award for playwriting, and an MA in Theatre & Performance Studies from SUNY at Buffalo. She writes plays, poems, and essays to make sense of the world, challenge her conception of reality, and find humor in it all.

Her plays have been performed in NYC, Buffalo, CT, PA,...
Mary Poindexter McLaughlin holds a BA in English from Stanford University, where she received Stanford's Golden Grant Award for playwriting, and an MA in Theatre & Performance Studies from SUNY at Buffalo. She writes plays, poems, and essays to make sense of the world, challenge her conception of reality, and find humor in it all.

Her plays have been performed in NYC, Buffalo, CT, PA, and CO; most recently, her play The Buddha's Wife won First Prize in the Henley Rose Playwright Competition for Women. Her poems and essays have been published in Stanford Magazine and in online publications such as Human Parts, Resistance Poetry, and Elena Brower's teach.yoga, and she is the co-writer of Todd Norian's recently-published memoir, "Tantra Yoga: Journey to Unbreakable Wholeness." A former actor in NYC, she also directs and teaches theatre arts in Buffalo, NY.

Member: Dramatists Guild, SAG-AFTRA. Website: poindextermclaughlin.com.
Newsletter: https://marypoindextermclaughlin.substack.com/

Plays

  • The Buddha's Wife by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: biography, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: mythology, History + 7 more
    Genre: biography, comedy, drama, fable/folktale
    Keyword: mythology, History, women, enlightenment, buddha, friendship, love, Academia, divine feminine
    Yasodhara, wife of Siddhartha (the Buddha), introduces herself and her 2500-year-old story alongside Diane, a contemporary PhD candidate and rising star in feminist studies. Their stories interweave as both women are trapped at home with newborns, abandoned by their husbands who leave home to pursue a greater purpose. Moving fluidly through time and place, The Buddha’s Wife juxtaposes the women’s struggles,...
    Yasodhara, wife of Siddhartha (the Buddha), introduces herself and her 2500-year-old story alongside Diane, a contemporary PhD candidate and rising star in feminist studies. Their stories interweave as both women are trapped at home with newborns, abandoned by their husbands who leave home to pursue a greater purpose. Moving fluidly through time and place, The Buddha’s Wife juxtaposes the women’s struggles, expectations, and choices, explores the meanings of love and friendship, and crosses their paths in ways they could never have foreseen.
  • The Marriage of Mom & Dad by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: family, memory + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, movement/physical, verse
    Keyword: family, memory, poetry, dance, non-linear, experimental, magical realism
    “MOM” is dying. Represented by a small tv that silently broadcasts archetypical tv mothers, she lies in a hospital bed on the last day of her life, as her two daughters (the NARRATOR and her SISTER) journey though family memories within a spiraling, non-linear narrative to understand their mother’s choices and her untimely death. By engaging dance and poetry within the tragicomic framework of naturalistic...
    “MOM” is dying. Represented by a small tv that silently broadcasts archetypical tv mothers, she lies in a hospital bed on the last day of her life, as her two daughters (the NARRATOR and her SISTER) journey though family memories within a spiraling, non-linear narrative to understand their mother’s choices and her untimely death. By engaging dance and poetry within the tragicomic framework of naturalistic scenes and magical realism, The Marriage of Mom & Dad explores the emotional landscape of a 39- year marriage that begins in 1950 and is dissolved by death. JOY (OF COOKING) and MONTY HALL provide social commentary; perspectives shift and temporal lines blur; and multiple versions of MOM and DAD vie for “the Truth.” In the end, the NARRATOR of this poetic drama unearths deeper human truths about love, memory, and absence – for the benefit of them all.
  • Doing Time by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Freedom, memory + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, fantasy, tragedy
    Keyword: Freedom, memory, friendship, art, recorded history, sacrifice, age, metaphor, humor
    Confined in an undefined time and place, a young man attempts to write his "Book of Life" amidst the interruptions of an old man. As their needs and personal philosophies collide, underscoring the significance of memory and the consequences of an undocumented life, an unforeseen crisis compels them to give each other two versions of the same gift in the play's startling, poignant resolution.
  • The Fall by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama, radio drama
    ·
    Keyword: America, police + 4 more
    Genre: drama, radio drama
    Keyword: America, police, marriage, nonviolent protest, belief systems, contemporary social issues
    By exposing the intimate crisis points in a marriage, THE FALL reveals fault lines in our nation, asking: how do we view ourselves as Americans?
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream -- Abridged by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
    Cast: 
    13
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Shakespeare, youth + 1 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, romantic comedy, verse
    Keyword: Shakespeare, youth, short
    I created this abridged version of Shakespeare's Midsummer for a middle school class comprised of 9 boys and 4 girls. I cut and/or combined a few roles to accommodate acting abilities/interest and the small number of actors.
  • It Is What It Is by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
    Cast: 
    2–6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: language, Relationships + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: language, Relationships, subtext, words
    Originally titled RICORSO, IT IS WHAT IT IS is a play that delights in the malleability of language and subtext. Three different vignettes use the same words in the same order, broken up into completely different meanings to create three entirely different outcomes.
  • Our Finest Work by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: photography, memory + 3 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: photography, memory, child loss, grief and healing, India
    The play explores the questions “what is real?” and “what is permanent?” as an estranged couple attempt to find their way back to each other after the loss of their only child.
  • Returns by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, political + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: American, Politics + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, political, satire
    Keyword: American, Politics, metaphor, blindness, disability, satire, comedy
    RETURNS skewers the election process in America through a deceptively simple encounter in a department store: a woman attempts to return something she's bought to a customer service representative. He refuses to take it back, then interrogates her unsympathetically about her poor decision to buy it in the first place. His arrogance evaporates at the end, when he and the audience discover she is blind.
  • Dear One by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: mystery, Scary + 2 more
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: mystery, Scary, folktale, love story
    DEAR ONE is a dark tale of moonlight, mistaken identity, and hidden artifacts. Will the two young lovers find happiness? Can the old woman make things right? And what is the shocking secret that lies at the heart of it all?
  • Power Outtrage by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
    Cast: 
    3–4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: corporate power, Surreal + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: corporate power, Surreal, breaking the fourth wall, revolution, middle class
    In a middle-class living room, in a middle-class home, somewhere in middle-Northamerica, an evening at home turns surreal for an older married couple when the power goes out.
  • Firebird Canyon by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: comedy, education + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: comedy, education, pharmaceuticals
    Sent by their parents to Firebird Canyon, an Outward Bound-type wilderness camp for "difficult" teens, three teenage delinquents (Mozart, Einstein, and Shakespeare) wrestle with getting each other over "The Wall," a team-bonding challenge. Their eventual solution reflects their deep need for freedom from a one-size-fits-all educational system that relies on pharmaceuticals to "normalize...
    Sent by their parents to Firebird Canyon, an Outward Bound-type wilderness camp for "difficult" teens, three teenage delinquents (Mozart, Einstein, and Shakespeare) wrestle with getting each other over "The Wall," a team-bonding challenge. Their eventual solution reflects their deep need for freedom from a one-size-fits-all educational system that relies on pharmaceuticals to "normalize" students who don't fit the mold.