Zachariah Ezer

Zachariah Ezer

Zachariah Ezer is a playwright and dramaturg who animates theoretical quandaries through theatrical forms. His work has been developed and/or produced by American Conservatory Theater, American Lore Theater, BUFU, Charging Moose Media, City Theatre, The Civilians, The DC Black Theatre Festival, Dragon Productions Theatre Company, The Echo Theater Collective, The Echo Theater Company, The Fade to Black Play...
Zachariah Ezer is a playwright and dramaturg who animates theoretical quandaries through theatrical forms. His work has been developed and/or produced by American Conservatory Theater, American Lore Theater, BUFU, Charging Moose Media, City Theatre, The Civilians, The DC Black Theatre Festival, Dragon Productions Theatre Company, The Echo Theater Collective, The Echo Theater Company, The Fade to Black Play Festival, Fault Line Theatre, The Fire This Time Festival, Hi-ARTS, Iowa State University, The KCACTF Region 6 Festival, The Lark, Merde, The National Black Theatre, The New Cosmopolitans, New York Stage and Film, The Playwrights Center, Playwrights Horizons, The Prelude Festival, The Rude Mechanicals, Ruthless Nightingale, The Secret Theatre, The Starfruit Project, The Tank, Theater J, Theater Masters, The University of Texas at Austin, Wesleyan University, The Woodside Players of Queens, and The Workshop Theater. It has been published by Concord Theatricals/Samuel French, Smith & Kraus, American Blues Theater, New World Theatre, some scripts literary magazine, and Fleas on the Dog. It has been performed in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington (state & DC), Houston, Austin, Dallas, Miami, Abilene, Ames, on PBS, and online.

Awards: The Dramatist Guild Foundation's Catalyst Fellowship, The University of Texas' James A. Michener Fellowship, The Playwrights Center's Core Apprenticeship, Theater J's Expanding the Canon Commission, Kumu Kahua Theatre's Hawai'i Prize, Hi-ARTS' Critical Breaks Residency, Echo Theater Company's National Young Playwright in Residence, Town Stages' Sokoloff Arts Creative Fellowship, Best Play at The Woodside Players of Queens Summer Play Festival, BUFU's EYEDREAM Residency, and Wesleyan University's Olin Fellowship.

MFA: The University of Texas at Austin. BA: Wesleyan University.

Zachariah is also a dramaturg (who has worked with Keen Company--where he is Director of New Work--, The National Black Theatre, Breaking the Binary, The Workshop Theater, and FoolsFury, among others), an essayist (published by Gizmodo/io9, HuffPost, The University of Texas' E3W, among others), and a performer in alternative rock band Harper's Landing.

Plays

  • Address the Body!
    [Full-Length Play] The two Black members of The Presidential Committee on Slavery and Its Afterlife uncover a conspiracy at the heart of America's most prestigious university.
  • The Freedom Industry
    [Full-Length Play] When a group of white libertarians founds Galt’s Gulch Chile, a boutique banana republic outside of Santiago, these would-be pilgrims discover that colonialism isn’t nearly as easy as it looks. [Based on actual events]
  • Legitime
    [Full-Length Play] In 1972 Louisiana, a Black whiskey magnate dies under mysterious circumstances. In order to prevent his wife and her new white lover from taking over the company, his daughters band together to look for his missing will. [adapted from the myth of Electra]
  • The Stones of Life
    [Full-Length Play] In 1972 Honolulu, a pōpolo defense attorney and his māhū client try to overturn a transphobic city ordinance, with a little help from four ancient Tahitian wizards.
  • The Sprinkler
    [Full-Length Play] Three teenagers in their final months of high school struggle with their faiths, their sexualities, and their pop culture obsessions, just before they’re all supposed to head off to college Up North.
  • An Unclear World
    [One-Act Play] An Afropessimist triptych that uses Superman, Superfly, and Super Mario Bros to search for the narrative arc of the slave. [Composed of Crossover, Speedrun, and Blaxploitation]
  • Blaxploitation
    [One-Act Play] At a midnight movie screening, a trans director exhibits their lost classic, in which a martial arts master and a genie go back in time to try and prevent slavery and a zombie apocalypse before an operative from the end of history stops them.
  • Black Prometheus
    [One-Act Play] Stuck in a negative experience machine, a pair of Black test subjects do everything they can to theorize a way out of being killed over and over again.
  • Crossover
    [Ten-Minute Play] Deep in the Caucasus Mountains, there is said to be a path that turns whoever walks it white. Jo is the latest to make the journey, but the trials along the way--not to mention her cryptic guide--may be more than she bargained for.
  • Black Women in Tech
    [Ten-Minute Play] Two Black women struggle to be seen by each other and the racist smart home they are trapped inside of.
  • Speedrun
    [Ten-Minute Play] In a fantasy kingdom with some familiar problems, a princess and her captor's magical lackey dream of social change, the overthrow of the local crime boss, and rescue from an overall-clad hero.
  • Time to A Phantom
    [Ten-Minute Play] Kyle's apartment is haunted, so he calls his super.
  • Mise En Abyme; or Variations on "Steamed Hams"
    [Ten-minute play] “Mise En Abyme; or Variations on ‘Steamed Hams’” is a play inspired by "[ʸᵀᴾᴹᵛ] Steamed Hams Inc." "[ʸᵀᴾᴹᵛ] Steamed Hams Inc." is a YouTube remix of Gorillaz’ “Feel Good Inc.” that incorporates audio and video from “Steamed Hams.” "Steamed Hams” is a meme taken from “Skinner & The Superintendent.” “Skinner and the Superintendent” is the eighth short in season seven...
    [Ten-minute play] “Mise En Abyme; or Variations on ‘Steamed Hams’” is a play inspired by "[ʸᵀᴾᴹᵛ] Steamed Hams Inc." "[ʸᵀᴾᴹᵛ] Steamed Hams Inc." is a YouTube remix of Gorillaz’ “Feel Good Inc.” that incorporates audio and video from “Steamed Hams.” "Steamed Hams” is a meme taken from “Skinner & The Superintendent.” “Skinner and the Superintendent” is the eighth short in season seven, episode twenty-one of “The Simpsons,” “22 Short Films About Springfield.” “22 Short Films About Springfield” is a loose parody of "Pulp Fiction" named after “32 Short Films About Glenn Gould.” “32 Short Films About…
  • Equally Matched Aggression
    [Five-Minute Play] An incarcerated supervillain argues with his son about the family business.
  • Vigilante
    [Five-Minute Monologue] A former superhero makes his case to the parole board.
  • Taking Stonk
    [Five-Minute Monologue] A leftist millennial argues with his liberal father about the economy, politics, and GameStop.
  • A Time to Die (excerpted from "An Unclear World, Part 3: Blaxploitation")
    [One-minute monologue] A film director tells the story of their forgotten magnum opus at a midnight movie screening.
  • Blacula (excerpted from "An Unclear World, Part 3: Blaxploitation")
    [One-minute monlogue] A film director answers a question about their forgotten magnum opus at a midnight movie screening.
  • Epicenter (excerpted from "The Sprinkler")
    [One-Minute Monologue] A Black teen explains why he can't be himself around white people.