Else Went

Else Went (they/she) is a playwright and sound designer based in Brooklyn.Their work has been developed through writing labs and groups at The Public Theatre (EWG), Ars Nova (Play Group), WP (Lab), Playwrights Realm (Fellowship), and Bechdel Project (FifE Fellow). Recipient of new play commissions from MTC Sloan (An Oxford Man), Breaking the Binary Festival (How to Become a Ghost), Weston Playhouse (Mirror Game), Parity Productions (Boxcar), Period Piece (Protanopia), FST (Gutter Girl). She has been in residence with MacDowell, The Mercury Store, Stillwright, and Barn Arts Collective. Further development with support from NYTW, The Tank, The Brick, and ISC. Semifinalist for ASC’s Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries (Courage! to the Field!) and twice for the O’Neill Conference (Initiative; The...

Else Went (they/she) is a playwright and sound designer based in Brooklyn.Their work has been developed through writing labs and groups at The Public Theatre (EWG), Ars Nova (Play Group), WP (Lab), Playwrights Realm (Fellowship), and Bechdel Project (FifE Fellow). Recipient of new play commissions from MTC Sloan (An Oxford Man), Breaking the Binary Festival (How to Become a Ghost), Weston Playhouse (Mirror Game), Parity Productions (Boxcar), Period Piece (Protanopia), FST (Gutter Girl). She has been in residence with MacDowell, The Mercury Store, Stillwright, and Barn Arts Collective. Further development with support from NYTW, The Tank, The Brick, and ISC. Semifinalist for ASC’s Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries (Courage! to the Field!) and twice for the O’Neill Conference (Initiative; The Hard Work). Finalist for Princess Grace Award (Degenerates), New Contemps. (Whate’er), the Carlo Anoni Prize (An Oxford Man).

Scripts

I Am The Most Beautiful Bird

by Else Went

Synopsis

Did you hear what happened to that unnervingly pretty girl who was born out of an egg after her mother fucked a swan?
You mean after that big war with the wooden horse?
No the war was with the Trojans.
I meant that there was a wooden horse, not that it was the enemy.
Ah. Well, so did you hear? What happened to her? The egg girl?
No, I didn't.
Hmm. Neither did I.
Helen, wasn't that her name?

Did you hear what happened to that unnervingly pretty girl who was born out of an egg after her mother fucked a swan?
You mean after that big war with the wooden horse?
No the war was with the Trojans.
I meant that there was a wooden horse, not that it was the enemy.
Ah. Well, so did you hear? What happened to her? The egg girl?
No, I didn't.
Hmm. Neither did I.
Helen, wasn't that her name?

Degenerates

by Else Went

Synopsis

The boys are not doing so hot. In an obscure corner of the internet, they form a community on the bedrock of their shared and infinite miseries, offering each other proof that the game is rigged against men; it was over before it began, they will never be loved, better just to lay down and rot. When an unexpected relationship begins to unravel their dismal fraternity, the consequences of their fatalism are...

The boys are not doing so hot. In an obscure corner of the internet, they form a community on the bedrock of their shared and infinite miseries, offering each other proof that the game is rigged against men; it was over before it began, they will never be loved, better just to lay down and rot. When an unexpected relationship begins to unravel their dismal fraternity, the consequences of their fatalism are revealed—some may get out, and some may not. How much would it hurt to come alive again?

Initiative

by Else Went

Synopsis

A big play about growing up in the new millennium.

A big play about growing up in the new millennium.

Whate'er, or The Moon's comedy

by Else Went

Synopsis

In order to marry his love, Thalia, Adrastos goes with his friend into Hecate's woods, where no men may tread. Meanwhile, Thalia and her sister are pursued into the same woods by their wrathful father and his cronies, both of whom want Thalia to themselves. Hecate herself is having a particularly irksome night, what with Selene the moon goddess having decided to show up unannounced, the fairies are left to their...

In order to marry his love, Thalia, Adrastos goes with his friend into Hecate's woods, where no men may tread. Meanwhile, Thalia and her sister are pursued into the same woods by their wrathful father and his cronies, both of whom want Thalia to themselves. Hecate herself is having a particularly irksome night, what with Selene the moon goddess having decided to show up unannounced, the fairies are left to their own devices, and when the moon is full and close, everybody seems to go a little mad.

A comedy in rhyming verse, and fully immersed in the Elizabethan pastoral form, Whate'er You Be is a celebration of the potential of divine transformation and radical love.

Mongrel

by Else Went

Synopsis

A true and exact history of the island of Barbados.
A false and incomplete history of the isle of Barbados.
This play is about decolonizing the self by becoming an island.

A true and exact history of the island of Barbados.
A false and incomplete history of the isle of Barbados.
This play is about decolonizing the self by becoming an island.

An Oxford Man

by Else Went

Synopsis

A buoyant and raucous mythologization of the life and times of the first "modern" transgender man, Laurence Michael Dillon.

A buoyant and raucous mythologization of the life and times of the first "modern" transgender man, Laurence Michael Dillon.

The Hard Work

by Else Went

Synopsis

This is a play for mixed digital platforms.
On June 2nd, 2020, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio imposed a curfew upon the city in order to... dissuade violence I guess was the line, from the protests against police brutality. During the five days of curfew, a group of white and privileged friends in the city have a crisis of identity. When the mayor rescinds the curfew on June 7th, he thanks them for their...

This is a play for mixed digital platforms.
On June 2nd, 2020, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio imposed a curfew upon the city in order to... dissuade violence I guess was the line, from the protests against police brutality. During the five days of curfew, a group of white and privileged friends in the city have a crisis of identity. When the mayor rescinds the curfew on June 7th, he thanks them for their hard work.

First Comes Love

by Else Went

Synopsis

A short play. Marnie is busy raking the ceaseless falling leaves, trying to keep up, when her son-in-law arrives to ask some pointed questions about his spouse's childhood, after a revelation has changed the nature of their relationship.

A short play. Marnie is busy raking the ceaseless falling leaves, trying to keep up, when her son-in-law arrives to ask some pointed questions about his spouse's childhood, after a revelation has changed the nature of their relationship.

Old Names for Wildflowers

by Else Went

Synopsis

In a clearing in a wood, a handsome fox stalks the Aubert's home, where Elizabeth's four daughters find desire at odds with duty, and all the while the pastor talks of hell.

In a clearing in a wood, a handsome fox stalks the Aubert's home, where Elizabeth's four daughters find desire at odds with duty, and all the while the pastor talks of hell.

Three Seconds

by Else Went

Synopsis

Is loneliness something in the blood? Or is it something in the air? In 1906, Emory is preparing himself to take over as lighthouse keeper after his father Lorin retires when the San Francisco earthquake brings his brother Lo back home with nothing but a fiancee and faith that something will turn up. In the present, Emory, the "great great great whatever" of Lorin, tends the lighthouse museum. As the play...

Is loneliness something in the blood? Or is it something in the air? In 1906, Emory is preparing himself to take over as lighthouse keeper after his father Lorin retires when the San Francisco earthquake brings his brother Lo back home with nothing but a fiancee and faith that something will turn up. In the present, Emory, the "great great great whatever" of Lorin, tends the lighthouse museum. As the play progresses, tidally shifting back and forth across a century, Emory meets the only person who could inspire him to change his fate.

Courage! To The Field!

by Else Went

Synopsis

Courage! To The Field! is an alternate-history-play. As brand new characters and old favorites alike bump up against the edges of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Courage! frames a wild conversation with The Bard himself, in which unnamed messengers, vengeful tapsters, and neglected wives turn history inside-out and make it their own. With disguises, swordplay, romance, fiddles, hijinks, and more – history is theatre...

Courage! To The Field! is an alternate-history-play. As brand new characters and old favorites alike bump up against the edges of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Courage! frames a wild conversation with The Bard himself, in which unnamed messengers, vengeful tapsters, and neglected wives turn history inside-out and make it their own. With disguises, swordplay, romance, fiddles, hijinks, and more – history is theatre, and it belongs to everyone.

Through Tears, A Cherry Orchard

by Else Went

Synopsis

Unfinished.
The Cherry Orchard, except the revolution comes early.

Unfinished.
The Cherry Orchard, except the revolution comes early.

Saving Throw

by Else Went

Synopsis

The second part of a big play about growing up in the new millennium.

The second part of a big play about growing up in the new millennium.

Boxcar

by Else Went

Synopsis

Ida and Firefly ran away together when they were kids. Since then, they've kept running, living on empty trains and traveling across the American landscape, seeking nothing and leaving nothing behind. Alexis is a teen runaway with a romantic notion of freedom. When she hops on a train one night, she comes face to face with the reality. As the weeks pass, Ida and Alexis develop a powerful bond that threatens to...

Ida and Firefly ran away together when they were kids. Since then, they've kept running, living on empty trains and traveling across the American landscape, seeking nothing and leaving nothing behind. Alexis is a teen runaway with a romantic notion of freedom. When she hops on a train one night, she comes face to face with the reality. As the weeks pass, Ida and Alexis develop a powerful bond that threatens to knock everything off track.

They Stay Together

by Else Went

Synopsis

An ungendered romance in one scene. Cay and Val haven't been completely honest with one another. Cay and Val haven't been completely honest with themselves. Tonight, they will be. While waiting for pizza, a couple revolutionizes their relationship by risking it.

*the script for this play is not available for inquiry at this time*

An ungendered romance in one scene. Cay and Val haven't been completely honest with one another. Cay and Val haven't been completely honest with themselves. Tonight, they will be. While waiting for pizza, a couple revolutionizes their relationship by risking it.

*the script for this play is not available for inquiry at this time*