Kate Danley

Kate Danley

Kate Danley is a USA TODAY Bestselling author and thirty-year veteran of stage and screen with a B.S. in theatre from Towson University. She was one of four students to be named a Maryland Distinguished Scholar in the Arts. She sits on the board of Rain City Projects supporting local playwrights of the PNW.

She sold over a million books globally. She ranked as the #20 author on all of Amazon...
Kate Danley is a USA TODAY Bestselling author and thirty-year veteran of stage and screen with a B.S. in theatre from Towson University. She was one of four students to be named a Maryland Distinguished Scholar in the Arts. She sits on the board of Rain City Projects supporting local playwrights of the PNW.

She sold over a million books globally. She ranked as the #20 author on all of Amazon March 2014. Her debut novel, The Woodcutter (published by 47North) hit #6 on all of Amazon, was honored with the Garcia Award for the Best Fiction Book of the Year, 1st Place Fantasy Book in the Reader Views Literary Awards, and was the winner of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy category in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. It was aboard the Peregrine One on its mission to the moon as part of a lunar time capsule as part of Writers on the Moon. Her book Maggie for Hire spent five weeks on the USA Today Bestselling list as part of the boxed set Magic After Dark and is optioned for film and TV. Queen Mab was honored with the McDougall Previews Award for Best Fantasy Book of the Year and was named the 1st Place Fantasy Book in the Reader Views Reviewers Choice Awards.

Her plays have been produced nationally and internationally. Her first full-length play, BUILDING MADNESS, won the prestigious 2016 Panowski Playwriting Competition and was nominated for thirteen Broadway World regional awards. Her second full-length play, WORKING FOR CRUMBS (formerly BUREAUCRAZY), was a semi-finalist in the O'Neill National Playwriting Conference and a semi-finalist in the Moss Hart & Kitty Carlisle New Play Initiative. It received two Offie (Off West End) award nominations and two Broadway World UK/West End nominations for its Off-West End debut in London. POWER won Best of the Renegade Theatre Festival. KINGS OF THE WORLD won 3rd place in the 10x10x10 Festival. Her adaptation of Agatha Christie's MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES had its world premiere at Theatre in the Round, the oldest theatre in Minneapolis, and received sixteen Broadway World nominations. Her screenplay Fairy Blood won 1st Place in the Breckenridge Festival of Film Screenwriting Competition in the Action/Adventure Category and her screenplay American Privateer was a 2nd Round Choice in the Carl Sautter Memorial Screenwriting Competition. Her scripts The Playhouse, Dog Days, Sock Zombie, SuperPout, and Sports Scents can be seen in festivals and on the internet. She trained in on-camera puppetry with Mr. Snuffleupagus and played the head of a 20-foot dinosaur on an NBC pilot. She has over 300+ film, theatre, and television credits to her name. She lost on Hollywood Squares. ww.katedanley.com

Plays

  • A Spirited Manor - A Victorian Penny Dreadful
    FULL LENGTH - Victorian supernatural

    A grieving widow. A house with secrets. And an invitation to a seance...

    When Clara O'Hare's husband passed away, she felt her life was over. But when she moves into a new home to escape the memories, she discovers that she may not be alone...

    Desperate to find answers, she attends a séance in a remote country home...
    FULL LENGTH - Victorian supernatural

    A grieving widow. A house with secrets. And an invitation to a seance...

    When Clara O'Hare's husband passed away, she felt her life was over. But when she moves into a new home to escape the memories, she discovers that she may not be alone...

    Desperate to find answers, she attends a séance in a remote country home surrounded by a colorful cast of strangers. But something sinister has decided to make itself known. It will be up to her and medium, Wesley Lowenherz, to find out what the spirits of the manor are dying to tell them.

    Laced with gothic romance and paranormal mystery, A Spirited Manor is a fast-paced adventure that examines the journey from grief to purpose, and the return to life after loss.
  • Building Madness! a 1930s Screwball Comedy
    FULL LENGTH Screwball Comedy

    - WINNER - PANOWSKI PLAYWRITING AWARD
    - NOMINATED FOR THIRTEEN BROADWAY WORLD REGIONAL AWARDS

    The year is 1930. The stock market has just crashed. Max and Paul are just trying to keep their architecture company afloat, but they accidentally hired the mob to build a police retirement home. With the "help" of their dizzy secretary,...
    FULL LENGTH Screwball Comedy

    - WINNER - PANOWSKI PLAYWRITING AWARD
    - NOMINATED FOR THIRTEEN BROADWAY WORLD REGIONAL AWARDS

    The year is 1930. The stock market has just crashed. Max and Paul are just trying to keep their architecture company afloat, but they accidentally hired the mob to build a police retirement home. With the "help" of their dizzy secretary, Trixie, they may never get the project done, but they are most definitely building madness.
  • Madam(e)
    IN DEVELOPMENT

    FULL LENGTH - A play about the contributions of Madame Lou Grant to the city of Seattle. Though a "Founding Mother" and major player in the creation of the town, she has been erased from the history books because of her trade.
  • The Mysterious Affair at Styles
    FULL LENGTH - murder mystery adaptation
    -Nominated for Sixteen Broadway World Regional Awards
    -Best of 2022 - Play Off the Page
    -Critics' Pick - Star Tribune

    This faithful, new adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES introduces audiences to the first mystery of Hercule Poirot.

    The year is 1916 and, injured in WWI,...
    FULL LENGTH - murder mystery adaptation
    -Nominated for Sixteen Broadway World Regional Awards
    -Best of 2022 - Play Off the Page
    -Critics' Pick - Star Tribune

    This faithful, new adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES introduces audiences to the first mystery of Hercule Poirot.

    The year is 1916 and, injured in WWI, Hastings finds himself convalescing at the manor of his old friend, John Cavendish. But when John's mother is poisoned in the middle of the night, everyone becomes a suspect. The only person who can solve the crime is none other than the famed Belgium detective, Hercule Poirot.

    Agatha Christie's gifts of misdirection are on full display as red herrings, twists, and turns lead the audience on a dizzying journey to find out whodunnit.
  • Power
    Overall Winner of Renegade N.O.W.

    FULL LENGTH

    On the surface, "Power" appears to be a simple locked-room drama. Tucker and Alice are throwing a dinner party. Tucker works for Dean and believes someone at the company is embezzling money. Tucker falls for Dean's wife, Betty. Dean and Tucker's wife, Alice, are having an affair. Everyone is caught....
    Overall Winner of Renegade N.O.W.

    FULL LENGTH

    On the surface, "Power" appears to be a simple locked-room drama. Tucker and Alice are throwing a dinner party. Tucker works for Dean and believes someone at the company is embezzling money. Tucker falls for Dean's wife, Betty. Dean and Tucker's wife, Alice, are having an affair. Everyone is caught. Relationships fall apart. Dinner is a disaster.

    But this play is not about the words.

    This play is an exploration of status. "Power" is an ambiguous dialogue. Each night in front of the audience, the cast pulls their status relationships from a hat and must then leap immediately into the play. The entire show exists in the subtext and discoveries happening in real time based upon the luck of the draw. One night, an actor will be the most powerful person on stage, the next night, they will be the outcast. Every show is completely different from performance to performance. Dynamics are fluid, moments are discovered, and the result is a show which is immensely alive.

    Power isn't about what is being said… it is about everything else.
  • Queen Mab - A Fantasy Retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
    FULL LENGTH FANTASY

    When Faunus, the god of daydreams, breaks the heart of the fairy Queen Mab, revenge can be the only answer. Using the most powerful families in Verona, they wage their war against one another.

    But when Queen Mab falls in love with a man named Mercutio, she will do anything, even if it means destroying the world, to save him. Will it be enough to stop the...
    FULL LENGTH FANTASY

    When Faunus, the god of daydreams, breaks the heart of the fairy Queen Mab, revenge can be the only answer. Using the most powerful families in Verona, they wage their war against one another.

    But when Queen Mab falls in love with a man named Mercutio, she will do anything, even if it means destroying the world, to save him. Will it be enough to stop the tragedy? Or only spur it forward to its terrible end?

    Weaving Shakespeare's original text and Kate’s award-winning fantasy book into a new stage play, experience the romance and passion of Romeo & Juliet from a different point of view - through the bringer of dreams... Queen Mab.
  • Working for Crumbs - A Dead Body Farce
    FULL LENGTH Workplace Farce

    "9-to-5 Meets Weekend at Bernie's"

    -Nominated for two OFFIES (Off West End Awards)
    -Nominated for two BroadwayWorld UK / West End Awards
    -Semifinalist Hart NPI
    -Semifinalist Eugene O'Neill National Playwriting Competition
    -Semifinalist 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival

    Grace and Amy, two...
    FULL LENGTH Workplace Farce

    "9-to-5 Meets Weekend at Bernie's"

    -Nominated for two OFFIES (Off West End Awards)
    -Nominated for two BroadwayWorld UK / West End Awards
    -Semifinalist Hart NPI
    -Semifinalist Eugene O'Neill National Playwriting Competition
    -Semifinalist 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival

    Grace and Amy, two outrageous admins, are living for the crumbs of their soul-sucking jobs. But when calamity strikes and their boss chokes on an oatmeal raisin cookie, it sets off a domino-effect of destruction that brings down the corporate house.

    (Working for Crumbs was formerly titled BureauCRAZY)
  • The Grand Delusion - A Modern Tragedy of Reality
    ONE ACT - Society tells us to cast off our fear and follow our dreams. It tells us that the ability to change our fate lies in our own hands. But what if you're really bad at the thing you love? A wry tragedy of one man who should never have quit his day job.
  • The Camera, The Gerbil, and the Big, Wide World
    20-MINUTE SHORT

    A nostalgic journey through a childhood friendship, and how a camera and a gerbil made the world huge and wonderful.
  • Dating's A Beast Cycle
    20-MINUTES

    Three short pieces - Meet the Family, Mystery Date, and Dating Sucks - combined in one cycle to be interspersed throughout an evening of short plays.

    Sue likes the bad boys, but what happens when she starts bringing real monsters home to meet the family?
  • Cue
    SHORT

    John and Mary are in the middle of a romantic scene, but have to scramble when their scene partner keeps missing his cue. Yes! Let's figure out how the show will go on!
  • Divine Intervention
    SHORT

    An artist struggles to follow her dreams, but finds herself up against the "divine plan." Divine Intervention is a comedic examination of the messages society gives to women and the struggle to not just succeed, but succeed when up against the idea of a crippling cosmic power forcing one into an unwanted, predetermined fate.
  • Hitchers
    "Very funny, very original and horridly amusing. " - Alvina Ruprecht, Capitol Critics' Circle

    SHORT - What happens when two serial killers pick each other up on a lonely road? Sometimes the best friendships are forged in the most unusual circumstances...

    co-written by Kate Danley and Joe Purcell
  • The Interview
    SHORT - We all know job interviews are an exercise in white lies, but what if people spoke the truth? Mary and John are about to get honest about what's really going on.
  • Kill Them With Kindness
    SHORT - They say laughter is the best medicine. Sometimes it's not.
  • Kings of the World
    3rd Place in the 10x10x10 Festival at Fells Point Corner Theater

    SHORT - Jeff and Bud have all the solutions to the world's problems... if only they could get off their bar stools.
  • Lovey Dovey
    Short Comedy

    John and Mary love each other. They love everything about each other. But perhaps you can take lovey dovey talk too far.
  • Margie's Interview
    SHORT - The local elementary school needs a new arts and crafts teacher. A local lumberjack needs a new job.
  • Meet the Family
    SHORT - Sue has a habit of dating monsters, but what happens when she brings a REAL monster home to meet the family?
  • Mystery Date
    SHORT - Sue is the worst about dating men who are absolute monsters. Who will she bring home to meet her family this time?

    NOTE: This piece stands alone, but is also a companion piece to Meet The Family.
  • Socks
    SHORT - John just needs to buy a pair of socks before an important meeting, but if shopgirl Mary has her way, he will end up in quite a pair.
  • Staging
    SHORT - A family is trying to sell their house, but they don't quite understand the concept of staging.
  • Stiff Upper Lip
    SHORT - The year is 1890. Amelia's house has been hit by a tornado. Or was it a freight train? As Amelia and her butler, George, spar, this short, dark comedy grapples with the blinders of society, the lies we tell, and the lies we accept.
  • True Love
    SHORT

    "If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?" Well, Sue has decided to do just that.
  • The True Meaning of Christmas
    HOLIDAY SHORT - Four mall employees try to plan the theme for the Santa's Corner picture area. But in this world of crass commercialism, will they be able to figure out the true meaning of Christmas? Probably not.
  • War on Christmas
    HOLIDAY SHORT

    In a world where the Easter Bunny is trying to declare war on Christmas, only one man can save us! A snow man. Get ready this December for THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS!
  • My Zombie Valentine
    SHORT HOLIDAY COMEDY

    The only defense against the mindless horde is the most mindless of holidays
  • The Enigma
    MONOLOGUE

    Some philosophies tout that we have the power to reshape the universe with our thoughts. But what if it goes wrong?
  • Old Fashioned Girl
    MONOLOGUE

    Penny Dryer is out on a blind date. Will this old-fashioned bookworm find love?
  • Real Boy
    MONOLOGUE - A man breaks up with a marble statue in this dark comedic monologue about finding real love.

    NOTE: This monologue was inspired by a friend kissing a statue
  • Do You Have the Time?
    ONE MINUTE

    Two people stand on a train platform. One person asks for the time. And thus begins their spiral into hilarious madness.
  • Women's History Month PSA
    ONE MINUTE

    A PSA about how to honor the women in your life this Women's History Month
  • Groupon-for-Two
    ZOOM SHORT

    Mary thought she was signing up for a romantic "cooking for two" experience when she bought the Groupon. But she should have read the description closer.
  • Mute
    ZOOM SHORT

    Two friends meet up for a Zoom call, if only they can figure out how to unmute themselves.

    This short comedic piece for Zoom provides opportunity for movement and leaving the screen to use the space beyond.
  • Telebomb
    ZOOM SHORT

    A Zoom coordinator is in charge of a telecom conference on Zoom. But the trolls are always waiting...

    Written for Zoom, this quick, funny monologue provides opportunities for movement and use of space beyond the computer screen.