Kate Danley

FULL LENGTH - murder mystery adaptation

-Nominated for Sixteen Broadway World Regional Awards
-Highlight 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.

Note: Licensing is currently only available in the United States.

This faithful, new adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel MURDER ON THE LINKS introduces audiences to the second full-length mystery of Hercule Poirot.

Captain Hastings and the famed Belgium detective, Hercule Poirot, receive a desperate letter calling for help. A man believes that he is about to be murdered and needs them to save his life. But when they arrive, it is too late. His body has been found in the middle of a golf course. Thus begins a dizzying journey of deception and misdirection as only the Queen of Mystery herself, Agatha Christie, could create.

Note: Licensing is currently only available in the United States.

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.

IN DEVELOPMENT

FULL LENGTH - History is told by the victors and Seattle honors many of its founding fathers with roads, statues, and historical sites. But there was a founding mother who has been written out of the history books because of her trade - Madam Lou Graham. MADAM(E) LOU is a meticulously researched play that draws from primary and secondary sources to tell the history of this fascinating and forgotten woman, a prostitute that shaped Seattle forever.

Regina Mortilor is a vampire and she has to throw the best monster party ever or she'll be turned into a bat and lose Monster Manor. But when the bones of her skeleton pal are discovered, she and her friends will have to discover who was wicked enough to do it.

A monstrously fun, large-cast comedy for middle school performers by USA Today bestselling fantasy author, Kate Danley, where everyone gets to chew the scenery as their favorite Halloween creature!

WINNER - 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.

FULL LENGTH FANTASY
IN DEVELOPMENT

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.

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.

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)

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.

20-MINUTE SHORT

A nostalgic journey through a childhood friendship, and how a camera and a gerbil made the world huge and wonderful.

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?

10-MIN SHORT

This criminal might be one tough cookie, but once Mrs. Maple is done with him, he'll crumble like yesterday's biscuits.

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!

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.

"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

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.

SHORT - They say laughter is the best medicine. Sometimes it's not.

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.

Short Comedy

John and Mary love each other. They love everything about each other. But perhaps you can take lovey dovey talk too far.

SHORT - The local elementary school needs a new arts and crafts teacher. A local lumberjack needs a new job.

SHORT - Sue has a habit of dating monsters, but what happens when she brings a REAL monster home to meet the family?

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.

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.

SHORT - A family is trying to sell their house, but they don't quite understand the concept of staging.

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.

SHORT

"If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?" Well, Sue has decided to do just that.

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.

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!

SHORT HOLIDAY COMEDY

The only defense against the mindless horde is the most mindless of holidays

MONOLOGUE

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

MONOLOGUE

Luna, a crunchy granola narcissist who missed the whole point of self awareness, goes into the forest with her boyfriend to explain matters of life and death.

MONOLOGUE

Penny Dryer is out on a blind date. Will this old-fashioned bookworm find love?

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

ONE MINUTE

Two people stand on a train platform. One person asks for the time. And thus begins their spiral into hilarious madness.

ONE MINUTE

A PSA about how to honor the women in your life this Women's History Month

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.

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.

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.