Monica Wood

MONICA WOOD is novelist, memoirist, and playwright, the 2024 recipient of the Hale Award for excellence in the literary arts in New England, the 2019 recipient of the Maine Humanities Council Carlson Prize for contributions to the public humanities, and the 2018 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Distinguished Achievement Award for contributions to the literary arts. In 2015 her first play, PAPERMAKER, debuted at Portland Stage, the theater's highest-grossing show in its 40-year history. The play has had eight subsequent productions in regional theaters, including Shadowland Stages in Ellenville, NY, and Chenango River Theatre in Greene, NY. Her second play, THE HALF-LIGHT, recently debuted at Portland Stage in 2019, its second highest-grossing show ever, and soon after the pandemic was...

MONICA WOOD is novelist, memoirist, and playwright, the 2024 recipient of the Hale Award for excellence in the literary arts in New England, the 2019 recipient of the Maine Humanities Council Carlson Prize for contributions to the public humanities, and the 2018 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Distinguished Achievement Award for contributions to the literary arts. In 2015 her first play, PAPERMAKER, debuted at Portland Stage, the theater's highest-grossing show in its 40-year history. The play has had eight subsequent productions in regional theaters, including Shadowland Stages in Ellenville, NY, and Chenango River Theatre in Greene, NY. Her second play, THE HALF-LIGHT, recently debuted at Portland Stage in 2019, its second highest-grossing show ever, and soon after the pandemic was produced at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills. Her most recent novel, THE ONE-IN-A-MILLION BOY, has been translated into 20 languages in over 30 countries. Her third play, SAINT DAD, was also premiered at Portland Stage and also

read more

Scripts

Saint Dad

by Monica Wood

Cast Size
6
Genre
comedy

"Damn good payday, but you just sold your memories and your own dog won't look you in the face."
SAINT DAD is a warmhearted, serious comedy about family, gentrification, and belonging. Denise, Bud, and Suzanne have sold their childhood cottage on Greany Lake out from under their dying father ("a flatulent drunk who hates kids") to a rich out-of-stater. Now the lake has been discovered by other wealthy buyers...

"Damn good payday, but you just sold your memories and your own dog won't look you in the face."
SAINT DAD is a warmhearted, serious comedy about family, gentrification, and belonging. Denise, Bud, and Suzanne have sold their childhood cottage on Greany Lake out from under their dying father ("a flatulent drunk who hates kids") to a rich out-of-stater. Now the lake has been discovered by other wealthy buyers, starting a property grab that threatens to change the local culture for good. When dear old Dad recovers—either a miracle from God, or rotten luck, depending on which sibling you ask—the sibs scramble to hide their transgression by asking Leona, the new owner, to pose as the renter until they can safely break the news. A corporate exec used to running the show, Leona gets more than she can manage when her 18-year-old daughter bursts in ("You couldn't buy a place on the Cape like everybody else?") as the siblings are making their case. Over the course of a few hours, both the locals and the outsiders reckon with their mistakes, memories, and shared humanity.

read more

The Half-Light

by Monica Wood

2
Cast Size
4
Genre
drama,
romantic comedy

After a chance encounter with a flamboyant psychic, a college secretary asks herself a profound question: Can certain people be trained to see the dead? Iris's pursuit of an answer leads to a more earthbound challenge when her beloved colleague, Andrew, is suddenly felled by grief. Armed with her ow n intuition and the garrulous enthusiasm of her friend Helen, Iris attempts to coax Andrew back to the land of the...

After a chance encounter with a flamboyant psychic, a college secretary asks herself a profound question: Can certain people be trained to see the dead? Iris's pursuit of an answer leads to a more earthbound challenge when her beloved colleague, Andrew, is suddenly felled by grief. Armed with her ow n intuition and the garrulous enthusiasm of her friend Helen, Iris attempts to coax Andrew back to the land of the
living. As Iris tests her growing powers of perception, Helen faces off with her daughter, Teresa, an
alcoholic who believes her house is haunted. These four characters' entwined journeys all tilt
toward the same goal: to be fully seen in the light and the half-light by another living being.

read more

Papermaker

by Monica Wood

Cast Size
6
Genre
comedy,
drama,
political

Abbott Falls, Maine. 1989. A bitter strike at the paper mill has everyone on edge. Ernie Donahue,
the union VP, is building an ark for his dying wife as his son contemplates crossing the picket line.
Back in New York City, Henry McCoy, CEO of Atlantic Paper, discovers that his most formidable
opponent is not the Abbott Falls union but his daughter, who chooses this pressure-cooker
moment to address his fatherly...

Abbott Falls, Maine. 1989. A bitter strike at the paper mill has everyone on edge. Ernie Donahue,
the union VP, is building an ark for his dying wife as his son contemplates crossing the picket line.
Back in New York City, Henry McCoy, CEO of Atlantic Paper, discovers that his most formidable
opponent is not the Abbott Falls union but his daughter, who chooses this pressure-cooker
moment to address his fatherly failures. After a road trip goes alarmingly awry, these two wounded
families collide in the shadow of Ernie's ark. Told with compassion, warmth, and humor,
Papermaker has resonated profoundly with audiences who have felt the sting of industrial change.

read more