Kara Hadden

Kara Hadden

Kara is a writer and dramaturg based in Brooklyn, NY. Their plays have been presented at The Brick, New York City Fringe, Fresh Ink Theatre, Breadcrumbs Productions, STUDIO'62 at Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Celebration Barn, Hopkinton Center for the Arts, and Yale University. Kara has served as a historical consultant for television projects in development with Jeff Augustin, Apple TV, Hulu, and...
Kara is a writer and dramaturg based in Brooklyn, NY. Their plays have been presented at The Brick, New York City Fringe, Fresh Ink Theatre, Breadcrumbs Productions, STUDIO'62 at Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Celebration Barn, Hopkinton Center for the Arts, and Yale University. Kara has served as a historical consultant for television projects in development with Jeff Augustin, Apple TV, Hulu, and Element Pictures. They have dramaturged new work at The Brick, Whitney Center for the Arts, Williams College, and Ohio State University.

Kara is the 2023-24 Hubbard Hutchinson Fellow in Theatre. Other recognitions include the Queerly Award at NYC Fringe, Dunbar Writing Prize, Graver Prize in Theatre Criticism, and Bullock Poetry Prize. She has been a finalist for SheNYC, Spectrum Theater Ensemble’s New Play Festival, Central Square Theatre’s YU Playwriting Fellowship, Company One's Volt Lab, and First Kiss Theatre's Summer Residency.

Kara holds a B.A. in History and Theatre from Williams College, where she graduated magna cum laude.

Plays

  • Sonnets from a Sin-Eater by Kara Hadden
    Cast: 
    1–3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: cancel culture, multimedia + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, experimental, verse
    Keyword: cancel culture, multimedia, solo play, Influencer, wlw
    An apology video. A shakespearean sonnet. A multimedia solo play about guilt, getting canceled, and detoxifying diets.
  • POPPER by Kara Hadden
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 5 more
    ·
    Keyword: Lesbian, dyke + 4 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, docudrama/historic, experimental, parody/spoof, romantic comedy, satire
    Keyword: Lesbian, dyke, wlw, gay bar, documentary, archive
    Co-created with Ryan Howzell.

    Ryan is a labor organizer fulfilling a decade-old sexual fantasy. Kara is a scientist who has just made a field-shaking discovery. Both believe in outing celebrities. Neither is pro-gun.

    A stage reimagining of the landmark news show DykeTV, POPPER follows two dykes’ quest — through interviews, the scientific method, and lots of explosions — to ensure that love REALLY wins.
  • Pigeon House by Kara Hadden
    Cast: 
    9
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy
    ·
    Keyword: wealth, class + 5 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy
    Keyword: wealth, class, femininity, motherhood, death, age, womanhood
    Two Lindas, steamy rumors, depressed undergrads, oh my! I’ve a feeling we’re not in 1899 Louisiana anymore. No wait. I’ve a feeling we’re not in *book club* anymore. Or are we…? Bring out the Trader Joe’s apps, ladies, and pour yourself another glass of sauv blanc. A sort-of adaptation of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Pigeon House explores the ways that wealthy suburban womanhood begins and ends lives.
  • Jenny's Doll Hospital by Kara Hadden
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, melodrama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: LGBTQ, drag + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, melodrama, musical, tragedy
    Keyword: LGBTQ, drag, Dolls, lesbians
    Music by Sara Stebbins.

    It's a lesbian tale as old as lesbian time: Jenny meets Jane. Jane floors Jenny. Jenny moves in with Jane after one gorgeous, wild night together. Jane runs a doll hospital. Jenny learns to repair dolls. Something happens to Jane (Sorry! No spoilers....). Jenny's left to operate the hospital alone—well, alone if you don't count the piles of broken dolls...
    Music by Sara Stebbins.

    It's a lesbian tale as old as lesbian time: Jenny meets Jane. Jane floors Jenny. Jenny moves in with Jane after one gorgeous, wild night together. Jane runs a doll hospital. Jenny learns to repair dolls. Something happens to Jane (Sorry! No spoilers....). Jenny's left to operate the hospital alone—well, alone if you don't count the piles of broken dolls lying around, waiting to be fixed.

    A dragged-up musical-in-progress about devotion, brokenness, and who we see as human, Jenny's Doll Hospital explores just how much of ourselves we will (or should) sacrifice in order to heal the one we love.
  • Self Made by Kara Hadden
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama, fantasy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: queer, LGBTQ + 7 more
    Genre: drama, fantasy, political, romantic comedy
    Keyword: queer, LGBTQ, camp, Lesbian, identity, future, gender, love, college
    Everything is impossible until it isn’t. Your straight crush could end up crushing back. Your experimental play could make you fifty thousand dollars. Pete Buttigieg could actually be gay.

    Set in 2019 and 2020, Self Made follows the romantic relationship between two college seniors, as they struggle to figure out the kind of people they want to become.
  • la grande douleur by Kara Hadden
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 1 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, experimental
    A lecture-performance about Simone Weil, divine self-sacrifice, horniness, and why we (don't) eat.
  • The Last Night of Our Lives by Kara Hadden
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: high school, end of the world + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy, young audiences
    Keyword: high school, end of the world, apocalypse, friends, queer, queer friendships
    It's a school night, and seventeen-year-old Anika has a biiiiig history project due tomorrow. But when her best friend Laci calls her claiming that Co-Star has predicted the end of the world, Anika is dragged into a night of hot dogs, college parties, grimy make outs, and a confrontation with what she has wanted all along.