Kara Hadden

Kara Hadden

Kara Hadden is a playwright based in Brooklyn. Her plays have been developed at Fresh Ink Theatre, Breadcrumbs Productions, STUDIO'62 at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale University, and Williams College; her work is upcoming at The Brick’s ?!:New Works Festival and the New York City Fringe. Kara has been a finalist for the YU Playwriting Fellowship (Central Square Theatre) and the Volt Playwriting Lab (...
Kara Hadden is a playwright based in Brooklyn. Her plays have been developed at Fresh Ink Theatre, Breadcrumbs Productions, STUDIO'62 at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale University, and Williams College; her work is upcoming at The Brick’s ?!:New Works Festival and the New York City Fringe. Kara has been a finalist for the YU Playwriting Fellowship (Central Square Theatre) and the Volt Playwriting Lab (Company One), and their play Pigeon House is a 2024 SheNYC semi-finalist. Kara holds a B.A. in Theatre and History from Williams College, where she was the 2023 recipient of the Hubbard Hutchinson Fellowship in Theatre.

Plays

  • Sonnets from a Sin-Eater
    Sin-eating is a ritual older than Jesus. It’s been practiced across the globe, but the version I’m doing comes from 17th-century Wales. In essence, you eat a meal off the chest of a dead person, and, in doing so, you absorb their sins. This allows the dead to transition easily into heaven, free from the weight of their mortal wrongdoings.

    Calgary, of course, has not died, so instead of eating...
    Sin-eating is a ritual older than Jesus. It’s been practiced across the globe, but the version I’m doing comes from 17th-century Wales. In essence, you eat a meal off the chest of a dead person, and, in doing so, you absorb their sins. This allows the dead to transition easily into heaven, free from the weight of their mortal wrongdoings.

    Calgary, of course, has not died, so instead of eating off her corpse, I’ll be meditating on her spirit—and internalizing her sins—as I eat this Taco Bell.

    An apology video. A shakespearean sonnet. A multimedia solo play about guilt, getting canceled, and detoxifying diets.
  • POPPER
    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
    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
    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....
    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
    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
    A lecture-performance about Simone Weil, divine self-sacrifice, horniness, and why we (don't) eat.
  • The Last Night of Our Lives
    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.