Kara Hadden

Kara is a writer, dramaturg, and producer based in Brooklyn, NY. Their plays have been developed at The Brick, The Tank, NYC Fringe, Brooklyn Art Haus, Fresh Ink Theatre, Wunderbar, Williams/Williamstown Theatre Festival, 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 current Marketing Fellow at Playwrights Horizons. Other recognitions include the Celebration Barn’s Creative Producing Fellowship, Hutchinson Fellowship in Theatre, Queerly Award at NYC Fringe, Dunbar Writing Prize, Graver Prize in Theatre Criticism, and Bullock Poetry Prize. They...

Kara is a writer, dramaturg, and producer based in Brooklyn, NY. Their plays have been developed at The Brick, The Tank, NYC Fringe, Brooklyn Art Haus, Fresh Ink Theatre, Wunderbar, Williams/Williamstown Theatre Festival, 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 current Marketing Fellow at Playwrights Horizons. Other recognitions include the Celebration Barn’s Creative Producing Fellowship, Hutchinson Fellowship in Theatre, Queerly Award at NYC Fringe, Dunbar Writing Prize, Graver Prize in Theatre Criticism, and Bullock Poetry Prize. They have been a finalist for Spectrum Theater Ensemble’s New Play Festival, Central Square Theatre’s YU Playwriting Fellowship, Company One's Volt Lab, First Kiss Theater’s Summer Residency, and SheNYC.

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

Scripts

Sonnets from a Sin-Eater

by Kara Hadden

Synopsis

An apology video. A shakespearean sonnet. A multimedia solo play about guilt, getting canceled, and detoxifying diets.

An apology video. A shakespearean sonnet. A multimedia solo play about guilt, getting canceled, and detoxifying diets.

Jenny's Doll Hospital

by Kara Hadden

Synopsis

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...

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.

An experimental chamber musical 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.

POPPER

by Kara Hadden

Synopsis

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.

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

Synopsis

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.

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.

la grande douleur

by Kara Hadden

Synopsis

A lecture-performance about Simone Weil, divine self-sacrifice, horniness, and why we (don't) eat.

A lecture-performance about Simone Weil, divine self-sacrifice, horniness, and why we (don't) eat.

Self Made

by Kara Hadden

Synopsis

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.

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.

The Last Night of Our Lives

by Kara Hadden

Synopsis

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.

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.