Aleta Barthell

Aleta Barthell is a playwright, screenwriter and teacher. Aleta recently received a grant from the William Male Foundation to write her first draft of MY OWN WILDERNESS at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony.

In 2020, Aleta received funding from California Humanities to produce a project called SAVING STORIES: A Toolkit in the Age of Covid-19. The project paired individuals isolated in assisted and skilled nursing facilities with San Diego dramatists who wrote dramatic monologues based on their lives that were shared with the community through New Village Arts Theatre's Virtual Arts Program.

Her play, WINDOW OF SHAME, was a finalist for the 2020-2021 National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill Center. The same play was also a finalist for the 2016 HUMANITAS/CTG Playwriting Prize. Her...

Aleta Barthell is a playwright, screenwriter and teacher. Aleta recently received a grant from the William Male Foundation to write her first draft of MY OWN WILDERNESS at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony.

In 2020, Aleta received funding from California Humanities to produce a project called SAVING STORIES: A Toolkit in the Age of Covid-19. The project paired individuals isolated in assisted and skilled nursing facilities with San Diego dramatists who wrote dramatic monologues based on their lives that were shared with the community through New Village Arts Theatre's Virtual Arts Program.

Her play, WINDOW OF SHAME, was a finalist for the 2020-2021 National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill Center. The same play was also a finalist for the 2016 HUMANITAS/CTG Playwriting Prize. Her play, NIGHT WITCHES: FLIGHT INTO FANTASY, was a part of the New Village Arts Theatre’s “2019 Final Draft Festival.”

Aleta is the founder of the unique youth theater education program, Kids Act, which served youth all over North County San Diego for over fifteen years. She was also a teaching artist with Playwrights Project—teaching playwriting at schools all over San Diego County.

Co-founder of a program at New Village Arts Theatre that features neurodiverse performers, Aleta has created several scripts to feature these performers and give them a chance to shine— THE LITTLE PRINCE, SECRET SUPERHEROES, THE GREAT SMELLY SLOBBERY SMALL TOOTH DOG, STELLALUNA and THE MECHANICALS.

Aleta holds a Bachelor in Science from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) and has trained at British American Drama Academy (Oxford, England); and Shakespeare and Company (Lenox, MA). She studied playwriting and screenwriting at UCSD, Dramatists Guild Institute and the Kennedy Center Intensive.

Aleta is currently developing a television series about the 12th century queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, for which she received a grant to study source material in Paris through the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Aleta serves as an Ambassador for the Dramatists Guild in San Diego.

Scripts

THE DOWAGERS

by Aleta Barthell

Synopsis

In this comedy, Duchess Rosalind has created the perfect sanctuary at Fleur Abbey for women of a "certain age." Perfect...until Duke Sertitude barrels in and demands that one of them marries him. Rebuked with a definitive "no" from the squad, the Duke is soon to learn about manners, love and how to live with others.

In this comedy, Duchess Rosalind has created the perfect sanctuary at Fleur Abbey for women of a "certain age." Perfect...until Duke Sertitude barrels in and demands that one of them marries him. Rebuked with a definitive "no" from the squad, the Duke is soon to learn about manners, love and how to live with others.

THE MECHANICALS

by Aleta Barthell

Synopsis

Long-time campers at Camp Bobindaweeds are asked to play an eclectic group of
amateur actors in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. Not only do they learn how to
perform Shakespeare, they find out how to follow their dreams and fall in
love.

Long-time campers at Camp Bobindaweeds are asked to play an eclectic group of
amateur actors in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. Not only do they learn how to
perform Shakespeare, they find out how to follow their dreams and fall in
love.

NIGHT WITCHES: FLIGHT INTO FANTASY

by Aleta Barthell

Synopsis

NIGHT WITCHES: Flight into Fantasy
Gliding silently through the sky with engines idled, an all-female WWII Russian air-regiment drops bombs on their German targets with precision clockwork all night long. When the commander, Irina, is hit and forced to land behind enemy lines, she weaves her way through hostile territory, both real and fantastic, hoping to find her way back home to her regiment…if it is still...

NIGHT WITCHES: Flight into Fantasy
Gliding silently through the sky with engines idled, an all-female WWII Russian air-regiment drops bombs on their German targets with precision clockwork all night long. When the commander, Irina, is hit and forced to land behind enemy lines, she weaves her way through hostile territory, both real and fantastic, hoping to find her way back home to her regiment…if it is still there.

WINDOW OF SHAME

by Aleta Barthell

Synopsis

In 1834, Doctor and Madame LaLaurie are famous in the French Quarter for their elegant parties in their resplendent home, but suspicions arise after a young slave woman jumps to her death, leaving Sally, the cook who is chained in the kitchen, to risk her own life to expose the horrifying secret that lives upstairs.

Drama, based on a New Orleans' ghost story.

In 1834, Doctor and Madame LaLaurie are famous in the French Quarter for their elegant parties in their resplendent home, but suspicions arise after a young slave woman jumps to her death, leaving Sally, the cook who is chained in the kitchen, to risk her own life to expose the horrifying secret that lives upstairs.

Drama, based on a New Orleans' ghost story.