Alexis Roblan

Alexis Roblan

Originally from the rural Oregon coast, Alexis Roblan was raised on dense forests, cold beaches, and X-Files internet fan culture, all of which bred in her a dark sense of humor and an acute sense of existential anxiety. She earned her MFA in Dramatic Writing from the University of Southern California, and has written plays about theoretical physics, alien abductions, childhood monsters, centaur fetishes, Russo...
Originally from the rural Oregon coast, Alexis Roblan was raised on dense forests, cold beaches, and X-Files internet fan culture, all of which bred in her a dark sense of humor and an acute sense of existential anxiety. She earned her MFA in Dramatic Writing from the University of Southern California, and has written plays about theoretical physics, alien abductions, childhood monsters, centaur fetishes, Russo-American politics, and the shifting nature of reality. Those plays include RED EMMA & THE MAD MONK (New York Times Critic's Pick; 6 New York Innovative Theatre Award nominations), DAUGHTERS OF LOT (Edinburgh Fringe), YOU FEEL SO FAR AWAY RIGHT NOW (Finalist, O'Neill National Playwrights Conference), THE ANDREW PLAY (Thomas Barbour Playwrights Award), and SAMUEL (Grant recipient, NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre; Finalist, Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission; “superb” – Helen Shaw, for Vulture). Alexis has been supported and produced by theatre companies including Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, Ars Nova, The Bushwick Starr, The Tank, Exquisite Corpse Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, New Perspectives Theatre Company, The Dennis & Victoria Ross Foundation, and more. Credits for the screen include the series “Guidance” (2017) and “Love Daily” (2018 WGA Award nominee for Short Form New Media – Original); and feature horror film “Pasture” (2021). Alexis is a member of the 2023-2024 Writers’ Room at The Geffen Playhouse.

Plays

  • JAVELINA by Alexis Roblan
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    9
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: satire, transformation + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, experimental, satire
    Keyword: satire, transformation, film, dark comedy, existential, fascism
    Weeks into the filming of her first indie feature film, Ali (the writer) arrives on set in rural Texas and learns that a deer was killed because she wrote it into the script. And the killing has only just begun. A play, loosely based on reality, about moral culpability, death, movies, the souls of all living things, and how easy it is to decide that nothing means anything.
  • RED EMMA & THE MAD MONK by Alexis Roblan
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: American Musicals, 19th century America + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, experimental, musical, political, satire
    Keyword: American Musicals, 19th century America, 19th century Russia, 2016 presidential election, Putin, Rasputin, Emma Goldman, political assassination, internet, political activism
    Mystics, anarchists, Russians and “snowflakes” swirl in this sinister, absurd new musical about political action and what it means to stand up for one’s beliefs in the face of oppression, confusion, and “interference.”

    In the first few months of 2017, 12 year-old Addison has a lot of questions about the world — and very little parental supervision. Her best (imaginary) friend is a turn-of-the-...
    Mystics, anarchists, Russians and “snowflakes” swirl in this sinister, absurd new musical about political action and what it means to stand up for one’s beliefs in the face of oppression, confusion, and “interference.”

    In the first few months of 2017, 12 year-old Addison has a lot of questions about the world — and very little parental supervision. Her best (imaginary) friend is a turn-of-the-19th-century Russian mystic, and her favorite pastime is fighting with deplorables on the internet. But when Addison starts to learn about another turn-of-the-century Russian — the American immigrant and Anarchist, Emma Goldman — she begins questioning the meaning of political action and just how far we should go to fight oppressive systems.
  • You Feel So Far Away Right Now by Alexis Roblan
    Recommendations: 8
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: dark comedy, romantic comedy
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    Keyword: fetish, rural + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: fetish, rural, small town, Oregon coast, Internet Dating, dating
    He’s into vore, she’s into centaurs (like, sexually). A dark comedy set in the isolating landscape of human relationships, and neighboring small towns on the Oregon coast.
  • Samuel by Alexis Roblan
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    6–7
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: Adult Siblings, memory + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, experimental, horror
    Keyword: Adult Siblings, memory, mystery, horror, comedy, absurd
    Wynette, Delia, Jane, and Charlie are four adult sisters who can’t seem to agree on anything. Did mom make sweet potatoes with marshmallows or thyme? What did Grandma’s face look like? As the women return to their childhood home, Charlie remembers a brother, named Samuel. Did he die, or never exist in the first place? Are there still monsters under the beds in this house?
    Am I one of them?
  • and it will all go up in flames by Alexis Roblan
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama, science fiction
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    Keyword: science, physics + 3 more
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    Keyword: science, physics, parallel universe, end of the world, metaphysical
    Beth and Liz are the same woman, born 10 years apart. Beth is 40, Liz is 30. Both are theoretical physicists: Beth is a professor, Liz a grad student. Beth is married to a teacher named Ryan who she's known for 20 years. Liz is dating a musician named Ryan who she's known a few months. And both women are learning that in an ever-changing reality, where even the laws of nature are proving to be less...
    Beth and Liz are the same woman, born 10 years apart. Beth is 40, Liz is 30. Both are theoretical physicists: Beth is a professor, Liz a grad student. Beth is married to a teacher named Ryan who she's known for 20 years. Liz is dating a musician named Ryan who she's known a few months. And both women are learning that in an ever-changing reality, where even the laws of nature are proving to be less and less steadfast and eternal, there is very little we can count on for any length of time.
  • OURS by Alexis Roblan
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    6–9
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 4 more
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    Keyword: alien abduction, trauma + 2 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, experimental, horror, mystery/thriller, science fiction
    Keyword: alien abduction, trauma, comedy, complicity
    Bob Sugarman’s story of repeated, horrific alien abductions was the inspiration for the 1994 blockbuster, Birds of Prey. Decades after the film, Bob is stumbling through a speaking tour, sharing his story with abductee support groups and imparting the lessons he’s learned from a lifetime of contact with our interplanetary visitors.

    Imagine the worst thing that could happen to you. Imagine it...
    Bob Sugarman’s story of repeated, horrific alien abductions was the inspiration for the 1994 blockbuster, Birds of Prey. Decades after the film, Bob is stumbling through a speaking tour, sharing his story with abductee support groups and imparting the lessons he’s learned from a lifetime of contact with our interplanetary visitors.

    Imagine the worst thing that could happen to you. Imagine it happening again and again. Imagine the release of just… giving in.

    A (mostly) one-person play (for 5+ voices) about responsibility, trauma, positive thinking, and aliens.
  • Liliya by Alexis Roblan
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 6 more
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    Keyword: absurdism, Russian + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, experimental, fable/folktale, farce, melodrama, movement/physical, satire
    Keyword: absurdism, Russian, multilingual, absurd farce, medical, magical realism
    Moscow, 2005. Lillian, an American college student, falls ill with a mysterious disease. At the private “American” clinic, her first doctor is Spanish and the second is Russian, and soon her British ex-boyfriend has arrived through the window. As accents and cultures collide almost farcically, and time slips forwards and backwards in loops, Lillian’s disease begins to mutate, causing new and different symptoms...
    Moscow, 2005. Lillian, an American college student, falls ill with a mysterious disease. At the private “American” clinic, her first doctor is Spanish and the second is Russian, and soon her British ex-boyfriend has arrived through the window. As accents and cultures collide almost farcically, and time slips forwards and backwards in loops, Lillian’s disease begins to mutate, causing new and different symptoms in each person it infects, turning the world topsy-turvy in its wake.
  • The Andrew Play by Alexis Roblan
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    7–10
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: grief, death + 3 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: grief, death, American Family, spirituality, siblings
    Andrew dies, suddenly. His little sister, Lena, is lost. His older sister, Kate, is pissed. A play about siblings, loss, the confusing poetry of grief, and who owns your memory when you’re gone.
  • Color Blue by Alexis Roblan
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: feminist, teenagers + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: feminist, teenagers, Violence against women, social commentary
    A pitch black comedy that transfers an incident from modern Somalia — the brutal rape and murder of two young women by Al Shabaab militants who wanted one of the girls to marry their commander — to a US middle school campus. As two 13-year-old girls skip class to get stoned, this light comedy laced with pop culture references shifts in fits and starts towards something darker, examining the common threads of...
    A pitch black comedy that transfers an incident from modern Somalia — the brutal rape and murder of two young women by Al Shabaab militants who wanted one of the girls to marry their commander — to a US middle school campus. As two 13-year-old girls skip class to get stoned, this light comedy laced with pop culture references shifts in fits and starts towards something darker, examining the common threads of misogyny experienced by women in disparate global cultures, and the ability of all societies to ignore this psychic and physical violence.