Sam Kebede

O'Neill Finalist '26
Set during the Plagues of Moses, Desta and Yakob are not the main characters of the traditional Biblical tale. As the Nile runs with blood and pharoah sits in indecision, this enslaved couple must endure the worst time in history. While still raising a daughter and having a fulfilling work-life balance. Sound familiar?

The classic tale performed with only Three Performers (Race/Gender blind). There's magic, music, comedy, and more, all while keeping to the original story.

O'Neill 2019 Semifinalist, World Premiere at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, produced by Definition Theater Company
Winner, Black Theater Alliance Best New Play Award
From the outside in, the american dream is not something that's given but rather something that is earned. And Girma and Elizabeth Kifle earned it. They immigrated from Ethiopia, had two kids, and even have a white picket fence outside their apartment. But all it takes is one bad day for everything to change. In this unnervingly charming family tragedy, the heart of the first generation african experience is exposed and the blood of abuse rushes to every vein.

A Take on Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, Uncle Brown follows a black family in the 1930s south. All the existentialism and repression of Pre-Lenin Russia exchanged for the externalism and repression of the Jim Crow South. But with humor and a few other liberties

Did you know there has never been an all-black cast comedy play on Broadway? There have been musicals, there have been dramas, but there's never been a full comedy. This is the story of what could be the first one. And it's a farce.

Loosely based on the family of Alex Dumas, this story begins with the end of slavery and takes us through to the end of the Haitian Revolution. Imbued with Haitian religion, lore, language, and dance, we see the titans of Haitian history grapple with what is necessary for liberty while struggling to hold on to what they want most.

After the fall of Rome, the illuminati realizes that they can no longer tolerate the influx of foreigners and decides to set on a campaign to eliminate all people of color. But once they're successful they find that they miss the sweet sexy labor of black people, and decide to create their own from scratch. The rest is as Kafka intended in this adaptation of his magnum opus The Metamorphosis.

In this two hander play, we follow a couple from their first date to their breakup over three years. There's joy, there's pain, there's a pandemic.

A great piece for scene study as well as production.

Two black femme podcasters have their whole worlds turned around when they come in contact with Elon Musk, and his insatiable desire for human flesh.
Please request for full script. Currently in edits as of 3/10/25

A Black man wrote a play about killing all white people. Then someone killed white people. Now he stands trial for class A-1 felony in this examination of hate, retribution, and how far we're willing to go in the fight against white supremacy.

After overcoming the hurdles of her race and sexuality, Lauren Yang has risen to the seat of Artistic Director at one of the most prominent theater development centers in the country. Now in her second year, she has decided to invite established white playwright Charles Lenighan to showcase his newest play about the Black Lives Matter Movement. But following the marches in Charlottesville, he has decided to change his Black Lives Matter play into an All Lives Matter play, the day before the first table read. Now the theater must struggle with premiering the world's first Alt-right play.