Kristen Palmer

Kristen Palmer

KRISTEN PALMER’s plays have been produced and presented in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, and elsewhere. These include, Things You Can Do, Once Upon A Bride There Was a Forest, Westward Mutations, Local Story, Departures, The Stray Dog, All the Girls Love Bobby Kennedy and The Heart In Your Chest. Her plays are published by Broadway Play Publishing, Original Works, and Stage Partners. She is an alumna of...
KRISTEN PALMER’s plays have been produced and presented in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, and elsewhere. These include, Things You Can Do, Once Upon A Bride There Was a Forest, Westward Mutations, Local Story, Departures, The Stray Dog, All the Girls Love Bobby Kennedy and The Heart In Your Chest. Her plays are published by Broadway Play Publishing, Original Works, and Stage Partners. She is an alumna of the Women’s Project Lab, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab and has been a William Inge Playwright in Residence, Dakin Fellow at the Sewanee Playwright’s Conference, a Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis and a Dramatist Guild Fellow. She is a New Georges associate artist, and spent her 20s making theater as a company member of Printer’s Devil Theatre in Seattle.

She holds an MA from NYU’s Gallatin School where she worked with the Creative Arts Team and an MFA from Hunter College where she studied with Tina Howe and Mark Bly and won both the Zarkower and Goldberg Prizes. She has created theater and directed projects with youth in schools, prisons and community programs around the country and served as Artistic Director of Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater, Middletown, CT from 2013-2018. She currently teaches and directs at Central Connecticut State University.

Plays

  • Once Upon A Bride There Was A Forest by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: grief, absent father + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, fable/folktale, fantasy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: grief, absent father, love, Dark and Stormy
    After Warren proposes to Josie, she decides she must make one last attempt to find her long-lost father before she walks down the aisle. What she finds instead is a dangerous, seductive world of secrets and magic from which she may not want to escape. Once Upon a Bride There Was a Forest is a lyrical, haunting, and surprisingly funny fairy tale about children and parents, forgetting and remembering, and the...
    After Warren proposes to Josie, she decides she must make one last attempt to find her long-lost father before she walks down the aisle. What she finds instead is a dangerous, seductive world of secrets and magic from which she may not want to escape. Once Upon a Bride There Was a Forest is a lyrical, haunting, and surprisingly funny fairy tale about children and parents, forgetting and remembering, and the power of a good story to capture us or set us free.

    "Playwright Kristen Palmer crafts a contemporary fairytale that feels timeless. She gives us a classic hero’s journey and a variation on princess tales while subtly subverting and exploring classic tropes of the genre. Evil queens, magic spells, true love quests: Palmer touches on all these without patting herself on the back or spelling things out for the audience. She gives Once Upon A Bride... a dream-like feeling that weaves its own lyrical spell." Amanda LaPergola, Theatre is Easy
  • PERSEPHONE (a new myth for a hotter world) by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    6–14
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: climate crisis, global warming + 6 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, fable/folktale
    Keyword: climate crisis, global warming, hydraulic fracturing, oil, Sex & Death, mythology, ancient gods, ecofeminism
    A re-imagining of the Persephone myth into the era of climate collapse.
  • Mentors by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama
    Genre: drama
    Under investigation for allegations of sexual mis-conduct, David pays a visit to his former students, expectant parents, Jenna and Brian. The circumstances surrounding his need for a new position unfurl over drinks and dinner drawing the students and their teacher into a tangle of influence, artistic impulse and desire deeply wound through their present, pasts and futures.
  • LIFEGUARD by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: coming of age, female lead + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: coming of age, female lead, civic life, self-determination, youth
    Penny's a life guard, just graduated high school and is figuring what's next. Beatty's dropped out and hanging around the pool. Josh's swimming laps over his summer vacation from teaching high school English.

    A hyper-real dip into a moment of reckoning.
  • Another Dream by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    12–21
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Shakespeare, christianity + 4 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, verse
    Keyword: Shakespeare, christianity, LGBTQ, love, dreams, Radical Queer Faeries
    A re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream weaving a conservative Christian community, a commune of Radical Queer Faeries, trailer park boys, and art school drop outs into a theatrical event for today.

    The play follows the original, nearly scene for scene and launches straight into the action. Language-driven and embracing the setting of the Appalachian, Midsouthern states, we...
    A re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream weaving a conservative Christian community, a commune of Radical Queer Faeries, trailer park boys, and art school drop outs into a theatrical event for today.

    The play follows the original, nearly scene for scene and launches straight into the action. Language-driven and embracing the setting of the Appalachian, Midsouthern states, we follow the lovers, here Sandra and Mia on their escape to the promise of Richmond and a more liberal community. Their christian community’s rejection of their partnership leads them to the woods where they collide with Duke and Hicks. Duke is roiling over his ex Melli’s choice to raise their son in a Radical Queer Faerie commune and with his buddy Hicks (and a knowledge of psychedelics) he’s planning a humiliation and revenge.

    Amidst this, the Rude Mechanicals, here a performance art ensemble, are putting together a show for the Mayor’s wedding. The open call for acts assuring their first public audience - and an opportunity to launch their vision.

    Music, dance, spectacle and the magic of the original seeps into a new play for contemporary audiences (and artists).
  • Local Story by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: ensemble, coming home + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: ensemble, coming home, love and friendship
    D’lady returns home after years of wandering and expects everyone to greet her with open arms, instead her arrival is met with closed doors and accusations and she must figure out where she fits in the new landscape.

    "Hometown is a metaphor for the relationships that have made us who we are. Palmer's exploration of her characters' reasons for clinging to one another is like a...
    D’lady returns home after years of wandering and expects everyone to greet her with open arms, instead her arrival is met with closed doors and accusations and she must figure out where she fits in the new landscape.

    "Hometown is a metaphor for the relationships that have made us who we are. Palmer's exploration of her characters' reasons for clinging to one another is like a treasure map, giving up one clue at a time and concealing the reward till near the end. This map is well worth following, for it illuminates the mysteries of ordinary life and our hopes for happiness." Kat Chamberlain, ITN Review
  • Things You Can Do by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: environment, American suburbs + 5 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: environment, American suburbs, cryogenics, family, mother and daughter, climate change, global warming
    The over-achieving daughter, Stevie, returns home and falls through the ice. Her PhD has stalled as she witnesses its subject, the Cryosphere, disappear due to our warming climate. Coming home to the suburbs of Washington DC seeking a respite, she finds instead her mother and younger sister frozen in their own isolation. Overwhelmed by her sense of impotence to change anything globally Stevie's...
    The over-achieving daughter, Stevie, returns home and falls through the ice. Her PhD has stalled as she witnesses its subject, the Cryosphere, disappear due to our warming climate. Coming home to the suburbs of Washington DC seeking a respite, she finds instead her mother and younger sister frozen in their own isolation. Overwhelmed by her sense of impotence to change anything globally Stevie's attempts to impact her world locally seem equally unmanageable - until actions are taken - a kiss, a swim, a gun-shot - a connection.
  • Mysteries of the Unknown (an analog comedy) by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: workplace, conspiracy + 7 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: workplace, conspiracy, America, downsizing, veterans, Y2K, internet, books, white privilege
    In the year 2000, in New York City, Suze and Charlie answer phones at the TimeLife Books office. They fill orders for CD sets, Groovy Sounds of the 70s, Moody by Moonlight and other compilations. They process requests for books of general knowledge, including Folklore in America, The Sciences, History. They are being phased out, these easy to read summaries of the world’s information, and a new digital age...
    In the year 2000, in New York City, Suze and Charlie answer phones at the TimeLife Books office. They fill orders for CD sets, Groovy Sounds of the 70s, Moody by Moonlight and other compilations. They process requests for books of general knowledge, including Folklore in America, The Sciences, History. They are being phased out, these easy to read summaries of the world’s information, and a new digital age is on the horizon.

    All the rules have changed and yet, the cute white guy always ends up winning.

    A comedy about privilege in a world before smart phones.
  • The Heart In Your Chest by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: Dystopia, abuse of power + 3 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: Dystopia, abuse of power, failure of technology, surveillance, feminist
    The play opens in the parking lot of a disintegrating motel on the outskirt of the district. A group of agents put a plan in motion to locate Milla, a daughter of a dissident, reported to be dead. In one of the rooms she is being secretly kept by Clyde, one of the agents now charged with finding her. She is often addled from drug use, but is kindling the will to ask the questions no one is asking - why, who...
    The play opens in the parking lot of a disintegrating motel on the outskirt of the district. A group of agents put a plan in motion to locate Milla, a daughter of a dissident, reported to be dead. In one of the rooms she is being secretly kept by Clyde, one of the agents now charged with finding her. She is often addled from drug use, but is kindling the will to ask the questions no one is asking - why, who's orders, and where else could they go? The play pits coarse dialogue, familiar archetypes, and slapstick violence against heightened language and moments of serenity to ask serious questions about violence, individual agency and belief.
  • Departures by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: bittersweet love story, 1990s + 1 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: bittersweet love story, 1990s, college
    For Cara and Andrew it is the end of summer, the end of college, and the beginning of everything else but first they must say goodbye.


    "It's the oldest story in the world—boy meets girl, boy loves girl, boy loses girl—but it feels new again every time it happens to you. And as an audience member at Kristen Palmer's play Departures, you feel like it's happening to you...
    For Cara and Andrew it is the end of summer, the end of college, and the beginning of everything else but first they must say goodbye.


    "It's the oldest story in the world—boy meets girl, boy loves girl, boy loses girl—but it feels new again every time it happens to you. And as an audience member at Kristen Palmer's play Departures, you feel like it's happening to you all over again, because director Kyle Ancowitz's visceral production puts the audience in such intimate contact with the stage that you're (literally) trapped in the bedroom with a couple as they work out their relationship. The production makes physical the play's emotional subtext, its structural metaphors, in rich and powerful ways." - Loren Noveck, nytheater.com

    "These two may speak less poetically than those star-crossed lovers, but there's something more immediate in their contemporarily beautiful words. By staying simple and true, with a fine cast and focused direction, Departures is a quiet marvel on its own; not meant to be compared with Shakespeare, but of fine caliber all the same." Aaron Riccio, Theater Talk's New Theater Corps
  • All The Girls Love Bobby Kennedy by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Vietnam War, Robert F. Kennedy + 1 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, fantasy, period
    Keyword: Vietnam War, Robert F. Kennedy, 1960s
    In the Spring of 1968 on a rural college campus in the mid-west, Gracie dreams of Bobby Kennedy and he dreams back at her. A play that looks at a moment that shook america through the eyes of one young woman and wonders how her choices ripple out to the present day.
  • Best Intentions by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: refugee, Sanctuary City + 6 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: refugee, Sanctuary City, Self-improvement, yoga, women, Safe Spaces, do-gooders, white guilt
    Meg's yoga studio is barely getting by, though she's committed to the local neighborhood and to the community she's gathered at her studio. Her partner, Frida wants to add Spin and maybe some of that car-pulling or whatever they do at the garage down the road. Meg creates a position for Amira, a young Syrian refugee, at the studio.

    The convergence of worlds; the attempt to...
    Meg's yoga studio is barely getting by, though she's committed to the local neighborhood and to the community she's gathered at her studio. Her partner, Frida wants to add Spin and maybe some of that car-pulling or whatever they do at the garage down the road. Meg creates a position for Amira, a young Syrian refugee, at the studio.

    The convergence of worlds; the attempt to create a safe space; the dream of community and fulfilling lives and the limits of good intentions.
  • westward mutations by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: cancer, mortality + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, experimental, tragedy
    Keyword: cancer, mortality, road trip, America, spirituality, medical establishment, runaway, abuse, Fathers and Daughters
    A man receives a terminal diagnosis. The Doctor sends him to Spence. Spence is a specialist, not in the direct treatment of the disease, but in the oblique caring for the person. The man feels that he knows when the disease began, when the cells turned against him and he starts a journey west to try to correct his mistake.

    Along the way he chokes on a sandwich.

    He is saved by...
    A man receives a terminal diagnosis. The Doctor sends him to Spence. Spence is a specialist, not in the direct treatment of the disease, but in the oblique caring for the person. The man feels that he knows when the disease began, when the cells turned against him and he starts a journey west to try to correct his mistake.

    Along the way he chokes on a sandwich.

    He is saved by Bickie and Jess, teenagers running from a very bad thing. They decide to travel together.

    A play about who saves who and how.

    About the unrelenting movement of lives and the death that ends it.

    About going west by any means necessary.
  • Gloucester Point by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: family, Art and Artists + 4 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: family, Art and Artists, American South, working class, grief, disappearing land
    Mai’s mom died and everyone is home drinking about it. Mai left her life behind to be with her family, but parts of her life won't let her go. A play about what we lose and what we keep in order to go on.
  • The Stray Dog by Kristen Palmer
    Cast: 
    6–10
    ·
    Genre: experimental
    ·
    Keyword: poetry, Russian + 4 more
    Genre: experimental
    Keyword: poetry, Russian, Anna Akhmatova, Happenings, site-specific, Cults
    To be performed in a small space, ideally a basement, a backroom. Someplace safe. THE STRAY DOG takes its inspiration from the St. Petersburg cabaret of the same name where Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandlestam, Mayakovsky and others read their poetry in the early 1900s. This play takes place in the present, amidst the ceremonies of a group devoted to the adoration of these poets on a night when their priestess is...
    To be performed in a small space, ideally a basement, a backroom. Someplace safe. THE STRAY DOG takes its inspiration from the St. Petersburg cabaret of the same name where Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandlestam, Mayakovsky and others read their poetry in the early 1900s. This play takes place in the present, amidst the ceremonies of a group devoted to the adoration of these poets on a night when their priestess is teetering on the brink. A theatrical event balanced between the real and the imagined about what makes the heart sing - and what makes that stop.
  • Sacrifice by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: midwest, America + 4 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: midwest, America, family farm, multi-generational, Play within a play, environment
    Set in rural Iowa, Sacrifice is a play about the broken heart of the mid-west. About a young girl named Emmie who is looking at the state of things and figuring out what must be done. About a corporate mentor with other motives. About how to get a mother back. About what needs to be sacrificed.
  • Dumb Bones by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: love, loss + 5 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: love, loss, death, drinking, dreams, marriage and family, Oysters in Grand Central Station one last time.
    Beth and Daniel used to be in love, young artists ready to take on the world. And then, he became successful and she got married and had a son.

    Now he's calling her at night and she's sneaking to the city for a visit, creating a dream of an affair - intoxicating and hang-over inducing.

    What love remains when there is nowhere left to go?
  • Furnishing the well by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    Genre: comedy
    Maureen gets her new furniture delivered, but Ed can't get it down the well.
  • Across the Aisle by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, political + 1 more
    Genre: dark comedy, political, satire
    On a train through America, talking across the aisle.
  • Thera-Zoom by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: Therapy, coronavirus
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: Therapy, coronavirus
    Therapeutic Breakdown in a zoom room at the beginning of the Corona Pandemic.
  • IN BETWEEN TIME by Kristen Palmer
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Genre: comedy, drama
    A short play about waiting in cars for your friends to get their shit together.