Natalie Symons

Natalie Symons

Natalie Symons is the author of LARK EDEN, THE BUFFALO KINGS, NAMING TRUE and THE PEOPLE DOWNSTAIRS. Her plays have been developed and produced at theatres across the country, including American Stage, freeFall Theatre, Aurora Theatre, Theatre22, ACT Theatre, Theater Schmeater, Florida Studio Theatre, New American Theatre, Bridge Street Theatre, Amas Musical Theatre, New Century Theatre, and Urbanite Theatre....
Natalie Symons is the author of LARK EDEN, THE BUFFALO KINGS, NAMING TRUE and THE PEOPLE DOWNSTAIRS. Her plays have been developed and produced at theatres across the country, including American Stage, freeFall Theatre, Aurora Theatre, Theatre22, ACT Theatre, Theater Schmeater, Florida Studio Theatre, New American Theatre, Bridge Street Theatre, Amas Musical Theatre, New Century Theatre, and Urbanite Theatre.
Awards, grants and residencies include: 21st Century Voices New Play Festival, Ashland New Play Festival’s Play4Keeps, ACT/Theatre22 Construction Zone New Works Festival, Palm Beach Dramaworks’ Dramaworkshop, Bridge Initiative Women in Theatre Playwright of the Year Award finalist, Hope and Optimism (University of Notre Dame and Cornell University) finalist. Creative Loafing Critics’ Choice Award ‘Best Playwright,’ Broadway World ‘Best Play’ for THE BUFFALO KINGS, American Stage Playwright-in-residency, Creative Pinellas Professional Artist Grant, Hillsborough Individual Artist Grant, Jeff Norton Dream Grant.
Natalie’s work is included in Smith and Kraus’ BEST WOMEN’S MONOLOGUES OF 2019. Her debut novel LIES IN BONE was just released in September 2021.

Plays

  • The People Downstairs by Natalie Symons
    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: comic love story, family + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: comic love story, family, Heartwarming, human connection, joy, life-affirming, sympathetic characters, uplifting, kindness
    Set in a hoarder’s nest in the Black Rock neighborhood of Buffalo NY, Miles, an aging funeral home custodian with a taste for whiskey and a taste for laughter, lives with his daughter Mabel, a middle-aged agoraphobic who spends her days writing letters to prison inmates. When a court-appointed guardian threatens to take away their home, their rights, and their stolen poodle, Miles takes action and sets out to...
    Set in a hoarder’s nest in the Black Rock neighborhood of Buffalo NY, Miles, an aging funeral home custodian with a taste for whiskey and a taste for laughter, lives with his daughter Mabel, a middle-aged agoraphobic who spends her days writing letters to prison inmates. When a court-appointed guardian threatens to take away their home, their rights, and their stolen poodle, Miles takes action and sets out to find a ‘good guy’ for Mabel. Enter Todd, a somewhat inept mortician who lives with his mother and pet hamster Stanley Kowalski. It is a father’s iron will to not accept his daughter’s fate that ignites an endearing human comedy about love, loss, loneliness, and the healing power of laughter.
  • Naming True by Natalie Symons
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: women, Transgender + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: women, Transgender, stories
    Two lives unexpectedly collide when Amy, a transgender teenage girl shows up unannounced in a Florida motel room to visit Nell, a dying woman who’s lived much of her life on the streets of Detroit and wishes to self-publish her childhood memoir. Over the next 24 hours Amy and Nell are forced to confront the difficult truths that have brought them together while Amy races to upload Nell’s manuscript before time...
    Two lives unexpectedly collide when Amy, a transgender teenage girl shows up unannounced in a Florida motel room to visit Nell, a dying woman who’s lived much of her life on the streets of Detroit and wishes to self-publish her childhood memoir. Over the next 24 hours Amy and Nell are forced to confront the difficult truths that have brought them together while Amy races to upload Nell’s manuscript before time runs out. Naming True explores questions of faith, identity, and how we attempt to reconcile guilt and loss. This tragicomedy, involving a stolen laptop, an old manuscript and a peculiar cat, asks what significance hope plays in our spiritual lives. Inspired by T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, Naming True is a stirring, often heartbreaking tale of survival, redemption, and the deep human desire to share our stories.
  • The Buffalo Kings by Natalie Symons
    Cast: 
    7
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: family, parenthood + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, holiday, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: family, parenthood, Alzheimer's Disease, Hate Crimes, gay, buffalo, Touching, christmas
    The King family has gathered together for Christmas in the wake of a hate crime committed against fifteen-year-old Nick. When, on Christmas Eve, Nick’s senile grandfather disappears toting a gun, the holiday reunion is thrown into turmoil. Natalie Symons’ new comedy THE BUFFALO KINGS examines unsettling truths and the emotional damage inflicted on one another in the name of love. For anyone who has ever loved a...
    The King family has gathered together for Christmas in the wake of a hate crime committed against fifteen-year-old Nick. When, on Christmas Eve, Nick’s senile grandfather disappears toting a gun, the holiday reunion is thrown into turmoil. Natalie Symons’ new comedy THE BUFFALO KINGS examines unsettling truths and the emotional damage inflicted on one another in the name of love. For anyone who has ever loved a child or cared for a parent, THE BUFFALO KINGS is a touching tribute to the ties that bind.
  • Lark Eden by Natalie Symons
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: comedy, docudrama/historic
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    Keyword: epistolary, friendship + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, docudrama/historic
    Keyword: epistolary, friendship, Heartwarming, reading
    * During the COVID-19 crisis, many theatres are looking for a small-cast piece that can be performed remotely and yet will enable their community to connect and to laugh. Lark Eden is a reminder of the power of friendship when you can't be together. Please contact the author for information on royalty-free producing.

    Lark Eden is an epistolary play which traces the lives and life-long...
    * During the COVID-19 crisis, many theatres are looking for a small-cast piece that can be performed remotely and yet will enable their community to connect and to laugh. Lark Eden is a reminder of the power of friendship when you can't be together. Please contact the author for information on royalty-free producing.

    Lark Eden is an epistolary play which traces the lives and life-long friendships of three southern women beginning in the Depression era and continuing through the early years of the new century, offering a lyrical exploration of the ties that bind us together as tightly as family, and as surely as love. From frog catching girls with skinned knees to world wizened grandmothers, Lark Eden follows these three women through personal trials and victories no less daunting than the historical tribulations which provide the backdrop to these everyday American lives.