Mardee Bennett

Mardee Bennett

Mardee Bennett is a playwright, screenwriter, and actor based in New York. With a sharp ear for dialogue, Mardee's work explores the collective triumphs of Black people in America. The Reapers on Woodbrook Avenue won the 2022 Blue Ink Award and was a finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference and the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference.

His comedy Cane was a 2021 Blue Ink...
Mardee Bennett is a playwright, screenwriter, and actor based in New York. With a sharp ear for dialogue, Mardee's work explores the collective triumphs of Black people in America. The Reapers on Woodbrook Avenue won the 2022 Blue Ink Award and was a finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference and the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference.

His comedy Cane was a 2021 Blue Ink Award Finalist. Other full-length titles include: Loretta, The Nerve, In the Ramble, and A Pleasant Place to Be. His work has been developed at American Blues Theater, Center Stage, Gloucester Stage, National Black Theatre, and Signature Theatre. Mardee was a 2021 National Black Theatre Playwrights Residency Finalist. His work appears in Smith and Kraus’ The Best Women’s Monologues, 2021.

A proud Baltimore hometown boy, he trained at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Mardee is represented by A3 Artists Agency.

Plays

  • CANE by Mardee Bennett
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: black wealth, Philadelphia + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: black wealth, Philadelphia, restaurant, Contemporary gay male life, black lives matter, black, complex female lead
    2021 Blue Ink Playwriting Award Finalist
    2021 Ashland Festival of New Plays Semi Finalist
    2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semi Finalist
    2021 Eugene O’Neill Semi Finalist

    The setting is upscale Black-owned Philadelphia restaurant Cane. The characters are an
    overworked, alcoholic maître d’ named Jefferson; the sanctimonious flight attendant who loves
    him;...
    2021 Blue Ink Playwriting Award Finalist
    2021 Ashland Festival of New Plays Semi Finalist
    2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semi Finalist
    2021 Eugene O’Neill Semi Finalist

    The setting is upscale Black-owned Philadelphia restaurant Cane. The characters are an
    overworked, alcoholic maître d’ named Jefferson; the sanctimonious flight attendant who loves
    him; and their restaurant owner; the piss-elegant, old-monied Ellen Bowen.

    Jefferson is on the path to success but when his girlfriend gets a gig in New Orleans, he fears the move will engulf his life in flames. CANE is a fresh take on what it means to be of service. Why do we do what we do? And why do we love who we love?
  • The Reapers On Woodbrook Avenue by Mardee Bennett
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: black, African American + 7 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, melodrama, period
    Keyword: black, African American, Mental Health, Baltimore, Charleston, 1970s, racism in America, The Great Migration, black lives matter
    Winner of the 2022 Blue Ink Award
    Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference Finalist
    Seven Devils Playwrights Conference Finalist

    Spanning four decades, The Reapers On Woodbrook Avenue traces the Reaper family’s journey from the segregated South to Baltimore during the Great Migration.

  • LORETTA by Mardee Bennett
    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: drama, faith-based + 2 more
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    Keyword: Black women, American race relations and racism + 2 more
    Genre: drama, faith-based, period, political
    Keyword: Black women, American race relations and racism, Black Church, Baltimore City
    Summer. 1987. Recently retired Loretta Reaper lives in a Baltimore rowhome with her adult daughter Nell. When Loretta’s longtime beau proposes marriage, Loretta forges a new life—free from the constraints of motherhood.
  • In The Ramble by Mardee Bennett
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
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    Keyword: New York, divorce + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: New York, divorce, black, gay, African American, fathers, wealth disparity
    Chole Chapman has everything. She's young. She's wealthy. She's black. But when this self-proclaimed "Rich Kid” returns home to the Upper East Side to help her parents heal their fractured marriage, she finds herself thrown into the tabloid world her family never wanted to be a part of.
  • The Nerve by Mardee Bennett
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: Washington DC, female writers + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, political, satire
    Keyword: Washington DC, female writers, Black women, motherhood, a political social satire, African American, Contemporary gay male life, Closeted gay men
    A well-heeled lesbian couple, Natalie and Lisa, are approaching fifty. With a new book awaiting publication, a townhouse on Logan Circle and a bun in the oven, they're living the American dream. But, when a Washington reporter learns that Natalie and Lisa's sperm donor is a closeted political pundit, alliances shift.