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 and Queer people in America. His play The Reapers on Woodbrook Avenue won the Blue Ink Award and was a finalist for Eugene O'Neill and Seven Devils.

His comedy Cane, set in the high-pressure world of fine dining, was a 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.

His work appears in Smith and Kraus’ The Best Women’s Monologues, 2021.

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 and Queer people in America. His play The Reapers on Woodbrook Avenue won the Blue Ink Award and was a finalist for Eugene O'Neill and Seven Devils.

His comedy Cane, set in the high-pressure world of fine dining, was a 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.

His work appears in Smith and Kraus’ The Best Women’s Monologues, 2021.

Scripts

The Highlands

by Mardee Bennett

Cast Size
9
Genre
adaptation,
comedy,
dark comedy

June 1963. It’s summer season for the Highland family! Judith, a recently retired Broadway diva, has run her home and her husband with a velvet glove for decades. But when her two adult children return to their Martha’s Vineyard cottage with uninvited weekend lovers, all hell breaks loose. Will this be their final summer on the vineyard?

June 1963. It’s summer season for the Highland family! Judith, a recently retired Broadway diva, has run her home and her husband with a velvet glove for decades. But when her two adult children return to their Martha’s Vineyard cottage with uninvited weekend lovers, all hell breaks loose. Will this be their final summer on the vineyard?

The Reapers On Woodbrook Avenue

by Mardee Bennett

2
Cast Size
5
Genre
docudrama/historic,
drama,
melodrama,
period

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.

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.

CANE

by Mardee Bennett

3
Cast Size
6
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama,
romantic comedy

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...

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?

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LORETTA

by Mardee Bennett

Cast Size
6
Genre
drama,
faith-based,
period,
political

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.

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.

The Nerve

by Mardee Bennett

1
Cast Size
5
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama,
political,
satire

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.

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.

In The Ramble

by Mardee Bennett

Cast Size
5
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy

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.

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.