Rachel Nelson

Rachel Nelson

Rachel Nelson (she/her) is a queer working class playwright from the mountains of Oregon. She currently lives in New Orleans, where she teaches theater, literature, and philosophy at Bard Early College.



Plays

  • Rain Follows the Plow by Rachel Nelson
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: adventure, dark comedy + 10 more
    Genre: adventure, dark comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, experimental, fable/folktale, movement/physical, pageant, period, political, science fiction, tragedy
    We are in an imagined future of the United States that looks very much like the depths of the Great Depression. As the power grid fails, a young radio DJ uses the airwaves to try to keep his community together. As the dust storms get worse, and the lights start to flicker, everything he thought he knew about America starts to unravel. And then something starts to grow.

    An epic fable of...
    We are in an imagined future of the United States that looks very much like the depths of the Great Depression. As the power grid fails, a young radio DJ uses the airwaves to try to keep his community together. As the dust storms get worse, and the lights start to flicker, everything he thought he knew about America starts to unravel. And then something starts to grow.

    An epic fable of forgiveness, transformation, and the power of finding a hand in the dark.
  • Fast Car by Rachel Nelson
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: adventure, dark comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: teenagers, Americana + 1 more
    Genre: adventure, dark comedy, fable/folktale, movement/physical, pageant, romantic comedy
    Keyword: teenagers, Americana, contemporary
    24 hours in a dusty little town in the American West. A group of teenagers decide to steal a car. After all, there's not much else to do before the sun comes up. This is an micro-epic love story about boredom, growing up, and running away.
  • And Then the Moon Swallowed the Sky by Rachel Nelson
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 5 more
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    Keyword: queer, grief + 2 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, experimental, fable/folktale, immersive, movement/physical, tragedy
    Keyword: queer, grief, Hope, Aging lesbians
    The morning before a total eclipse of the sun, three strangers make the journey to the ocean to watch the moon swallow the sky. They each ponder grief, togetherness, and what it means to move forward after epic loss. It's a comedy, obviously.
  • Midnight, The Hotel Pool, Drunk Again by Rachel Nelson
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: Lesbian, 1950s + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, fantasy, farce, period, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Lesbian, 1950s, melodrama, drunk, pool
    A 10 minute lavish fictional love letter to Lorraine Hansbury, if she were drunk at a pool bar in Hollywood, looking for love.