Zach Barr

FULL LENGTH
Pip and Mia are friends from college. Mia just got engaged to a man named Jan. Pip and their partner Lou arrive at Mia and Jan’s new apartment to celebrate the engagement and housewarming. But Lou and Pip have a secret plan: they’ve come to break up the engagement, since they believe Mia deserves a better partner than the bland Jan. But as the night goes on, the exact nature of Mia and Jan’s relationship becomes more clear, and at the same time, the true reasons for Lou and Pip’s desire to break them up only grow muddier.

SERENADE is a play about the limits of what we know, what we don’t, and what we want from each other. What does it mean to believe you know what’s best for someone more than they do? What happens when we know our friends so well that we believe we can see them lying to themselves? And is there a secret message in that Georgia O’Keeffe print on the wall?

FULL LENGTH – 2026 STEINBERG/ATCA NEW PLAY AWARD WINNER
In Fall 2019, the market for basketball cards has never been more volatile – mint condition samples sell for five figures, and the selling and buying of cards has become a fraternal pursuit like no other. Caught in the center of this market is Corbin, the co-owner of a Seattle card shop, doing his best to keep the business afloat along with his aunt, Rhonda. But when a transgender teenage boy, Griffey, pulls a potentially game-changing card in the shop, the ensuing scramble to buy and sell it reveals the fissures around why men collect cards in the first place – and how they aim to define themselves as masculine by doing so.

A meditation on how we build our identity by following or running from other peoples' examples, featuring a queer love story, intergenerational trans friendship, characters overhauling their own identities, and the greatest dream of all: Seattle getting an NBA team again.

FULL LENGTH
On the occasion of her first solo museum exhibition, abstract painter Olive Hollyhox is having a documentary made about her life and career. In addition to the featured artist, her older sisters – Quinlyn and Gabby – are also being interviewed. Turns out, Quinlyn is also a painter. Not that anyone cared.

Structured as a series of monologues, QUINLYN CAN PAINT gradually reveals the fissures between three sisters, each hardworking but fundamentally at odds with each other. How do you handle a sibling achieving the success you've always dreamed of? How early in life can signs of talent or identity be truly identified? And how wide can anyone hope to push the gap between the "two deaths" we all die?

FULL LENGTH
Since 1996, David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" has been heralded by its readers as among the greatest novels ever written. But with a length of 1079 pages and a dense, non-linear structure, not everyone has the time, patience, or interest to read it. Zach Barr decided to figure out what exactly about this book brought out such fervent responses – both for and against the book. But, there's one caveat: they didn't read it. Instead, they interviewed 38 readers, and asked them to explain the plot secondhand.

Comprised entirely from the verbatim text of those interviews, ENDURING JEST is half a loose adaptation of Wallace's magnum opus, and half an exploration of how difficult it is to explain why we love the art we love. Funny and tragic in equal measure, the play looks beyond the cultural status of the book as a "red flag," to uncover the desperation, addiction, and need to be heard that runs through all of us.

Written through the 2024 Three Brothers Theatre Playwrights Residency.

FULL LENGTH
College senior Hudson is looking for the perfect play to direct for his senior thesis. His advisor, Nona, recommends the perfect script: David Mamet's "Oleanna." But as Hudson gets closer to rehearsals, Nona – who prides herself on trying to expose students to opinions they may disagree with – finds herself overlooking more and more red flags, about the play and about Hudson himself.

A play about the inherent violence of masculinity, what happens when men try to circumvent it, and where the line lies where intention to harm ceases to matter.

FULL LENGTH
Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe is on the verge of upending the entire study of astronomy, with a revolutionary new way to organize the solar system. Meanwhile, Sophia Brahe, his younger sister, is attempting to do the same – without being able to go to university. Or learn Latin. Or travel without a husband.

Over the course of their parallel careers, the relationship between the siblings twists and strains, as they wrestle with financial uncertainty, romantic entanglement, and an orphaned, wandering elk. The bond between siblings is strong, but will it hold as Sophia watches her brother succeed in all the places she's failed?

FULL LENGTH
Christopher Robin is organizing an expedition to discover the North Pole, and has asked his good friends to come along with him: Rabbit, Eeyore, Piglet, and the "silly old bear" called Winnie-the-Pooh. But when two new friends come to the Forest, Kanga and her baby Roo, Pooh gets embroiled in a Very Reasonable Plan to send the two new animals out of the forest. But why do they have to leave? And why is Christopher Robin so convinced that it will rain soon? And will anyone remember that today is Eeyore's birthday?

Adapted from A.A. Milne's literary classic, this new stage adaptation brings the book's messages of community reliance and the necessity of maintaining hope to the forefront. When the whole Forest floods and you feel like you simply can't heal the world yourself, the very least you can do is to make the lives of those around you better. This is an adaptation of the Pooh stories meant for all ages – children and adults alike.

ONE ACT (75 min.)
Christopher Robin is organizing an expedition to discover the North Pole, and has asked his good friends to come along with him: Rabbit, Eeyore, Piglet, and the "silly old bear" called Winnie-the-Pooh. But when two new friends come to the Forest, Kanga and her baby Roo, Pooh gets embroiled in a Very Reasonable Plan to send the two new animals out of the forest. But why do they have to leave? And why is Christopher Robin so convinced that it will rain soon?

Adapted from A.A. Milne's literary classic, this new stage adaptation brings the book's messages of community reliance and the necessity of maintaining hope to the forefront. When the whole Forest floods and you feel like you simply can't heal the world yourself, the very least you can do is to make the lives of those around you better. This is an adaptation of the Pooh stories meant for all ages – children and adults alike.

FULL LENGTH
THE COMICAL HISTORIE OF SHREK, THE OGRE tells the story of a brash but kindhearted ogre who sets off on a quest to reclaim his stolen land, only to have his worldview shattered when he meets an unflappable donkey and a bracingly honest princess. In an odyssey through a fairy-tale setting, the trio are forced to confront how the world expects them to act– –and question whether they have the bravery to live life on their own terms. And also whether ogres are truly like onions.

This is a parody of the Dreamworks film SHREK, written in faux-Shakespearean style. It is unofficial and has not been approved by DreamWorks Animation LLC or NBCUniversal. The script is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA license, and may be performed royalty-free.

TEN MINUTE
Ida Lewis, the most famous lighthouse keeper in America, wrestles with the Sea – perhaps for the last time.

TEN MINUTE
An owl flies far away from her home, and learns a terrible secret. A two-actor fable about death!

TEN MINUTE
A mother and daughter go on a final mountain hike before college, but the mom can't quite get the mountain's name right.

TEN MINUTE
Two first daughters have to stand by every year as their father pardons two turkeys. It's the worst tradition. Both of them hate it. But not as much as the world hates them.

TEN MINUTE
Still recovering from a loss, Rosamel returns home to their kitchen. As they unpack groceries, they hear a small voice speaking to them: a 12-ounce bottle of golden honey. As the two continue to talk, Rosamel eventually comes to grips with the one subject they’ve been avoiding discussing with anyone, including themselves.

TEN MINUTE
Five actresses wait in a hallway, hoping to be seen during an open call for "Hamilton." Each has their own audition quirks, traditions, and neuroses. The air gets thicker as each, in turn, goes in and sings. But does anyone even have a shot to throw away?

TEN MINUTE
Dodi Fayed is a playboy millionaire and heir to his father’s toy store fortune. Princess Diana is a former British royal who left the stuffy confines of the monarchy. Both of them are going to be remembered forever. They have to be. How could they not be? A tense 10-minute play about building your legacy.