Joyce Van Dyke

Joyce Van Dyke is an Armenian-American playwright whose plays put women center stage. Her most recent productions are THE WOMEN WHO MAPPED THE STARS (Theatre Conspiracy, 2024) and REPRESENTATION AND HOW TO GET IT (4th Wall Stage Company, 2024). THE WOMEN WHO MAPPED THE STARS about five extraordinary astronomers was first commissioned and produced by Central Square Theater in 2018. REPRESENTATION AND HOW TO GET IT is a touring one-woman show featuring the charismatic Julia Ward Howe and her cry for representation for women.

Joyce's plays centering Armenian culture and characters include DAYBREAK, the lyrical story of two women friends remaking their lives after cultural trauma, which premiered Off-Broadway in a 2018 production by Pan Asian Repertory Theatre. The play is inspired by the...

Joyce Van Dyke is an Armenian-American playwright whose plays put women center stage. Her most recent productions are THE WOMEN WHO MAPPED THE STARS (Theatre Conspiracy, 2024) and REPRESENTATION AND HOW TO GET IT (4th Wall Stage Company, 2024). THE WOMEN WHO MAPPED THE STARS about five extraordinary astronomers was first commissioned and produced by Central Square Theater in 2018. REPRESENTATION AND HOW TO GET IT is a touring one-woman show featuring the charismatic Julia Ward Howe and her cry for representation for women.

Joyce's plays centering Armenian culture and characters include DAYBREAK, the lyrical story of two women friends remaking their lives after cultural trauma, which premiered Off-Broadway in a 2018 production by Pan Asian Repertory Theatre. The play is inspired by the true stories of her maternal grandparents. Other plays include A GIRL'S WAR (produced by Golden Thread Productions, New Repertory Theatre, and Boston Playwrights' Theatre, and winner of the Gassner Award), and FRIENDS OF ARMENIA, commissioned and produced for the centennial of the Armenian genocide (Faneuil Hall, 2015).

Her play THE OIL THIEF is included in the climate crisis collection, 100 PLAYS TO SAVE THE WORLD, by Elizabeth Freestone & Jeanie O'Hare (TCG Books, 2023 / Nick Hern Books, 2021.) THE OIL THIEF was originally commissioned by the Ensemble Studio Theatre Sloan Project and produced by Boston Playwrights' Theatre, winning Boston's Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script.

Joyce is a MacDowell Fellow and Huntington Theatre Playwriting Fellow. She is also a Shakespeare scholar who teaches Shakespeare and playwriting at Harvard Extension School. www.joycevandyke.com

Scripts

THE WOMEN WHO MAPPED THE STARS

by Joyce Van Dyke

Synopsis

Five women who changed the way we see the universe -- and women scientists. Like the women of a later generation in the film "Hidden Figures," they were hired by the Harvard Observatory as "computers," a job seen as women's work. Yet although they were hired "to work, not to think," in the words of the play's central character, Cecilia Payne, these five women made revolutionary discoveries that proved...

Five women who changed the way we see the universe -- and women scientists. Like the women of a later generation in the film "Hidden Figures," they were hired by the Harvard Observatory as "computers," a job seen as women's work. Yet although they were hired "to work, not to think," in the words of the play's central character, Cecilia Payne, these five women made revolutionary discoveries that proved transformative for astrophysics -- discovering the key to how far away the stars are, and discovering for the first time what the stars are made of. This play is the inspiring story of their struggle, passion, collaboration, and discoveries -- and their fight for recognition. A timely, moving, funny and humane story that's suitable for all audiences.

In 2020, the University of Southern Maine commissioned an adaptation of the original full-length play into a 50-minute version that has been touring schools in Maine. For information about the touring version, contact Sara Valentine, sara.valentine@maine.edu.

REPRESENTATION AND HOW TO GET IT

by Joyce Van Dyke

Synopsis

Do women's lives matter? In this one-woman show, Julia Ward Howe -- the charismatic human rights activist who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic -- is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. Up at 4:00am, rehearsing a talk she's about to give urging votes for women, she has a prophetic vision that is astonishingly apt for our national crisis today. She sees women in America...

Do women's lives matter? In this one-woman show, Julia Ward Howe -- the charismatic human rights activist who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic -- is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. Up at 4:00am, rehearsing a talk she's about to give urging votes for women, she has a prophetic vision that is astonishingly apt for our national crisis today. She sees women in America endangered by living under tyranny, and she prophesies that we will lose our democracy if we allow this country to remain an America for some of us, and not an America for all of us.

DAYBREAK

by Joyce Van Dyke

Synopsis

In this time-shifting, dream-like play, two women use theatricality, storytelling and humor to remake the world of their fractured past. DAYBREAK is a lyrical story of two friends, survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide, who are transported with their families into the 21st century future. Inspired by the true stories of my Armenian grandparents, DAYBREAK is an intimate emotional story with epic political...

In this time-shifting, dream-like play, two women use theatricality, storytelling and humor to remake the world of their fractured past. DAYBREAK is a lyrical story of two friends, survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide, who are transported with their families into the 21st century future. Inspired by the true stories of my Armenian grandparents, DAYBREAK is an intimate emotional story with epic political and cultural reverberations.

THE OIL THIEF

by Joyce Van Dyke

Synopsis

Amy, a 47-year-old petroleum geologist, fights to maintain a love triangle with two men - Rex, an actor and her longtime partner, and Aleksi, a young translator who works for her oil company. Her actions are challenged by both men, while Amy insists on her exploration of life and self. As the three of them fight for power, the conflict deepens psychologically and politically, and their personal struggle plays...

Amy, a 47-year-old petroleum geologist, fights to maintain a love triangle with two men - Rex, an actor and her longtime partner, and Aleksi, a young translator who works for her oil company. Her actions are challenged by both men, while Amy insists on her exploration of life and self. As the three of them fight for power, the conflict deepens psychologically and politically, and their personal struggle plays out against the climate crisis. The upheaval forces Amy and both men to confront the coming end of oil, love, time. What do we do when – as Amy says – “we’ve fallen in love with something we can’t have”?

A GIRL'S WAR

by Joyce Van Dyke

Synopsis

A New York model goes home to a civil war of ethnic cleansing, after her brother is killed in Karabakh, an Armenian region in the Caucasus Mountains.

A New York model goes home to a civil war of ethnic cleansing, after her brother is killed in Karabakh, an Armenian region in the Caucasus Mountains.

THE EARRING

by Joyce Van Dyke

Synopsis

A Russian hotel maid in New York discovers a diamond earring on the floor while vacuuming a room. She calls her son downstairs to say she wants to give it to him, but while they're on the phone the earring's owner and her boyfriend walk into the room in search of it. Luckily, there are language barriers.

A Russian hotel maid in New York discovers a diamond earring on the floor while vacuuming a room. She calls her son downstairs to say she wants to give it to him, but while they're on the phone the earring's owner and her boyfriend walk into the room in search of it. Luckily, there are language barriers.

AMERICAN OTHELLO

by Joyce Van Dyke

Synopsis

AMERICAN OTHELLO is inspired by the 1940s wartime production of OTHELLO starring Paul Robeson, José Ferrer, Uta Hagen (then married to Ferrer), and Margaret Webster who also directed the show and co-produced it along with Robeson. The first major production of the play in America with a multiracial cast, it changed theatre history, and upended the lives of all four actors. Now, a surprise reunion years later...

AMERICAN OTHELLO is inspired by the 1940s wartime production of OTHELLO starring Paul Robeson, José Ferrer, Uta Hagen (then married to Ferrer), and Margaret Webster who also directed the show and co-produced it along with Robeson. The first major production of the play in America with a multiracial cast, it changed theatre history, and upended the lives of all four actors. Now, a surprise reunion years later fans new flames.