Brenda Withers

Brenda Withers

Brenda Withers is a writer, actor, and founding member of the Harbor Stage Company. Her plays have been developed and produced at places like Northern Stage, Urbanite Theatre, Two River Theatre, Portland Stage, and Amphibian Stage Productions. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College, a recipient of the Clauder Prize and an Edgerton New Play Award, and a recent Huntington Playwriting Fellow.

Plays

  • DINDIN by Brenda Withers
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    A well-heeled couple invites two single friends over for a decadent dinner. When free flowing wine and superficial sparring give way to more pronounced tensions, boundaries of civility, class, and natural attraction are brought into question. A meditation on predators, prey, and the insatiable appetite of a killer instinct.
  • Ubu Roar by Brenda Withers
    Cast: 
    5–15
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 7 more
    ·
    Keyword: King UBU, jarry + 7 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, dark comedy, experimental, immersive, movement/physical, musical, political, satire
    Keyword: King UBU, jarry, absurd, French, tyranny, Trump, anarchy, translation, adaptation
    A very loose, basically bananas take on Jarry's anti-classic, UBU ROI. Featuring the requisite dumb jokes, bad attitudes, and bloody massacres. A profane look at the profound.
  • String Around My Finger by Brenda Withers
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: miscarriage, hospitals
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: miscarriage, hospitals
    When a young couple loses an unplanned pregnancy, grief, guilt, and hospital bills tempt them to reconsider their relationship. A quiet, quirky comedy about big choices, small kindnesses, and losing what you didn't want.

    Winner of the 2015 Clauder Grand Prize at Portland Stage.
  • The Kritik by Brenda Withers
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    10
    ·
    Genre: comedy, farce + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Criticism, Farce + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, farce, period
    Keyword: Criticism, Farce, Russia
    Set in an imagined corner of 19th century Russia, "The Kritik" tells the story of a provincial theater critic struggling to write his first honest review. A send-up and celebration of the theater, the truth, and all things Chekhovian, the piece joyfully examines how candor, corruption, and community affect the creative process.
  • Northside Hollow (co-written with Jonathan Fielding) by Brenda Withers
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: coal mining, mortality + 1 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, experimental, immersive
    Keyword: coal mining, mortality, Surreal
    Trapped underground after a deadly collapse, a miner finds his salvation in the arrival of a scrappy first responder. A darkly funny meditation on mortality, memory, and redemption.
  • The Deer and the Antelope by Brenda Withers
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
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    Keyword: gentrification, real estate + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: gentrification, real estate, Inequality, cops
    When a young woman is found murdered in a gentrifying neighborhood, the search for suspects prompts a disconnected community to question the roots of “random” violence. A sideways glance at law-and-order, personal responsibility, and the hidden costs of making a living.
  • The Ding Dongs (or What is the Penalty in Portugal?) by Brenda Withers
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: absurdism, Suburbs + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, political
    Keyword: absurdism, Suburbs, screwball, dark, fast-paced
    When a sweet-faced couple shows up on a suburban doorstep, an unsuspecting homeowner finds himself the victim of a surreal home invasion.   Using wit and wordplay to mask a more sinister threat, the couple wages a battle over indigenous rights from the living room, and we are asked to examine the brutality that fuels our system of private property.
  • WESTMINSTER by Brenda Withers
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, political
    When Pia’s old friend Krys gifts her with a surprise rescue dog, the women and their partners face off over issues of class, accountability, and good breeding. Part morality play, part screwball romp, WESTMINSTER digs into “acceptable” social prejudices and the consequences of leaving those biases unchecked.