Bradley Cherna

Bradley Cherna is a New York City-based playwright originally from South Florida. Bradley’s playwriting includes All these Activists (commissioned by The Public Theater and developed with Waterwell); The Plague Plays: Notes from a Pandemic in Progress (published in At the Intersection of Disability and Drama: A Critical Anthology of New Plays); The Ländler (Linnell Festival of New Plays); The Forest of Without (The Drama League DirectorFest); The Scrap Paper Players (Columbia University); The Mixed-Up Letters of Jamie & Claude (Ugly Rhino Productions); and Eggshells on my Back and other fairy tales (inaugural Florida Players New Works Festival at the University of Florida). Bradley is a member of the Clubbed Thumb Early-Career Writers' Group (24/25), the AJT Theater Machers (2024), and...

Bradley Cherna is a New York City-based playwright originally from South Florida. Bradley’s playwriting includes All these Activists (commissioned by The Public Theater and developed with Waterwell); The Plague Plays: Notes from a Pandemic in Progress (published in At the Intersection of Disability and Drama: A Critical Anthology of New Plays); The Ländler (Linnell Festival of New Plays); The Forest of Without (The Drama League DirectorFest); The Scrap Paper Players (Columbia University); The Mixed-Up Letters of Jamie & Claude (Ugly Rhino Productions); and Eggshells on my Back and other fairy tales (inaugural Florida Players New Works Festival at the University of Florida). Bradley is a member of the Clubbed Thumb Early-Career Writers' Group (24/25), the AJT Theater Machers (2024), and lab artist in the inaugural AJT New Plays Lab. Bradley also works as a director, dramaturg, and producer of projects on pages, stages, and screens. MFA in Playwriting: Columbia University.

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Scripts

All these Activists

by Bradley Cherna

Cast Size
8—30
Genre
docudrama/historic

A verbatim play composed of three assemblies.

A verbatim play composed of three assemblies.

The Ländler

by Bradley Cherna

Cast Size
5—9
Genre
dark comedy,
drama,
fantasy,
melodrama,
period,
radio drama,
zoom

Sylvia, a five-year-old girl from Brooklyn, tries to rescue her father, but her fractured family's phone lines are crossed in this cross-wired, time-jumping play loosely inspired by "The Ländler" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's THE SOUND OF MUSIC.

Sylvia, a five-year-old girl from Brooklyn, tries to rescue her father, but her fractured family's phone lines are crossed in this cross-wired, time-jumping play loosely inspired by "The Ländler" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's THE SOUND OF MUSIC.

The Plague Plays: Notes from a Pandemic in Progress

by Bradley Cherna

Cast Size
2—50
Genre
docudrama/historic,
drama,
radio drama

"Do you remember what we lived through in the virulent time when loneliness was virtue?" A cycle of short plays written during and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, centering the voices of the vulnerable, composed of phone calls, text messages, social media posts, and distanced conversations. Is connection even possible for the self-isolating? THE PLAGUE PLAYS: NOTES FROM A PANDEMIC IN PROGRESS are published...

"Do you remember what we lived through in the virulent time when loneliness was virtue?" A cycle of short plays written during and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, centering the voices of the vulnerable, composed of phone calls, text messages, social media posts, and distanced conversations. Is connection even possible for the self-isolating? THE PLAGUE PLAYS: NOTES FROM A PANDEMIC IN PROGRESS are published in the 2021 book AT THE INTERSECTION OF DISABILITY AND DRAMA: A CRITICAL ANTHOLOGY OF NEW PLAYS (McFarland), edited by John Michael Sefel, Amanda Slamcik Lasseter, and Jill Summerville.

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The Forest of Without

by Bradley Cherna

Cast Size
3
Genre
drama,
faith-based,
melodrama

A seriocomic play about a Jewish family made up of two brothers and their mother, facing the death of their father and husband. Bereft of the framework which gave structure to their past life, a forthcoming fractiousness endangers the hope of their ever finding a way to function as a family again. They drive desperately away from home and in a struggle for control, lose their way; getting lost in an uncharted...

A seriocomic play about a Jewish family made up of two brothers and their mother, facing the death of their father and husband. Bereft of the framework which gave structure to their past life, a forthcoming fractiousness endangers the hope of their ever finding a way to function as a family again. They drive desperately away from home and in a struggle for control, lose their way; getting lost in an uncharted forest where they hope to encounter their father again. To escape the forest, they must leave him their loss behind.

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Modern Medicine [for Amateurs]

by Bradley Cherna

Cast Size
2—10
Genre
experimental

What happens when one's own body gets in the way of their work?

What happens when one's own body gets in the way of their work?

From the Mixed-Up Letters of Jamie & Claude

by Bradley Cherna

Cast Size
1—2
Genre
adaptation,
adventure,
drama,
fantasy,
radio drama,
young audiences

Jamie tries to make sense of his best pen pal's disappearance over the course of a series of searching letters.

Jamie tries to make sense of his best pen pal's disappearance over the course of a series of searching letters.

Eggshells on my Back and other tales

by Bradley Cherna

Cast Size
6—20
Genre
adaptation,
adventure,
dark comedy,
drama,
experimental,
fable/folktale,
fantasy,
pageant,
verse,
young audiences

Three classic stories from The Brothers Grimm are reimagined and woven together to form a new adventurous narrative that interrogates and disenchants the representation of disability throughout folklore and fairy tales.

Three classic stories from The Brothers Grimm are reimagined and woven together to form a new adventurous narrative that interrogates and disenchants the representation of disability throughout folklore and fairy tales.

Orange Trees & Open Spaces: Loss in Gainesville

by Bradley Cherna

Cast Size
1—10
Genre
docudrama/historic,
experimental

A verbatim drama composed of interviews conducted with transient figures in the transient college town of Gainesville, Florida. Developed with the support of the Florida Players at the University of Florida.

A verbatim drama composed of interviews conducted with transient figures in the transient college town of Gainesville, Florida. Developed with the support of the Florida Players at the University of Florida.

NDA: A Single-O

by Bradley Cherna

Cast Size
1
Genre
dark comedy,
experimental,
pageant,
radio drama,
satire

Step right up, step right up. Just behind the door, barks an inside talker, is the secret truth for all to see. The price of admission is as low as it gets.

Step right up, step right up. Just behind the door, barks an inside talker, is the secret truth for all to see. The price of admission is as low as it gets.