Elaine Brousseau

Elaine Brousseau

Elaine Brousseau’s plays include One-on-One, The Gift, Sales Pitch, Assisted Living, At the Creation, New West, Divide and Conquer, All the World’s A Stage, and The Lady Romeo. Her work has been read or produced at theaters and festivals throughout the United States, including at the Boston Theater Marathon XXI; Culture*Park Short Plays Marathons (MA); Firehouse Center for the Arts 2020 New Works Festival (MA...
Elaine Brousseau’s plays include One-on-One, The Gift, Sales Pitch, Assisted Living, At the Creation, New West, Divide and Conquer, All the World’s A Stage, and The Lady Romeo. Her work has been read or produced at theaters and festivals throughout the United States, including at the Boston Theater Marathon XXI; Culture*Park Short Plays Marathons (MA); Firehouse Center for the Arts 2020 New Works Festival (MA); the Providence Fringe Festival (RI); Re-Imagine Theatre (RI); Lemon Live Microplay Festival (on Zoom); St. Luke’s Little Theater (RI); WomensWork Theatre Collaborative (RI); the Orange Players (CT); Raze the Space Theatre (CA); and BoxFest Detroit (MI). The Lady Romeo was a finalist in the Shakespeare in the ‘Burg 2018 One-Act Playwriting Competition (VA). A member of the Dramatists Guild and a founding member of the Blue Cow Group (a group of Providence-based playwrights), Elaine has taught writing for many years at Providence College.

Plays

  • One-on-One by Elaine Brousseau
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: domestic violence, sibling relationships
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: domestic violence, sibling relationships
    While watching a basketball game, a brother and sister (Paul and Sue) begin a conversation that reveals and solidifies their bond, even while it exposes a painful and embarrassing secret. One-on-One explores the complicated landscape of domestic violence.
  • The Lady Romeo by Elaine Brousseau
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: female friendship, performance + 2 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, period
    Keyword: female friendship, performance, Charlotte Cushman, nineteenth-century American theater
    The Lady Romeo, which is set in 1862, centers around the relationship between prominent nineteenth-century American actress Charlotte Cushman; her friend and lover, the American sculptor Emma Stebbins; and a young theatergoer and admirer of Cushman, Matilda Gant. Inspired by seeing Cushman’s performance as Romeo, her admirer ingratiates herself into Cushman’s inner circle, disrupting Cushman’s life and her own...
    The Lady Romeo, which is set in 1862, centers around the relationship between prominent nineteenth-century American actress Charlotte Cushman; her friend and lover, the American sculptor Emma Stebbins; and a young theatergoer and admirer of Cushman, Matilda Gant. Inspired by seeing Cushman’s performance as Romeo, her admirer ingratiates herself into Cushman’s inner circle, disrupting Cushman’s life and her own. The play is about performance and about negotiating the terrain of love and friendship.
  • The Gift by Elaine Brousseau
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: memory, sibling relationships + 2 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: memory, sibling relationships, death, forgiveness
    Two middle-aged siblings, Pat and Deirdre, revisit the past as they prepare to help their sister-in-law, Mary (who suffers from early dementia) bury Kevin, their brother and Mary’s husband. The Gift is about family bonds, forgiveness, and the power of love.
  • New West by Elaine Brousseau
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: exploration of the American West, Sacagawea + 1 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, experimental, period
    Keyword: exploration of the American West, Sacagawea, treatment of Native Americans
    The play takes place in July 1803 in a room for receiving visitors in the President’s House (not at that time called the White House) in Washington, DC. William Clark is to meet with President Thomas Jefferson, who is going to ask him to be part of the expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase. Clark is reluctant to take this on, but something happens during the play to get him to change his mind....
    The play takes place in July 1803 in a room for receiving visitors in the President’s House (not at that time called the White House) in Washington, DC. William Clark is to meet with President Thomas Jefferson, who is going to ask him to be part of the expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase. Clark is reluctant to take this on, but something happens during the play to get him to change his mind. Characters in the play are explorer William Clark; Lemhi Shoshone woman, Sacagawea; and President Jefferson’s public relations staffer.
  • Assisted Living by Elaine Brousseau
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama
    ·
    Keyword: aging parents, Shakespeare + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama
    Keyword: aging parents, Shakespeare, King Lear, dementia
    Assisted Living takes a look at the challenge of caring for aging parents, particularly those with dementia. Although set in the present day, the play examines this by imagining what takes place offstage during Act I of Shakespeare’s King Lear. The characters are Goneril, King Lear’s oldest daughter, and her husband Albany.