Salwa Meghjee

Salwa Meghjee is a playwright from Orlando, Florida. Her work tries to illuminate and soothe the big feelings we all experience and struggle to explain. Her plays include U-Haul Mesbians (2023 O’Neill National Musical Theater Conference Semi-Finalist), Ender’s Gay (2024 Fault Line Theater’s Irons in the Fire Finalist, 2024 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist), The Conference of the Birds (Mudlark Theater’s That’s How We Grew the World Festival), Word Play (The Once and Future Festival), and, written with her twin sister Samah, The Mysterious Mystery of the Lost Letters (Brooklyn Publishers). She co-founded the feminist theatre company The Golden and served as its Artistic Director for three years. In New York, she has worked with Sanguine Theater Company, Trove, Needy...

Salwa Meghjee is a playwright from Orlando, Florida. Her work tries to illuminate and soothe the big feelings we all experience and struggle to explain. Her plays include U-Haul Mesbians (2023 O’Neill National Musical Theater Conference Semi-Finalist), Ender’s Gay (2024 Fault Line Theater’s Irons in the Fire Finalist, 2024 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist), The Conference of the Birds (Mudlark Theater’s That’s How We Grew the World Festival), Word Play (The Once and Future Festival), and, written with her twin sister Samah, The Mysterious Mystery of the Lost Letters (Brooklyn Publishers). She co-founded the feminist theatre company The Golden and served as its Artistic Director for three years. In New York, she has worked with Sanguine Theater Company, Trove, Needy Lover, and 24 Hour Plays: Nationals. She is a Core Apprentice at the Playwrights’ Center, a fellow in the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at Juilliard, a 24-25 Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab Cohort Member, and a 24-25 New Victory LabWorks Fellow. She holds a BA in English from UC Berkeley and an MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage from Northwestern University.

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Scripts

Ender's Gay

by Salwa Meghjee

4
Cast Size
3
Genre
comedy,
science fiction

Laiba is a Muslim teenager who is obsessed with proving that Ender from the 1985 sci-fi novel Ender's Game is gay, despite the author's documented homophobia.

Laiba is a Muslim teenager who is obsessed with proving that Ender from the 1985 sci-fi novel Ender's Game is gay, despite the author's documented homophobia.

Keep Happy

by Salwa Meghjee

2
Cast Size
1
Genre
biography,
comedy

It's my birthday! I cry on my birthday, every year. It's an integral part of the experience. Let's celebrate!

A one-person show/party about the rituals of birthdays and chronic mental illness.

It's my birthday! I cry on my birthday, every year. It's an integral part of the experience. Let's celebrate!

A one-person show/party about the rituals of birthdays and chronic mental illness.

Word Play

by Salwa Meghjee

Cast Size
5—25
Genre
adventure,
comedy,
fantasy,
young audiences

When the Warden of Words outlaws the creation of new words, the words refuse to print in protest. Haiku poet Paulie and his half-paper friend Ellouie must adventure to convince the words to print again and to repair Ellouie’s paper heart that is ripping apart.

When the Warden of Words outlaws the creation of new words, the words refuse to print in protest. Haiku poet Paulie and his half-paper friend Ellouie must adventure to convince the words to print again and to repair Ellouie’s paper heart that is ripping apart.

The Conference of the Birds

by Salwa Meghjee

Cast Size
7—12
Genre
adaptation,
adventure,
comedy,
fable/folktale,
young audiences

A short play adaptation of The Conference of the Birds by Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar, commissioned by Mudlark Theater. Will the birds of Evanston make it to Lake Michigan to find a mythical leader who will save them?

A short play adaptation of The Conference of the Birds by Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar, commissioned by Mudlark Theater. Will the birds of Evanston make it to Lake Michigan to find a mythical leader who will save them?

Obligate Carnivores

by Salwa Meghjee

Cast Size
5
Genre
dark comedy

Maira tries to turn her cat Juicy Lucy vegan. When Lucy stops eating, Maira starts feeding the cat pieces of her own flesh.

Maira tries to turn her cat Juicy Lucy vegan. When Lucy stops eating, Maira starts feeding the cat pieces of her own flesh.

U-Haul Mesbians

by Salwa Meghjee

Cast Size
16—18
Genre
comedy,
farce

When Alaina and Zaamenah reveal to their traditional Muslim families that Alaina's birthday party is actually their lesbian wedding, their families put them on trial for their crimes of lying and homosexuality. A play with music about marrying culture, religion, and the modern world.

When Alaina and Zaamenah reveal to their traditional Muslim families that Alaina's birthday party is actually their lesbian wedding, their families put them on trial for their crimes of lying and homosexuality. A play with music about marrying culture, religion, and the modern world.

The Mysterious Mystery of the Lost Letters

by Salwa Meghjee

Cast Size
16—18
Genre
comedy,
mystery/thriller,
young audiences

Zoe is an assistant to Detective Davis Darvis, an incompetent amateur who does not appreciate her talents. When he accepts a case regarding an old woman’s stolen letters, he rejects Zoe’s proposal to help. She teams up with her friend Isaac in a race to solve the case before Darvis does, using her wit combined with Isaac’s botanical knowledge to aid their search. Their adventure brings them across an elderly pro...

Zoe is an assistant to Detective Davis Darvis, an incompetent amateur who does not appreciate her talents. When he accepts a case regarding an old woman’s stolen letters, he rejects Zoe’s proposal to help. She teams up with her friend Isaac in a race to solve the case before Darvis does, using her wit combined with Isaac’s botanical knowledge to aid their search. Their adventure brings them across an elderly pro-wrestler, a duck-obsessed cult, a knitting gang, and more as they try to find the lost letters.

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Kill the Depression Before It Kills You

by Salwa Meghjee

Cast Size
12—30
Genre
dark comedy,
musical

After Kitty undergoes brain surgery to cure her depression, she begins to have visions of her middle school biology teacher, Mrs. Melancholy, who died by suicide drinking frog dissection formaldehyde.

After Kitty undergoes brain surgery to cure her depression, she begins to have visions of her middle school biology teacher, Mrs. Melancholy, who died by suicide drinking frog dissection formaldehyde.

Intake: Hawaii

by Salwa Meghjee

Cast Size
12—16
Genre
dark comedy

Desperate for better treatment for her mental illness and a way to pay off her medical debt, Jane joins the cast of "Intake: Hawaii," a reality show that takes place in a psychiatric hospital. The goal of “Intake” is to find the perfect treatment regimen: a combination of medication, therapy, and any other forms of treatment that might be helpful to the contestants. This is achieved through a series of chaotic...

Desperate for better treatment for her mental illness and a way to pay off her medical debt, Jane joins the cast of "Intake: Hawaii," a reality show that takes place in a psychiatric hospital. The goal of “Intake” is to find the perfect treatment regimen: a combination of medication, therapy, and any other forms of treatment that might be helpful to the contestants. This is achieved through a series of chaotic and increasingly strange games.

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