The Nonessentials by
In Covid times, a teenage girl who has been living on the streets seeks shelter in a small theater where an actor is keeping company with ghosts from his past, and this intrusion may be the only thing keeping him in reality.
Lynda Crawford
Lynda Crawford
Lynda Crawford’s plays include NIGHT SHADOWS—OR, ONE HUNDRED MILLION VOICES SHOUTING, On Women Festival, Irondale Center, Brooklyn, NY, March 2020; KP 1968 (with Peter Reich), Fenimore Arts Museum, Cooperstown, NY, 2020; THE REWRITE, EAT, 2019, and The Hive, Provo, Utah, 2019; STARS OUT OF BALANCE, nominated for Outstanding Playwriting, Planet Connections Festivity 2018; ROJO VERDE, recipient of the Greener...
Lynda Crawford’s plays include NIGHT SHADOWS—OR, ONE HUNDRED MILLION VOICES SHOUTING, On Women Festival, Irondale Center, Brooklyn, NY, March 2020; KP 1968 (with Peter Reich), Fenimore Arts Museum, Cooperstown, NY, 2020; THE REWRITE, EAT, 2019, and The Hive, Provo, Utah, 2019; STARS OUT OF BALANCE, nominated for Outstanding Playwriting, Planet Connections Festivity 2018; ROJO VERDE, recipient of the Greener Planet Award, Planet Connections 2017; THE AUDIT, HB Playwrights Theatre, 2017; PILLOW OF TEARS, William Inge PlayLab April 2017, In Her Name Festival April 2016, and Women Playwrights International Conference, University of Cape Town, South Africa, July 2015; FAMILIAR STRANGERS, Planet Connections 2016; STRANGE RAIN, awarded Overall Excellence in Playwriting in FringeNYC, 2013; A PROCESSION OF CLOUDS, Unchained Festival 2013 (tied for Audience Favorite); CONSUMER BEHAVIOR (with Gary Kupper), FringeNYC 2002, and recipient of a Playwrights’ Project grant from Abrons Arts Center in 2000 and 2001; SECRETS OF THE BIRDS, finalist in the 2006 Samuel French Short Play Festival; HOWARD INK!, finalist in the John Gardner Play Competition 2007, and Harvest Festival 2013. Other writings have appeared in newspapers, journals, and in the book, TITTERS: The First Collection of Humor by Women (Macmillan). Lynda is a member of the Dramatists Guild, K/Q Collective, HB Playwrights Forum, Actors Studio PDU, and the League of Professional Theatre Women.
Plays
Language of Love by Lynda Crawford
·Cast:4Genre: comedy, farce + 1 more·Keyword: A.I., love + 6 moreGenre: comedy, farce, romantic comedyKeyword: A.I., love, Sex, sex with robots, office sex, humanity, heartache, creating appsVik and Tuck run a tech startup, currently working on an app called the Language of Love, but they have differing ideas about love, sex, and the best use for RACHEL, their office robot—and the divide intensifies when Emma, an intern, offers her perspective. Vik and Emma see eye-to-eye, and soon heart-to-heart, but attraction can be fickle, particularly within triangles, and heartache follows. Witnessing these...Vik and Tuck run a tech startup, currently working on an app called the Language of Love, but they have differing ideas about love, sex, and the best use for RACHEL, their office robot—and the divide intensifies when Emma, an intern, offers her perspective. Vik and Emma see eye-to-eye, and soon heart-to-heart, but attraction can be fickle, particularly within triangles, and heartache follows. Witnessing these intense human interactions, RACHEL, too, wants in on the mystery that is love.Secrets of the Birds by Lynda Crawford
Recommendations: 1··Cast:6Genre: drama, fable/folktale + 2 more·Keyword: Ancient Greek drama, Oedipus prequel + 6 moreGenre: drama, fable/folktale, period, tragedyKeyword: Ancient Greek drama, Oedipus prequel, seer, stars, magical herbs, love, war, whimsyFull length. In the hours before the seer Tiresias is summoned to tell Oedipus who killed the former king (a disclosure that rains tragedy on Oedipus and his entire family), Tiresias’s lover, Ameinius, fearful for his partner’s life, tries to keep him from going with a charade that ends up tearing them apart. A prequel to the Oedipus trilogy.Stars Out of Balance by Lynda Crawford
·Cast:5Genre: drama, movement/physical + 2 more·Keyword: family, war + 6 moreGenre: drama, movement/physical, political, tragedyKeyword: family, war, climate, Displaced Persons, refugees, Art and Artists, acrobats, womenFull length. A family of acrobats who have been traveling the countryside for
generations are now stranded by a long war and unusual weather. They
pass the time entertaining those around them as a way to keep from
losing their craft—and each other.Night Shadows by Lynda Crawford
Recommendations: 1··Cast:6Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 2 more·Keyword: poets, 20th Century + 5 moreGenre: biography, docudrama/historic, drama, politicalKeyword: poets, 20th Century, Stalin, revolution, mother/son relationships, World War I, RussiaFull length. Russian poet Anna Akhmatova is keeping her promise to tell of “the true twentieth century”—of lives disrupted, her poetry banned, and so many loved ones lost under Stalin’s brutal regime.The Audit by Lynda Crawford
·Cast:2Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more·Keyword: returning veteran, songwriter + 6 moreGenre: comedy, drama, politicalKeyword: returning veteran, songwriter, aging hippie, post-traumatic stress, Race, suicide, taxes, desperationFull length. A tax audit reveals a lot more than flawed accounting when the auditor is a returning female vet and her subject is a frequently high and highly disorganized aging hippie songwriter. Full length.Rojo Verde by Lynda Crawford
Recommendations: 1··Cast:6Genre: drama, political·Keyword: GMOs, family + 3 moreGenre: drama, politicalKeyword: GMOs, family, farm, HIV Internet addiction, New MexicoFull length. The Barrera family have had a small farm in New Mexico for hundreds of years—when it was Native land, when it was Mexican, and now part of the US—producing, among other things, an outstanding native chile, the Rojo Verde. But their livelihood and traditions are now threatened by an invisible drift: GMOs.Long Ago Song by Lynda Crawford
·Cast:8–9Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more·Keyword: interracial, tin pan alley + 5 moreGenre: comedy, drama, musicalKeyword: interracial, tin pan alley, Harlem Renaissance, World War II, aging, awakened memories, power of musicA musical co-written with composer/lyricist/writer Gary Kupper, Long Ago Song revolves around Ruthie Coleman, a 97-year-old African American poet, whose memories suddenly ignite when a young musician, Charlie Ronen, plays an obscure tune he found in an old songbook. The story goes back and forth between the present and the late 1930s–1940s, as Charlie and social worker Aisha Mansur try to unravel the puzzle of...A musical co-written with composer/lyricist/writer Gary Kupper, Long Ago Song revolves around Ruthie Coleman, a 97-year-old African American poet, whose memories suddenly ignite when a young musician, Charlie Ronen, plays an obscure tune he found in an old songbook. The story goes back and forth between the present and the late 1930s–1940s, as Charlie and social worker Aisha Mansur try to unravel the puzzle of Ruthie's past and the love affair she had with songwriter Harry Feldman, a pursuit that may be saving Charlie’s life as well.Divided States by Lynda Crawford
·Cast:6Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more·Keyword: abortion, political + 4 moreGenre: dark comedy, drama, farce, politicalKeyword: abortion, political, hostages, racism, ignorance, red stateA couple decide to kidnap a woman from an abortion center, and they pick up a few other folks along the way just because they don't like the looks of them. What they have in mind for their prisoners is unclear, but the tables turn, a few times, with humor and pathos.Familiar Strangers by Lynda Crawford
Recommendations: 1··Cast:9Genre: adaptation, drama + 1 more·Keyword: homelessness, falling through cracks + 6 moreGenre: adaptation, drama, politicalKeyword: homelessness, falling through cracks, NYC, poverty, alcoholism, addiction, mental illness, homeless youthWith Jim Flynn. Based on the book Stranger to the System: Life Portraits of a NYC Homeless Community (Curbside Press) by Jim Flynn. A young activist, who regularly engages with Nelson Hall and several other homeless denizens of Tomkins Square Park, begins interviewing them to get their life stories, and soon discovers he is not that far from slipping through the cracks himself. The personal monologues for...With Jim Flynn. Based on the book Stranger to the System: Life Portraits of a NYC Homeless Community (Curbside Press) by Jim Flynn. A young activist, who regularly engages with Nelson Hall and several other homeless denizens of Tomkins Square Park, begins interviewing them to get their life stories, and soon discovers he is not that far from slipping through the cracks himself. The personal monologues for Nelson, Nancy, Rino, and Larry are taken from conversations Jim Flynn had with them; additional characters are culled from other sources with dramatic license throughout.The Truth Game by Lynda Crawford
Recommendations: 1··Cast:8–9Genre: drama, political·Keyword: Young woman coming-of-age, bar play + 4 moreGenre: drama, politicalKeyword: Young woman coming-of-age, bar play, racism, Sinatra, Las Vegas, Queens NYFull length. Set in a bar in the late 1960s, as old and new worlds collide in violent fashion, the story revolves around Jack, a charismatic yet dangerous bartender, who thinks getting over is winning, and Evie, his protégé, a young woman seeking acceptance and adulthood by adopting the attitudes and icons of the past . . . until it hurts too much.Strange Rain by Lynda Crawford
Recommendations: 1··Cast:9–10Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more·Keyword: extreme weather, Wilhelm Reich + 5 moreGenre: comedy, drama, mystery/thriller, politicalKeyword: extreme weather, Wilhelm Reich, cloudbusters, disgraced reporter, zany meteorologists, psychic, losing a fatherFull length. STRANGE RAIN follows two reporters as they try to unravel the mystery of a prolonged rain with the aid of lesbian psychics, comic meteorologists, a street-kid poet, and a mysterious man who talks of secret experiments in the desert, all leading back decades to the real-life experiments of Wilhelm Reich in the 1950s. Reich actually did create and experiment with cloudbusters in the 1950s, and the US...Full length. STRANGE RAIN follows two reporters as they try to unravel the mystery of a prolonged rain with the aid of lesbian psychics, comic meteorologists, a street-kid poet, and a mysterious man who talks of secret experiments in the desert, all leading back decades to the real-life experiments of Wilhelm Reich in the 1950s. Reich actually did create and experiment with cloudbusters in the 1950s, and the US government and others worked on similar experiments after that. Reich died in prison in 1957, convicted of contempt of court for transporting orgone boxes, another of his experiments, across state lines. The story, though, is not so much about Reich as about deciding what is real and making peace with a difficult past. Although there are many comic elements, this is ultimately a piece about the pain of losing a father and our responsibility for what is happening to our climate.A Procession of Clouds by Lynda Crawford
·Cast:8–9Genre: drama·Keyword: Immigrants, children + 3 moreGenre: dramaKeyword: Immigrants, children, Lesotho, HIV/AIDS, incestFull length. Mpho Kathekiso, a woman from Lesotho, Southern Africa, has been living in the US for thirty years. She has her own business as a baker and she goes back to school in her late 30s/early 40s "to find what it is she is really meant to do." In a class about "The Great Tragedies," she reads a play that inspires her to do something for her people in Lesotho where the life expectancy...Full length. Mpho Kathekiso, a woman from Lesotho, Southern Africa, has been living in the US for thirty years. She has her own business as a baker and she goes back to school in her late 30s/early 40s "to find what it is she is really meant to do." In a class about "The Great Tragedies," she reads a play that inspires her to do something for her people in Lesotho where the life expectancy is now 41 because of AIDS. This brings Mpho back to Lesotho, where she finds a way to help that she never expected.Rainbows & Monsters by Lynda Crawford
Recommendations: 1··Cast:7–10Genre: comedy, drama + 3 more·Keyword: drawing, doodling + 7 moreGenre: comedy, drama, movement/physical, musical, young audiencesKeyword: drawing, doodling, imagination, monsters, clowns, friendship, family, rainbows, schoolIn this children's musical (with music and lyrics by Shai Specht-Sandler), Emma loves to daydream and draw pictures of zany monsters, which gets her into trouble in school and at home, leading to her being forbidden to draw and becoming sort of a monster herself: a humorless grouch who never wants to play. In an effort to bring her back, family and friends enter one of Emma’s drawings and find a magical,...In this children's musical (with music and lyrics by Shai Specht-Sandler), Emma loves to daydream and draw pictures of zany monsters, which gets her into trouble in school and at home, leading to her being forbidden to draw and becoming sort of a monster herself: a humorless grouch who never wants to play. In an effort to bring her back, family and friends enter one of Emma’s drawings and find a magical, playful, even edible, world of...rainbows, monsters, and more.Disturbed by Lynda Crawford
Recommendations: 1··Cast:12Genre: drama, tragedy·Keyword: teenage acting out, mental illness + 1 moreGenre: drama, tragedyKeyword: teenage acting out, mental illness, psychiatric hospitalFull length. DISTURBED follows the trajectory of an exuberant teen committed to a psychiatric hospital to deal with behavior problems. We follow the story through the lens of an investigation into her death that also sheds light on the lives of several other patients, their caregivers at the hospital, and the families.Pillow of Tears by Lynda Crawford
Recommendations: 3··Cast:5–6Genre: drama·Keyword: Nushu, secret language + 3 moreGenre: dramaKeyword: Nushu, secret language, women, repression, deep friendship30-minute play: Jean Wu, an American, visits Yang Huanyi, the last woman alive to have used Nushu, a secret language passed down by women in her village in China. Jean wants Huanyi to speak about Nushu and share her writings. Huanyi’s grandson, Yang Wei, has his own plan to benefit from his grandmother’s hidden past. But Huanyi has no interest in either proposition. Pillow of Tears is a play about creating our...30-minute play: Jean Wu, an American, visits Yang Huanyi, the last woman alive to have used Nushu, a secret language passed down by women in her village in China. Jean wants Huanyi to speak about Nushu and share her writings. Huanyi’s grandson, Yang Wei, has his own plan to benefit from his grandmother’s hidden past. But Huanyi has no interest in either proposition. Pillow of Tears is a play about creating our own way of communicating when not allowed to be part of the conversation. And it is about a friendship beyond words.Whitewashed by Lynda Crawford
Recommendations: 1··Cast:3Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more·Keyword: rhythm and blues, rock and roll + 4 moreGenre: comedy, drama, musicalKeyword: rhythm and blues, rock and roll, whitewashing, stealing songs, black artists, Lavern Baker10-minute Play. Two women are known for singing the same song, but one of them—Lavern Baker—feels terribly wronged by the arrangement.Howard Ink! by Lynda Crawford
Recommendations: 1··Cast:4Genre: comedy·Keyword: comic books, gay + 2 moreGenre: comedyKeyword: comic books, gay, the kiss, censorship10-minute play. An unconventional comic book character fights to survive (and find love) as a censor tries to have him erased.The Green Dream by Lynda Crawford
·Cast:4–5Genre: dark comedy, political·Keyword: meaning of dreams, nature's protest + 3 moreGenre: dark comedy, politicalKeyword: meaning of dreams, nature's protest, nuclear bombs, plants, fate of zealots20-minute play. An urgent message goes out but only one woman takes it seriously—which just might destroy her. And if she ignores it, it may destroy the rest of us.The Rewrite by Lynda Crawford
·Cast:3Genre: dark comedy, political·Keyword: Medea, correcting history + 3 moreGenre: dark comedy, politicalKeyword: Medea, correcting history, portrayed inauthentically, greek drama, playwrights10-minute play. It’s the afterlife and Medea confronts Euripides, asking for a rewrite of her story. She’s not one to take no for an answer.