Inda Craig-Galván

Inda Craig-Galván

Inda Craig-Galván is a Los Angeles-based playwright and screenwriter, born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. Her work explores conflicts and politics within the African-American community, grounded in reality, with a touch of magical realism.

Plays include Black Super Hero Magic Mama (Geffen Playhouse world premiere), The Great Jheri Curl Debate (East West Players world premiere), a hit...
Inda Craig-Galván is a Los Angeles-based playwright and screenwriter, born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. Her work explores conflicts and politics within the African-American community, grounded in reality, with a touch of magical realism.

Plays include Black Super Hero Magic Mama (Geffen Playhouse world premiere), The Great Jheri Curl Debate (East West Players world premiere), a hit dog will holler (Playwrights' Arena/Skylight Theatre coproduced world premiere; Radiotopia podcast adaptation), and A Jumping-Off Point (Round House Theatre world premiere, Spring 2024). Inda is commissioned to write new plays for The Old Globe and Round House Theatre.

She's the recipient of the Kesselring Prize, Jeffery Melnick New Play Award, Blue Ink Prize, Jane Chambers Award, and Kennedy Center’s Rosa Parks Award for plays focused on social justice and/or civil rights. Her plays have been developed at the O'Neill, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Ashland New Play Festival, Ojai Playwrights Conference, JAW, OSF, Orlando Shakes, Geffen Writers Room, CTG Writers Workshop, and have been included on the Kilroys List and Steppenwolf Theatre’s The Mix.

Inda is Co-Executive Producer of ABC's Will Trent and previously wrote for The Rookie, How to Get Away with Murder, and the upcoming Happy Face. MFA in Dramatic Writing, University of Southern California.

Plays

  • A Jumping-Off Point by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: dark comedy
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    Keyword: plagiarism, TV + 1 more
    Genre: dark comedy
    Keyword: plagiarism, TV, white mediocrity
    NEW! FULL LENGTH - A rising superstar writer, Leslie finds herself uniquely-positioned as an African-American
    woman on the cusp of all her dreams coming true. When a man from her past shows up at
    her home, all that she's worked for is in jeopardy, and Leslie's future is out of her hands --
    tied to a secret she shares with this outsider. This play explores ownership of story and...
    NEW! FULL LENGTH - A rising superstar writer, Leslie finds herself uniquely-positioned as an African-American
    woman on the cusp of all her dreams coming true. When a man from her past shows up at
    her home, all that she's worked for is in jeopardy, and Leslie's future is out of her hands --
    tied to a secret she shares with this outsider. This play explores ownership of story and
    asks who has the right to tell a Black story?
  • Welcome to Matteson! by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 25
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
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    Keyword: gentrification, Chicago + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: gentrification, Chicago, Suburbs, African American, class, Race, Cabrini, house, discrimination
    FULL-LENGTH: A suburban couple hosts a welcome-to-the-neighborhood dinner party for their new neighbors — a couple recently (forcibly) relocated from Chicago's roughest housing project — and it's anything but welcoming. A dark intra-racial comedy about reverse gentrification and how we deal with the "other" when the other looks just like us.
  • Berth Breach/Breech Birth by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: grief, ancestors + 6 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: grief, ancestors, African Diaspora, adult orphan, marriage, pregnancy, horse, Afro-Futurism
    NEW! FULL-LENGTH - In a modern-day Black farming community, a big-animal veterinarian makes a house call on a pregnant mare. During the ultrasound, she discovers an entire ship filled with enslaved people inside the horse’s uterus. And one enslaved man sees her, too. Is she imagining it all? Can she get them out? And if she does, what happens to them then?
  • The Great Jheri Curl Debate by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy
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    Keyword: Asian immigrants, African American + 2 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: Asian immigrants, African American, 1970s, finding one's purpose
    FULL-LENGTH Veralynn Jackson knows hair, she knows her neighborhood, and she also knows that the invention of the Jheri Curl marks the end of the world. When she takes a job in Mr. Kim’s Korean-owned Black beauty supply store and the posters start talking to her, Veralynn might finally come to know her true calling.
  • What We Do for Likes by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    9
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    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: Farce, BIPOC voices + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, commedia dell'arte, farce, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Farce, BIPOC voices, influencers, female agency
    FULL-LENGTH A modern-day farce centering POC. Who does that? What We Pay For Likes transports the squabbling, reputation-obsessed aristocrats of Madrid from Juan Ruiz de Alarcón’s Los Empeños de un Engaño (translated by Diversifying the Classics as What We Owe Our Lies) to a Calabasas populated by social media influencers whose lives revolve around their brands, likes, and views. When a handsome stranger comes...
    FULL-LENGTH A modern-day farce centering POC. Who does that? What We Pay For Likes transports the squabbling, reputation-obsessed aristocrats of Madrid from Juan Ruiz de Alarcón’s Los Empeños de un Engaño (translated by Diversifying the Classics as What We Owe Our Lies) to a Calabasas populated by social media influencers whose lives revolve around their brands, likes, and views. When a handsome stranger comes to town, their relationships IRL turn out to be much more complicated than their polished and curated profiles suggest.
  • a hit dog will holler by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 7
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: racism, Black America + 2 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: racism, Black America, agoraphobia, Quarantine
    FULL-LENGTH: When racism and oppression manifest in a scary, physical form, a social media influencer and a boots-on-the-ground activist form a complex bond of friendship to help each other survive. The play, first drafted in workshop with the Humanitas Play L.A. Prize, explores the effects of a never-ending barrage of trauma on the women who are continually looked at to lead a movement of resistance and change...
    FULL-LENGTH: When racism and oppression manifest in a scary, physical form, a social media influencer and a boots-on-the-ground activist form a complex bond of friendship to help each other survive. The play, first drafted in workshop with the Humanitas Play L.A. Prize, explores the effects of a never-ending barrage of trauma on the women who are continually looked at to lead a movement of resistance and change. What happens when there's no more outside space for the growing monster that is American racism?
  • Black Super Hero Magic Mama by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 57
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    Cast: 
    8
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    Genre: drama, fantasy + 1 more
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    Keyword: comic books, superhero + 7 more
    Genre: drama, fantasy, political
    Keyword: comic books, superhero, mother, son, black lives matter, shooting, police, escapism, African American
    FULL-LENGTH: Sabrina Jackson cannot cope with the death of her son by a White cop. Rather than herald the "movement," Sabrina retreats inward, living out a comic book superhero fantasy. Will Sabrina stay in this dream world or return to reality and mourn her loss?
  • I Go Somewhere Else by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 6
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: family, Childhood + 8 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: family, Childhood, single parent, memory, abuse, trauma, aging, music, African American, black
    FULL-LENGTH: When 70s film prom queen Carrie is your role model, your adolescence must really suck. Will Lanny grow into a well-adjusted adult who can forgive her mother's many faults? Or will she burn the whole town to the ground with telekinetic powers? Well, a girl can dream, can't she? A play full of good music, bad memories, and the hope for a better Scott Baio.
  • Why Didn't Kalinda Just Kill Nick? by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 8
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: romantic comedy
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    Keyword: Covid-19, couples + 3 more
    Genre: romantic comedy
    Keyword: Covid-19, couples, Quarantine, day drinking, TV
    5-MINUTE: The Rona has us all rethinking things: the importance of maintaining your norm v. indulging in breakfast cookies and day drinking.
  • Chalk by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 9
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: couples, grief + 3 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: couples, grief, loss, Disneyland, childlessness
    10-MINUTE: A couple deals with the anniversary of the saddest moment of their lives, in the happiest place on earth.
  • Tinder... Sucka by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 9
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy
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    Keyword: blaxploitation, love + 1 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: blaxploitation, love, crime boss
    10-MINUTE: A woman and man fall in love, thanks to a Tinder match. Little do they know they just happen to be lifelong rival crime lords. "The Shop Around the Corner" meets 70s blaxploitation. Because.
  • Rules of the Debate by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama, young audiences
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    Keyword: school shooting, guns + 4 more
    Genre: drama, young audiences
    Keyword: school shooting, guns, high school, teenagers, debate, education
    ONE-ACT TYA: A troubled teen engages in one final high school debate, in which the winner gets to live.
  • The Boy Who Cried Dragon by Inda Craig-Galván
    Recommendations: 8
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    Cast: 
    5–6
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    Genre: comedy, young audiences
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    Keyword: Fibs, son + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, young audiences
    Keyword: Fibs, son, mother, dragon
    ONE-ACT TYA: Everyone has had it with Travis and his tall tales—his teachers, his schoolmates, even his mom. When Travis is given time off (aka school suspension), the park becomes his school-away-from-school. He has everything he needs: books, calculator, a dragon. Dragon?! How can this notorious fibber get anyone to believe him? Based on the fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf, this story of a boy and his dragon is...
    ONE-ACT TYA: Everyone has had it with Travis and his tall tales—his teachers, his schoolmates, even his mom. When Travis is given time off (aka school suspension), the park becomes his school-away-from-school. He has everything he needs: books, calculator, a dragon. Dragon?! How can this notorious fibber get anyone to believe him? Based on the fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf, this story of a boy and his dragon is told with humor… and with a much happier ending.