Ryan Spahn

Ryan Spahn is a Drama Desk Award winning actor and writer whose plays include Inspired By True Events, Nora Highland (finalist for the O’Neill Playwright’s Conference), and Blessed and Highly Favored. His work has been developed by New York Stage & Film, Vineyard Theatre, and Ensemble Studio Theatre. His feature screenwriting credits include He’s Way More Famous Than You (Gravitas Ventures, co-writer), Nora Highland (Revry), Grantham & Rose (MarVista Entertainment), and Woven (Indie Rights). Ryan wrote and directed the shorts The Other John and Router, and his films have collectively played over 25 film festivals, including Slamdance, NewFest, Frameline and Palm Springs International Film Festival. As an actor, Ryan has originated roles in plays by Jordan Harrison, Ife Olujobi, Hansol Jung...

Ryan Spahn is a Drama Desk Award winning actor and writer whose plays include Inspired By True Events, Nora Highland (finalist for the O’Neill Playwright’s Conference), and Blessed and Highly Favored. His work has been developed by New York Stage & Film, Vineyard Theatre, and Ensemble Studio Theatre. His feature screenwriting credits include He’s Way More Famous Than You (Gravitas Ventures, co-writer), Nora Highland (Revry), Grantham & Rose (MarVista Entertainment), and Woven (Indie Rights). Ryan wrote and directed the shorts The Other John and Router, and his films have collectively played over 25 film festivals, including Slamdance, NewFest, Frameline and Palm Springs International Film Festival. As an actor, Ryan has originated roles in plays by Jordan Harrison, Ife Olujobi, Hansol Jung, Yilong Liu, Talene Monahon, Halley Feiffer, Michael McKeever, Ken Urban, Tim Pinckney, Mark Snyder, Vivian Neuwirth, Ike Holter, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, among others. Ryan received his BFA from The Juilliard School.

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Scripts

Patient(ce)

by Ryan Spahn

Cast Size
2
Genre
comedy,
drama,
faith-based

When a health crisis requires Alice to remain under the watchful eye of her son, Tyler, their relationship could have fallen apart. Through humor, they spend this harrowing time learning how to better understand one another.

When a health crisis requires Alice to remain under the watchful eye of her son, Tyler, their relationship could have fallen apart. Through humor, they spend this harrowing time learning how to better understand one another.

Inspired by True Events

by Ryan Spahn

Cast Size
4
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama,
horror,
mystery/thriller,
satire,
tragedy

In the green room of a community theater in Rochester, the Uptown Players prepare to perform for a packed house after opening to rave reviews the night before. But when their star actor arrives in a dangerously unhinged state, the company is forced to improvise—both onstage and off—in ways they never anticipated. By turns hilarious and harrowing, INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS follows a determined group of theater...

In the green room of a community theater in Rochester, the Uptown Players prepare to perform for a packed house after opening to rave reviews the night before. But when their star actor arrives in a dangerously unhinged state, the company is forced to improvise—both onstage and off—in ways they never anticipated. By turns hilarious and harrowing, INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS follows a determined group of theater-makers reckoning with just how far they’re willing to go to keep the show alive.

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Blessed and Highly Favored

by Ryan Spahn

Cast Size
6
Genre
comedy,
faith-based,
political

What do you do when your mom loves God more than you? "Blessed and Highly Favored" is at once a family drama (with tremendous humor) and an unflinching examination of the social, political, and religious divides that threaten to destroy our country’s foundations.

What do you do when your mom loves God more than you? "Blessed and Highly Favored" is at once a family drama (with tremendous humor) and an unflinching examination of the social, political, and religious divides that threaten to destroy our country’s foundations.

Conversations with the Other Side

by Ryan Spahn

Cast Size
2
Genre
adaptation

In this moving and respectful adaptation, mother and son discuss their political perspectives, their votes, how they prioritize different moral and political questions and where they might need to do more work to understand the other. Adapted from the audio conversations featured in USA Today.

In this moving and respectful adaptation, mother and son discuss their political perspectives, their votes, how they prioritize different moral and political questions and where they might need to do more work to understand the other. Adapted from the audio conversations featured in USA Today.

Nora Highland

by Ryan Spahn

Cast Size
2
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama,
political,
satire

Chronicles the fraught casting process of a gay character is an upcoming Broadway revival, and explores the phenomenon of straight actors being lauded for their work in queer roles. The play was adapted into a screenplay and filmed remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic. The film had its world premiere at NewFest: New York's LGBT Film Festival.

Chronicles the fraught casting process of a gay character is an upcoming Broadway revival, and explores the phenomenon of straight actors being lauded for their work in queer roles. The play was adapted into a screenplay and filmed remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic. The film had its world premiere at NewFest: New York's LGBT Film Festival.