S. Dylan Zwickel

S. Dylan Zwickel

Originally from Los Angeles, S. Dylan Zwickel (she/her) is a New York City-based writer and director. Her musical Broken City, written with composer Melissa Miles, and her play The Cardioluthier have both received multiple readings, and she had the distinct honor of writing a speech for Billy Porter to perform in the Broadway for Biden event In Our America: A Concert for the Soul of the Nation. She served...
Originally from Los Angeles, S. Dylan Zwickel (she/her) is a New York City-based writer and director. Her musical Broken City, written with composer Melissa Miles, and her play The Cardioluthier have both received multiple readings, and she had the distinct honor of writing a speech for Billy Porter to perform in the Broadway for Biden event In Our America: A Concert for the Soul of the Nation. She served through several workshops as Assistant Director on the new musical adaptation of the novel The Outsiders, helmed by Tony nominee Liesl Tommy, and served as the assistant to Ms. Tommy on Respect, the recent Aretha Franklin biopic starring Jennifer Hudson. In 2022, her play The Making and Breaking of Glass was a Semifinalist for the SheNYC Festival, the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, and the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and her musical The City of Ember was a Finalist for the Orchard Project Adaptation Lab. This Spring she participated in TedxBroadway as a member of the Young Professionals Cohort. Dylan has also completed manuscripts for two novels, as well as several scripts for pilots and features. In her spare time, Dylan runs a murder mystery party company, Ghost Ship Murder Mysteries, which has been featured in publications such as Real Simple, Oprah Daily, and Los Angeles Magazine. Dylan holds a BA in Theatre from Wesleyan University and an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.

Plays

  • The Moss Maidens by S. Dylan Zwickel
    Cast: 
    8–15
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Genre: comedy, drama
    The year is 1941 and Isa, Rini, Silke, Helena, and Floor are five ordinary teenage girls living in a midsized Dutch town. They spend their days gossiping about their classmates, dreaming about their futures, and trying not to catch the eye of any of the Nazis that have taken up residence in their town. But when Rini, the romantic of the group, takes a walk in the woods with a Nazi who she’s hoping might be...
    The year is 1941 and Isa, Rini, Silke, Helena, and Floor are five ordinary teenage girls living in a midsized Dutch town. They spend their days gossiping about their classmates, dreaming about their futures, and trying not to catch the eye of any of the Nazis that have taken up residence in their town. But when Rini, the romantic of the group, takes a walk in the woods with a Nazi who she’s hoping might be secretly a Resistance fighter and also her soulmate and sort-of-accidentally ends up killing him, the girls discover that they’re the last people anyone would ever suspect when harm befalls members of the invading army, and a new branch of the Resistance is born.
  • The Making and Breaking of Glass by S. Dylan Zwickel
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama + 1 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, tragedy
    A single-play retelling of Sophocles’ Theban Trilogy focused on the younger generation: Antigone, Ismene, Polynices, Eteocles, and Haemon. Covering events spanning from the beginning of Oedipus Rex to the end of Antigone, The Making and Breaking of Glass follows the First Family of Greek Tragedy, still rulers of the ancient city of Thebes but styled after characters on a CW teen melodrama, as their carefree,...
    A single-play retelling of Sophocles’ Theban Trilogy focused on the younger generation: Antigone, Ismene, Polynices, Eteocles, and Haemon. Covering events spanning from the beginning of Oedipus Rex to the end of Antigone, The Making and Breaking of Glass follows the First Family of Greek Tragedy, still rulers of the ancient city of Thebes but styled after characters on a CW teen melodrama, as their carefree, privileged world is torn apart first by a plague and then by in-fighting and revolution.
  • Broken City by S. Dylan Zwickel
    Cast: 
    15–25
    ·
    Genre: musical
    Genre: musical
    Set in a violent and mystical metropolis, Broken City uses a percussive and eclectic score to tell the story of a young woman named Noa, who impersonates a legendary mud creature in an attempt to inspire her people to fight back against the oppression they've been facing. When things do not go as planned, she and her brother Daniel end up on opposite sides of a war and must choose between loyalty to their...
    Set in a violent and mystical metropolis, Broken City uses a percussive and eclectic score to tell the story of a young woman named Noa, who impersonates a legendary mud creature in an attempt to inspire her people to fight back against the oppression they've been facing. When things do not go as planned, she and her brother Daniel end up on opposite sides of a war and must choose between loyalty to their cause and loyalty to each other, until one is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice to fix their beloved city.
  • The Cardioluthier by S. Dylan Zwickel
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama, romantic comedy
    Genre: drama, romantic comedy
    The Cardioluthier follows two couples as they struggle to understand the mechanics of the human heart... which, in their world, happens to look like a miniature violin. Dakota, a cardioluthier responsible for the creation of custom violin hearts, is perfectly content to remain removed from the people their work benefits until the mysterious Sam commissions a heart for their sister and forces Dakota to consider...
    The Cardioluthier follows two couples as they struggle to understand the mechanics of the human heart... which, in their world, happens to look like a miniature violin. Dakota, a cardioluthier responsible for the creation of custom violin hearts, is perfectly content to remain removed from the people their work benefits until the mysterious Sam commissions a heart for their sister and forces Dakota to consider the implications of their inability to make an unbreakable heart. Thirty years later and miles away, another cardioluthier, Morgan, who fixes broken hearts for a living, is forced to confront their personal demons when their ex, Jamie, demands that they fix the heart they broke. As one couple falls in love, the other rediscovers why they couldn't, and all four gain new perspective on the joys and consequences of love.
  • Halcyon Creek by S. Dylan Zwickel
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale + 2 more
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale, fantasy, romantic comedy
    Nestled high in the mountains somewhere far from the complications of the modern world, Halcyon Creek, USA, is a mining town unlike any other. Rather than mining gold or coal, it mines words— the kind of words that beget ideas. Aside from the few townspeople who make up the Committee responsible for distributing words to the outside world, no one ever leaves Halcyon Creek, and no one ever comes to it… that is,...
    Nestled high in the mountains somewhere far from the complications of the modern world, Halcyon Creek, USA, is a mining town unlike any other. Rather than mining gold or coal, it mines words— the kind of words that beget ideas. Aside from the few townspeople who make up the Committee responsible for distributing words to the outside world, no one ever leaves Halcyon Creek, and no one ever comes to it… that is, until a mysterious young man named Benjamin Elias suddenly appears. With the help of the Committee head’s daughter, Abigail, Ben discovers that Halcyon Creek may not be as utopian as it seems, and the powerful secret it hides could destroy more than just the town.