Ginger Lazarus

Ginger Lazarus

Ginger Lazarus is a Boston-based playwright, screenwriter, and teacher. She is developing a new musical, RADIANCE OF THE DAY: AN IMMIGRANTS' STORY, with In Good Company. Central Square Theater produced a reading of her new play, THE AKHMATOVA JOURNALS, in their That's What She Said program; she also collaborated with CST to create a documentary play on immigration, HERE AND THERE. Other productions...
Ginger Lazarus is a Boston-based playwright, screenwriter, and teacher. She is developing a new musical, RADIANCE OF THE DAY: AN IMMIGRANTS' STORY, with In Good Company. Central Square Theater produced a reading of her new play, THE AKHMATOVA JOURNALS, in their That's What She Said program; she also collaborated with CST to create a documentary play on immigration, HERE AND THERE. Other productions include THE HOUSEKEEPER with Fresh Ink Theatre in Boston and BURNING with Resonance Ensemble in New York. The Boston Playwrights’ Theatre production of BURNING won the 2013 Boston My Theatre Award for Best New Work. Her plays have been featured nationally in Untitled Theater’s 24/7 Festival, Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Theater Festival, Pan Theater Ten Minute Play Festival, Women’s Theatre Project’s Naked Women Fully Clothed, and the Last Frontier Theatre Conference Play Lab. Two of her short plays also appeared at the Warehouse Theatre and Canal Café Theatre in London. Her screenwriting credits include two award-winning shorts for the Boston 48 Hour Film Festival; MARY, a film based on her stageplay; and consulting work on the critically acclaimed feature LEAVE NO TRACE. Ginger holds a master’s degree in playwriting from Boston University and teaches at University of Massachusetts Boston. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and Stagesource.

Plays

  • THE AKHMATOVA JOURNALS
    Leningrad, 1938. Once-praised Russian poet Anna Akhmatova is now languishing in obscurity. She’s desperately seeking the release for her imprisoned son, when a chance visit by writer Lydia Chukovskaya initiates a powerful literary partnership, centered on poetry and haunted by the shadow of the prison wall.
  • THE HOUSEKEEPER
    When Adelina takes a job as a housekeeper for widower Charlie Frey and his daughter Kaila, she is not surprised to meet Charlie’s dead wife, Carson. It’s happened to her before. But the chaos of the Frey household—Charlie’s denial, Kaila’s rebellion, and Carson’s secrets—may be more mess than Adelina can handle, especially as she struggles with her own family and ghosts from the past. Somehow, she must get the...
    When Adelina takes a job as a housekeeper for widower Charlie Frey and his daughter Kaila, she is not surprised to meet Charlie’s dead wife, Carson. It’s happened to her before. But the chaos of the Frey household—Charlie’s denial, Kaila’s rebellion, and Carson’s secrets—may be more mess than Adelina can handle, especially as she struggles with her own family and ghosts from the past. Somehow, she must get the laundry done and help the Freys—and herself—move on.
  • BURNING
    Kicked out of the Army under Don't Ask Don't Tell, Cy Burns now takes on the world with her words, blogging from her country store in a remote Western town near the base where she last served. Her affection for her friend Rose goes unspoken when Rose sets her sights on Cole, a young soldier. Cole, who has "trouble talking," seeks Cy's help, and Cy agrees to ghost write his courtship of...
    Kicked out of the Army under Don't Ask Don't Tell, Cy Burns now takes on the world with her words, blogging from her country store in a remote Western town near the base where she last served. Her affection for her friend Rose goes unspoken when Rose sets her sights on Cole, a young soldier. Cole, who has "trouble talking," seeks Cy's help, and Cy agrees to ghost write his courtship of Rose as an outlet for her secret passion. Meanwhile, the return of Cy's former commander revives old battles and forces Cy to confront the darkest days of her Army past in a dangerous hunt for the truth. In love and war, words unspoken are the words that burn.
  • THE EMBRYOS
    Mommy and Daddy have tried desperately to have a baby. But where science fails, faith in parenthood persists. When informed that Mommy’s “degraded uterus” offers no chance of in vitro implantation for their two frozen embryos, Mommy and Daddy have a life-affirming epiphany: rather than discard or donate their little blastocysts, they take them home and care for them like children. All might be well, except that...
    Mommy and Daddy have tried desperately to have a baby. But where science fails, faith in parenthood persists. When informed that Mommy’s “degraded uterus” offers no chance of in vitro implantation for their two frozen embryos, Mommy and Daddy have a life-affirming epiphany: rather than discard or donate their little blastocysts, they take them home and care for them like children. All might be well, except that the embryos, Leggo and Eggo, have voracious appetites and uncanny abilities beyond their developmental stage. When they run amok, the poor would-be parents are faced with a choice: save their embryos from the world, or save the world from their embryos.
  • MATTER FAMILIAS
    When single, thirty-something Katherine announces to her parents that she's going to adopt, their reactions are mixed. When she tells them her future son is William, a forty-year-old accountant, their reaction is abject horror. Katherine and William try to settle down to a nice, normal family life, but complications multiply as Mother schemes to get her daughter married and William's curious coworker...
    When single, thirty-something Katherine announces to her parents that she's going to adopt, their reactions are mixed. When she tells them her future son is William, a forty-year-old accountant, their reaction is abject horror. Katherine and William try to settle down to a nice, normal family life, but complications multiply as Mother schemes to get her daughter married and William's curious coworker Claude turns out to be Katherine's ex-boyfriend. Meanwhile, Katherine's sister Lisa and her partner Lisa are thrilled to find out they are pregnant…but apparently without outside help. Everything is relative in this fast-paced comedy that takes a twisted look at the ties that bind.
  • MARY
    Mary is preparing to save the world, when an angel suddenly appears and offers her an entirely new mission. But she’s far from ready to accept—and as a lawyer, she has some objections. A dramatic pas de deux with all the world at stake, MARY explores the choice of motherhood at its most glorious and terrifying.
  • BENNY AND SERENA'S HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION
    It’s graduation day for Benny, Serena’s brilliant son. Math prodigy, star athlete, valedictorian—his mother’s proud and happy, what else? But Serena’s not as serene as she seems, and when she snaps and smacks the math teacher with her camera, her life with Benny flashes before her eyes. Memories flood back: raising Benny on her own, discovering his gifts, struggling to do what’s best, and always hearing a...
    It’s graduation day for Benny, Serena’s brilliant son. Math prodigy, star athlete, valedictorian—his mother’s proud and happy, what else? But Serena’s not as serene as she seems, and when she snaps and smacks the math teacher with her camera, her life with Benny flashes before her eyes. Memories flood back: raising Benny on her own, discovering his gifts, struggling to do what’s best, and always hearing a chorus of voices that say she’s not up to the task. Benny’s future awaits him, but is Serena ready to let him go? A bittersweet comedy about one mother’s rite of passage.