Erin Lerch

Erin Lerch

Erin Lerch is a Boston-area playwright and stage manager who can’t/won’t stop writing deeply queer sci-fi. They appeared on ArtsBoston’s July 2020 list of 10 Boston Playwrights You Should Know. Their most recent play, SHRIKE, was written and developed through Company One Theatre's PlayLab Fellows program and with TC Squared Theatre, and received its premiere production with Fresh Ink Theatre in February...
Erin Lerch is a Boston-area playwright and stage manager who can’t/won’t stop writing deeply queer sci-fi. They appeared on ArtsBoston’s July 2020 list of 10 Boston Playwrights You Should Know. Their most recent play, SHRIKE, was written and developed through Company One Theatre's PlayLab Fellows program and with TC Squared Theatre, and received its premiere production with Fresh Ink Theatre in February 2022. Their play CROSSING FLIGHT (first in the LEGION CYCLE) had its world premiere in Boston at TC Squared Theatre Company in January 2018. Their short play WORLD LINE had a full staged reading with Blunt Objects Theatre Company in New Orleans, and was presented online as part of TC Squared’s VOLUME UP Virtual Reading series in summer 2020. Erin’s ten minute plays (which include RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY and DON’T LOOK BACK) have been read and produced in Texas, West Virginia, Florida, Washington, and throughout Massachusetts.

Plays

  • Break, Break: a Legion Cycle play by Erin Lerch
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    ·
    Keyword: aliens, post-apocalyptic
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    Keyword: aliens, post-apocalyptic
    When the alien Legion arrives, bringing chaos and destruction with them, small-town DJ Rachel takes shelter in the radio station with a small group of survivors, vowing to keep information flowing as long as they can. As the Legion war drags on and the voices over the airwaves start to dwindle away, Rachel and the others must face a difficult decision: do they keep broadcasting in the hope that someone's...
    When the alien Legion arrives, bringing chaos and destruction with them, small-town DJ Rachel takes shelter in the radio station with a small group of survivors, vowing to keep information flowing as long as they can. As the Legion war drags on and the voices over the airwaves start to dwindle away, Rachel and the others must face a difficult decision: do they keep broadcasting in the hope that someone's still alive to hear, or abandon the station - and hope along with it?
  • Shrike: a Legion Cycle play by Erin Lerch
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    ·
    Keyword: post-apocalyptic
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    Keyword: post-apocalyptic
    When the alien Legion came, Sheena lost everything. All she has left is one final, unlikely dream: the Rebellion. But when she arrives, it’s to a Rebellion shattered by the loss of its leader, pushed to increasingly desperate measures – including working with their alien enemy. As tensions mount, Sheena has to face the question: when you have nothing left, what do you fight for?
  • Pinch Point by Erin Lerch
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    ·
    Keyword: post-apocalyptic, climate fiction
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    Keyword: post-apocalyptic, climate fiction
    As climate change ravaged the Earth, those with money and power escaped into space, leaving behind the less fortunate to try and survive in the wreckage. Half a century later, a small group of said survivors stumble across a treasure trove left by one of those rich escapees, guarded by a cyborg tasked with keeping people like them out. When their first attempt to break in results in an injury that’s quickly...
    As climate change ravaged the Earth, those with money and power escaped into space, leaving behind the less fortunate to try and survive in the wreckage. Half a century later, a small group of said survivors stumble across a treasure trove left by one of those rich escapees, guarded by a cyborg tasked with keeping people like them out. When their first attempt to break in results in an injury that’s quickly becoming lethal, the group must figure out how to defeat the guard - or find a way to convince them to change sides.
  • Crossing Flight: a Legion Cycle play by Erin Lerch
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    ·
    Keyword: post-apocalyptic, aliens
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    Keyword: post-apocalyptic, aliens
    Once a veteran fighter pilot, Mel now spends her days hiding from the constant threat of the alien Legion in the basement of an old ranger station, deep in the untouched wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. But when Laione, a winged Legion scout, is shot down right over her head, Mel seizes what could be her last chance to fulfill a lifelong dream. What starts out as an uneasy truce slowly morphs into something...
    Once a veteran fighter pilot, Mel now spends her days hiding from the constant threat of the alien Legion in the basement of an old ranger station, deep in the untouched wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. But when Laione, a winged Legion scout, is shot down right over her head, Mel seizes what could be her last chance to fulfill a lifelong dream. What starts out as an uneasy truce slowly morphs into something more as they race against the clock. The Legion is coming. Can they finish in time?
  • RUBICON: a theatrical RPG by Erin Lerch
    Cast: 
    6–7
    ·
    Genre: experimental, science fiction + 1 more
    Genre: experimental, science fiction, zoom
    Rae Nigellus, captain of the diplomat/aid ship Rubicon, has been dispatched to a planet currently under siege by a powerful space fleet. But the situation is more complicated than it first appears – not only is Rae contacted by organizers on the ground asking for help of a sort that threatens Rae’s standing as a neutral aid ship; it turns out the leader of the blockading army is someone she once knew, and...
    Rae Nigellus, captain of the diplomat/aid ship Rubicon, has been dispatched to a planet currently under siege by a powerful space fleet. But the situation is more complicated than it first appears – not only is Rae contacted by organizers on the ground asking for help of a sort that threatens Rae’s standing as a neutral aid ship; it turns out the leader of the blockading army is someone she once knew, and someone who knows what she’s done.

    Written specifically for digital presentation, RUBICON is also a choose-your-own-adventure play. Through choices made before and during the play, the audience will help decide the fate of the Rubicon, the colonists, and Rae herself.
  • World Line by Erin Lerch
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama, young audiences
    ·
    Keyword: coming of age, LGBTQ + 4 more
    Genre: drama, young audiences
    Keyword: coming of age, LGBTQ, queer, family, Transgender, gender identity
    Eddie has always dreamed of escaping suburban Wyoming to become the first astronaut on Mars. But with their family's debt piling up, and as the anniversary of their mother's death looms, Eddie struggles with the question of whether it's worth it to chase a dream that may never come true. 
  • By Any Other Name by Erin Lerch
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    In the far future, after a disaster that destroyed her home, Amaranth must decide who and how she needs to be in order to survive beneath the weight of others' expectations.
  • Random Access Memory by Erin Lerch
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    Ganymede Dawes, captain of the interstellar courier ship Minnow, has never been one to play by the rules. When her ship's AI (and her best friend) Mallard is ravaged by a memory-mixing virus, Ganymede has to convince a 14-year-old backup to help her get Mal back. But can Mal ever really be the same?
  • Don't Look Back by Erin Lerch
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, fantasy + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, fantasy, young audiences
    Monsters are much less frightening when you realize they have rules: bogeymen hide under beds, kelpies stick to fords and streams, and Black Dogs can only kill you if you look behind. But who made the rules? And when Abigail asks Riley to break them, will the monster be brave enough to do it?
  • Clockwork by Erin Lerch
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    Genre: drama, science fiction
    You know what they say: life, uh, finds a way. And when Alex and Louie's latest AI project, Clockwork, starts displaying signs of sentience, they have to decide: what does it mean to be alive? And do they have the right to destroy something when they never meant to create it in the first place?
  • Event Horizon by Erin Lerch
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama, science fiction + 1 more
    Genre: drama, science fiction, tragedy
    Isabel and Maya are orbiting a black hole and a dying star when the ship’s computer detects an anomaly on the edge of the accretion disk. At first, they think it's a ship, trapped in the gravity well and calling for help. But as they get closer, they begin to realize that something is watching, out there in the dark.
  • Avalon by Erin Lerch
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: LGBTQ, gender + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: LGBTQ, gender, sexuality, identity
    For Avalon Stephens, hir small, stifling hometown has never felt at all like home. When a family emergency brings Avalon back to Adelaide and into contact with a young trans man struggling to find his footing, Avalon decides to confront hir fear and hir past and work to make the town safe for people of all genders. A play about identity and what happens when the present and the past collide.