Brooke Berman

Brooke Berman

Brooke Berman is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and memoirist whose work has been produced and published across the US and abroad. Brooke wrote and directed the feature film RAMONA AT MIDLIFE (www.ramonatmidlife.com); Ramona premiered at Geena Davis's esteemed Bentonville Film Festival and is currently on the festival circuit.

Brooke's short film UGGS FOR GAZA...
Brooke Berman is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and memoirist whose work has been produced and published across the US and abroad. Brooke wrote and directed the feature film RAMONA AT MIDLIFE (www.ramonatmidlife.com); Ramona premiered at Geena Davis's esteemed Bentonville Film Festival and is currently on the festival circuit.

Brooke's short film UGGS FOR GAZA premiered at the Aspen International ShortsFest where it won Audience Special Recognition award. UGGS also screened at Toronto Shorts Fest and Santa Fe Film Festival. ALL SAINTS DAY, a short film Brooke wrote, directed by Will Frears, won Best Narrative Short at the Savannah Film Festival and played at the Tribeca Film Festival. She adapted her play SMASHING for Natalie Portman and has written features for The Mark Gordon Company, Vox Films, Red Crown, and Fugitive Films.

Brooke's plays have been produced and developed across the US at theaters including: 2nd Stage, Steppenwolf, Soho Rep, Williamstown Theater Festival, Naked Angels, MCC, Primary Stages, The Humana Festival, and The Bay Area Playwrights Foundation. Internationally, her work has been developed at The Royal Court Theatre, The National Theatre Studio and Pentabus and produced at Red Stitch Theatre in Australia. Brooke's play Hunting and Gathering, which premiered at Primary Stages, directed by Leigh Silverman, was named one of the Ten Best by New York Magazine.

Brooke is the author of three nonfiction books including the memoir, No Place Like Home, published by Random House. She has received numerous awards and grants for her plays and support from the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo.

She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Barnard College, where she majored in American Studies. She is a proud member of the WGA and the Dramatists Guild, and an alumna of New Dramatists and the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference.

More information: www.brookeberman.net, https://linktr.ee/brookeberman

Plays

  • A Model City by Brooke Berman
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: dark comedy, period
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    Keyword: female friendship, Race + 2 more
    Genre: dark comedy, period
    Keyword: female friendship, Race, gender, intersectionality
    The story of an unlikely friendship between bored Jewish newlywed Elly and Motown backup singer Reena, neighbors in the newly constructed Lafayette Park neighborhood in Detroit, on the eve of the historic 1967 uprisings. Based on the actual apartment where my mom and Diana Ross were neighbors.
  • Absolution by Brooke Berman
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: healing, female character over 40 + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: healing, female character over 40, Spiritual Crisis, religious cults
    Alicia has always relied upon the advice of Norah, an older, charismatic healer, who helped her when she was lost. But ten years later, Alicia is ready to move on -- can she? A drama about faith, spirituality and the dangers of making an ordinary person into a guru.
  • Hurricane by Brooke Berman
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: feminism, parenthood + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, political
    Keyword: feminism, parenthood, mommy wars
    Former Riot Grrl drummer Rose feels stranded after having a baby while her husband Ethan feels he has finally found his voice. When Ethan confesses that he's been secretly keeping a parenting blog about their life together and takes off for a Daddy Blogger Conference, Rose invites ex-bestie and bandmate Jules to town to shake things up and restore sanity.
  • My New Best Friend by Brooke Berman
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
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    Keyword: feminism, millennials + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: feminism, millennials, intergenerational feminism
    Claire and Sevrin, newly minted best friends,take a thrilling walk in each other's shoes when they swap apartments for the summer. But all turns sour when Claire begins to suspect that her captivating new friend may be taking over not only her apartment but her entire New York life.
  • Sam and Lucy by Brooke Berman
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: mother and daughter, coming of age
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: mother and daughter, coming of age
    Lucy, clad in vintage Gucci, struggles with Saturn Return, ghosts, and family legends while lunching with her mother's lover.

    "Brooke Berman's script is one of the most promising ever at the Next Stage Series of readings... At times elegiac and at times hilarious, it uses a sextet of actors to tell, in musical, contrapuntal interplay, the story of a young woman who begins to find...
    Lucy, clad in vintage Gucci, struggles with Saturn Return, ghosts, and family legends while lunching with her mother's lover.

    "Brooke Berman's script is one of the most promising ever at the Next Stage Series of readings... At times elegiac and at times hilarious, it uses a sextet of actors to tell, in musical, contrapuntal interplay, the story of a young woman who begins to find her adult identity with the return of her long-missing father, meetings with her mother's long-ago lover and (spoiler alert!) the death of her mother. "
    —Tony Brown, The Cleveland Plain Deale