Jonathan Payne

Jonathan Payne

Jonathan Payne’s work has been produced and developed at Long Wharf Theatre, Ars Nova, Fringe Festival NYC, The Bushwick Star, and the Fire This Time Festival. He was a fellow at New Dramatists, Playwrights Realm and The Dramatist Guild, as well as an Ars Nova Play Group. Awards include the Princess Grace Award, Holland New Voices Award, Rosa Parks Award, John Cauble Short Play Award. He received a BA from the...
Jonathan Payne’s work has been produced and developed at Long Wharf Theatre, Ars Nova, Fringe Festival NYC, The Bushwick Star, and the Fire This Time Festival. He was a fellow at New Dramatists, Playwrights Realm and The Dramatist Guild, as well as an Ars Nova Play Group. Awards include the Princess Grace Award, Holland New Voices Award, Rosa Parks Award, John Cauble Short Play Award. He received a BA from the GSA Conservatoire (UK), an MFA in Playwriting from Tisch School of the Arts, and an Artist Diploma Recipient in Playwriting from The Juilliard School.

Plays

  • Narrative of the Life of Cedric Bartholomew Written By Albert Lockwood by Jonathan Payne
    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: drama, period
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    Keyword: ghost encounter, two time periods
    Genre: drama, period
    Keyword: ghost encounter, two time periods
    A failed journalist hired by the Federal Writers Project in 1932, catches hold of a highly sought meeting with a former slave who mysteriously acquired his former master's fortune, including over 100 acres of land. Inspired by Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and the Slave Narratives gathered by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930’s, Narrative of the Life of Cedric Bartholomew, tells an epic...
    A failed journalist hired by the Federal Writers Project in 1932, catches hold of a highly sought meeting with a former slave who mysteriously acquired his former master's fortune, including over 100 acres of land. Inspired by Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and the Slave Narratives gathered by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930’s, Narrative of the Life of Cedric Bartholomew, tells an epic story of legacy, love, and tragedy.
  • Addressless: A Walk In Our Shoes by Jonathan Payne
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    4–13
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    Genre: drama, immersive + 2 more
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    Keyword: homelessness, poverty + 2 more
    Genre: drama, immersive, political, zoom
    Keyword: homelessness, poverty, interactive, zoom play
    Adapted from the original Hungarian production by Stereo Akt, Addressless is an interactive, virtual, theatrical game where you encounter firsthand the complex challenges of housing insecurity. You will make a series of decisions over the course of the game, which include: Will your character sleep on the street or sleep in a shelter? What do you do when you get injured on the job or run into someone you know...
    Adapted from the original Hungarian production by Stereo Akt, Addressless is an interactive, virtual, theatrical game where you encounter firsthand the complex challenges of housing insecurity. You will make a series of decisions over the course of the game, which include: Will your character sleep on the street or sleep in a shelter? What do you do when you get injured on the job or run into someone you know from their past? While some decisions might earn your character money, they may also take a toll on your life expectancy and physical wellbeing.
  • A Human Being, Of A Sort by Jonathan Payne
    Cast: 
    6–8
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    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 2 more
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    Keyword: anthropology, Human Zoo + 3 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, drama, period
    Keyword: anthropology, Human Zoo, Bronx Zoo, based on a true story, 1900s New York
    When a black prisoner is leased to the Bronx Zoo to serve as special attendant at a controversial exhibition in 1906, he is surprised to learn it features a young Congolese boy put on display among the inmates of the Primate House. As he grows closer and closer to the captive he realizes he's caught between the freedom he seeks and the success of the exhibition. A Human Being, Of A Sort is based on the...
    When a black prisoner is leased to the Bronx Zoo to serve as special attendant at a controversial exhibition in 1906, he is surprised to learn it features a young Congolese boy put on display among the inmates of the Primate House. As he grows closer and closer to the captive he realizes he's caught between the freedom he seeks and the success of the exhibition. A Human Being, Of A Sort is based on the true story of Ota Benga, looking at the roots of racial prejudice, bolstered by both science and religion.
  • Opal Root by Jonathan Payne
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale + 1 more
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    Keyword: montana, 1800s + 1 more
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale, period
    Keyword: montana, 1800s, American Civil War
    It's 1872 and the people of Cascade, Montana, are giving into the fashion and modernization of the era, but Opal Root, a black recluse and lover of nature, ain't havin' none of that.
  • Poor Edward by Jonathan Payne
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: drama, fable/folktale + 1 more
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale, horror
    Opal and Eddie are together. Well, she’d call it survival, and he’d call it penance. As night descends, two people grapple for a good enough story to make a new life for each other in this hypnotic, haunted tale of intimacy and survival.
  • The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll'd by Jonathan Payne
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    9
    ·
    Genre: adventure, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: social justice, Inner-city violence + 1 more
    Genre: adventure, drama, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: social justice, Inner-city violence, Brechtian
    Karma's foster brother, Terrell, has gone missing, and she's trying to find him amidst the inner city chaos that is The Oblong – but his teacher can't remember his name, his foster mom is still cashing his reimbursement checks, and his ex is glad he's gone. Where's the police, where are the reporters? Karma seems to be the only one who cares, but the more she looks, the more she...
    Karma's foster brother, Terrell, has gone missing, and she's trying to find him amidst the inner city chaos that is The Oblong – but his teacher can't remember his name, his foster mom is still cashing his reimbursement checks, and his ex is glad he's gone. Where's the police, where are the reporters? Karma seems to be the only one who cares, but the more she looks, the more she realizes that in The Oblong, caring only means trouble.
  • The Briar Patch by Jonathan Payne
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama, fantasy + 1 more
    Genre: drama, fantasy, political
    The Briar Patch is an Easter Play with a false rabbit and a dead Christ, where the paternal Trinity is usurped by a street-bred feminine Trio, and the scattered tribes of the inner city are alone against the horrors of a terrible plague. Presented through a classical Greek Tragic Structure, The Briar Patch questions the influence of the church in the Black Community. An institution once so rooted in the upward...
    The Briar Patch is an Easter Play with a false rabbit and a dead Christ, where the paternal Trinity is usurped by a street-bred feminine Trio, and the scattered tribes of the inner city are alone against the horrors of a terrible plague. Presented through a classical Greek Tragic Structure, The Briar Patch questions the influence of the church in the Black Community. An institution once so rooted in the upward mobility of a people, may have tragically fallen out of the prestige it once had so long ago.