M. D. Schaffer

M. D. Schaffer

M. D. Schaffer (He/They) is a Non-Binary, Ashkenazi, African American writer, choreographer, librettist, and lyricist born in Houston, Texas, and residing in New York City. Their previous works include Southern Seeds: An Americana Story with the Ensemble Theatre’s New Voices Fest, The Last Days of Victor Greymore with Emerging Artist Festival, A Rodeo Clown with the Obsidian Theatre Festival, & Drapteomania...
M. D. Schaffer (He/They) is a Non-Binary, Ashkenazi, African American writer, choreographer, librettist, and lyricist born in Houston, Texas, and residing in New York City. Their previous works include Southern Seeds: An Americana Story with the Ensemble Theatre’s New Voices Fest, The Last Days of Victor Greymore with Emerging Artist Festival, A Rodeo Clown with the Obsidian Theatre Festival, & Drapteomania: A Negro Carol with the We Will Dream Festival. Additionally, they are a 2023 recipient for the Pine Meadow Ranch for Arts & Agriculture Residency program with Roundhouse Foundation. They are a proud alumni of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at New York University - Tisch. Their works examine the relationship between Americana historical romanticism and contemporary American reality.

Plays

  • A Rodeo Clown by M. D. Schaffer
    Cast: 
    4–5
    ·
    Genre: drama, movement/physical + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Black America, the south + 8 more
    Genre: drama, movement/physical, tragedy
    Keyword: Black America, the south, Texas, Rodeo, clown, bullfighting, bull riding, pregnancy, African American, minstrelsy
    An African-American rodeo clown deals with parenthood, lineage, and a business where every performance, he's looks into the eyes of a large behemoth.
  • F***in' Howard Phillips by M. D. Schaffer
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, horror
    ·
    Keyword: horror, comedy + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, horror
    Keyword: horror, comedy, lovecraft, Cosmic Horror, satire, existential, Drugs
    Stoners. Girlfriends. Lovecraft. Two roommates, in the midst of an existential exploration of the art of the joint, debate the dimensions of how the ghosts of our passion’s pasts affect our artistic futures.
  • Southern Seeds by M. D. Schaffer
    Cast: 
    9
    ·
    Genre: drama, movement/physical
    ·
    Keyword: Racial relations, rural + 3 more
    Genre: drama, movement/physical
    Keyword: Racial relations, rural, Texas, American slavery, dance
    In order to write his latest novel, African-American novelist, James Maverick White,
    purchases The Seed Place, a sugarcane plantation outside of Smithville, Texas. It is the land
    where his ancestors were enslaved. There he meets As he tries to integrate within the community,
    the ghost of his ancestor haunts and reminds him that the soil fertilized by the blood of his
    people, and the...
    In order to write his latest novel, African-American novelist, James Maverick White,
    purchases The Seed Place, a sugarcane plantation outside of Smithville, Texas. It is the land
    where his ancestors were enslaved. There he meets As he tries to integrate within the community,
    the ghost of his ancestor haunts and reminds him that the soil fertilized by the blood of his
    people, and the family that brutalized his kin still remain on the land. And thus, his ancestor
    delivers him the duty to cease the century-plus of spiritual unrest of the plantation and bring its
    parasitic legacy to an end. He ultimately completes his task by burning the plantation down.