Courtney Taylor

Courtney Taylor is a playwright and speechwriter from Massapequa, NY. Her plays are offbeat and off-the-rails explorations of flawed and unhinged people facing down systems of power, with recent work at the intersection of pop culture and sexual violence in academia.

Her work has been recognized by the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference, the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, the Terrence McNally New Works Incubator, SheNYC Summer Theater Festival, ScreenCraft's Stage Play Competition, and the J.L. Smith New Play Festival.

She was a finalist for Bechdel Project's 2022 Room of One's Own Residency, and is one of their inaugural Feminism Is For Everybody fellows. Courtney's work has been developed at Athena Project, Imaginarium Theatre Company, and The...

Courtney Taylor is a playwright and speechwriter from Massapequa, NY. Her plays are offbeat and off-the-rails explorations of flawed and unhinged people facing down systems of power, with recent work at the intersection of pop culture and sexual violence in academia.

Her work has been recognized by the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference, the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, the Terrence McNally New Works Incubator, SheNYC Summer Theater Festival, ScreenCraft's Stage Play Competition, and the J.L. Smith New Play Festival.

She was a finalist for Bechdel Project's 2022 Room of One's Own Residency, and is one of their inaugural Feminism Is For Everybody fellows. Courtney's work has been developed at Athena Project, Imaginarium Theatre Company, and The Apartment Players. She received a 2019 Edward Guiliano Global Travel Fellowship to research and develop her play Jenkins: An All-American Outing at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.

Scripts

revelations from the first and last ever rehearsal of THEY SAY I DID SOMETHING BAD: an unauthorized taylor swift parody musical about the life of the unabomber ted kaczynski presented by the bridgebrook college drama club

by Courtney Taylor

Synopsis

Riley, an edgy playwright in love with her closeted best friend Cheyenne, creates an unruly new musical about the Unabomber – written after the arrest of the high school teacher who groomed her. The piece takes a surreal turn with the arrival of Ecoterrorist Taylor and the Unabomber, forcing Riley and Cheyenne to search for connection and tenderness at the end of the world.

revelations... is a 90-minute...

Riley, an edgy playwright in love with her closeted best friend Cheyenne, creates an unruly new musical about the Unabomber – written after the arrest of the high school teacher who groomed her. The piece takes a surreal turn with the arrival of Ecoterrorist Taylor and the Unabomber, forcing Riley and Cheyenne to search for connection and tenderness at the end of the world.

revelations... is a 90-minute dramedy about college theatremakers, true crime, and rape culture, also ft. queer romance, Ecoterrorist Taylor, musical performances, and the end of the world. Trigger warning for discussion and themes of sexual violence throughout.

WEIRD GIRL SUMMER

by Courtney Taylor

Synopsis

Marlowe moves into Nellie’s house after her parents kick her out. Mix in The Sound of Music, murder plans, the concept of fanfiction, and a TV night that goes wrong, and then right.

[Trigger warnings: Themes of homophobia, discussion of domestic abuse and murder.]

Marlowe moves into Nellie’s house after her parents kick her out. Mix in The Sound of Music, murder plans, the concept of fanfiction, and a TV night that goes wrong, and then right.

[Trigger warnings: Themes of homophobia, discussion of domestic abuse and murder.]

Jenkins: An All-American Outing

by Courtney Taylor

Synopsis

*2024 O'Neill Semifinalist

Two unspecified and unserious agents assemble the mostly-true story of White House aide Walter Jenkins, who was arrested just before the 1964 election for indecent gestures with another man in a Y.M.C.A. bathroom. This offbeat and off-the-rails journey explores, imagines, and interrogates the bonds between Walter, his little-known wife Marjorie, and Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson. The...

*2024 O'Neill Semifinalist

Two unspecified and unserious agents assemble the mostly-true story of White House aide Walter Jenkins, who was arrested just before the 1964 election for indecent gestures with another man in a Y.M.C.A. bathroom. This offbeat and off-the-rails journey explores, imagines, and interrogates the bonds between Walter, his little-known wife Marjorie, and Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson. The play twists inside-out around the stakes and problems that come from including Walter’s story in the larger history of LGBTQIA Americans.

With singing, dancing, and experimental reveries, Jenkins: An All-American Outing cross-examines the tropes of queer biographical plays, creating something different – and messier – in its place.

This script was developed in part through a 2019 Edward Guiliano Global Travel Fellowship from Stony Brook University.

The Guy Who Killed Bigfoot

by Courtney Taylor

Synopsis

Kennedy, a trans man in his twenties who shot Bigfoot and went viral, is tracked down unexpectedly by his cryptid-hunting ex.

Kennedy, a trans man in his twenties who shot Bigfoot and went viral, is tracked down unexpectedly by his cryptid-hunting ex.

Opening Night

by Courtney Taylor

Synopsis

An understudy for a production of Romeo and Juliet is called to fill a role...or four...just before the start of the show. A too-cheerful stage manager, and a techie who swears not to be interested, help the actor prepare.

An understudy for a production of Romeo and Juliet is called to fill a role...or four...just before the start of the show. A too-cheerful stage manager, and a techie who swears not to be interested, help the actor prepare.

THE DRYER PLAY

by Courtney Taylor

Synopsis

After a serial killer is found on Long Island, a queer Gen-Z receptionist and a closeted millennial hairdresser share a strange, sexy, and surreal evening waiting for a client.

After a serial killer is found on Long Island, a queer Gen-Z receptionist and a closeted millennial hairdresser share a strange, sexy, and surreal evening waiting for a client.

a most theatrical kidnapping of jeremy strong and/or a centaur, a centaur, my kingdom for a centaur

by Courtney Taylor

Synopsis

Two unhinged theatremakers kidnap Jeremy Strong on opening night of their new play, "A Centaur Comes At Night." A dark comedy about what we'd do to make our art transcend.

Developed as part of Daisy Theatricals' 2025 BLOOM Festival.

Two unhinged theatremakers kidnap Jeremy Strong on opening night of their new play, "A Centaur Comes At Night." A dark comedy about what we'd do to make our art transcend.

Developed as part of Daisy Theatricals' 2025 BLOOM Festival.

The Warren Commission Spectacular

by Courtney Taylor

Synopsis

A party the night that the Warren Commission finishes their report on the Kennedy assassination takes a bizarre turn. Part weird history play, part chaotic comedy, all mildly true.

Script available for purchase through 1319 Press.

A party the night that the Warren Commission finishes their report on the Kennedy assassination takes a bizarre turn. Part weird history play, part chaotic comedy, all mildly true.

Script available for purchase through 1319 Press.

Lights in the Sky

by Courtney Taylor

Synopsis

Lights in the Sky tells the story of two best friends, Jack and Luis, who search for UFOs at night and confront their feelings for one another along the way. A pink lawn flamingo, and a call from an ex-girlfriend, change everything.

Lights in the Sky tells the story of two best friends, Jack and Luis, who search for UFOs at night and confront their feelings for one another along the way. A pink lawn flamingo, and a call from an ex-girlfriend, change everything.

Ask Not: The True Story of the Kennedy Assassination

by Courtney Taylor

Synopsis

Ask Not reimagines the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination, riffing on conspiracy culture and queering history. Here, JFK's head just "did that" at the moment a gunshot sounded, prompting an off-beat cast of famous characters to cover-up and uncover the truth...when they're not scheming, singing, dancing, and taking a whole lot of drugs.

Ask Not reimagines the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination, riffing on conspiracy culture and queering history. Here, JFK's head just "did that" at the moment a gunshot sounded, prompting an off-beat cast of famous characters to cover-up and uncover the truth...when they're not scheming, singing, dancing, and taking a whole lot of drugs.