Sam Mueller

Sam Mueller [they|she] is a Chicago-born, Florida-raised, New York-based playwright whose work fuses expansive queerness with working-class punk energy. Sam’s plays include PIN. (National Capital New Play Festival, O’Neill NPC Finalist), 70.3 (Parity Productions Development Award, The Hearth Theater) and Laced (About Face Theatre, Chicago). Laced and 70.3 are available through Broadway Play Publishing. Sam is an alum of EST/Youngblood, Ucross Foundation, The New Harmony Project, The Road Theater's Under Construction, Life Jacket Theater's Writers' Room, as well as a former Terrence McNally Fellow at Rattlestick Theater. They are currently an artist-in-residence at Nancy Manocherian's the cell theater. Sam is represented by Michael Finkle at WME. BS: Northwestern University

Sam Mueller [they|she] is a Chicago-born, Florida-raised, New York-based playwright whose work fuses expansive queerness with working-class punk energy. Sam’s plays include PIN. (National Capital New Play Festival, O’Neill NPC Finalist), 70.3 (Parity Productions Development Award, The Hearth Theater) and Laced (About Face Theatre, Chicago). Laced and 70.3 are available through Broadway Play Publishing. Sam is an alum of EST/Youngblood, Ucross Foundation, The New Harmony Project, The Road Theater's Under Construction, Life Jacket Theater's Writers' Room, as well as a former Terrence McNally Fellow at Rattlestick Theater. They are currently an artist-in-residence at Nancy Manocherian's the cell theater. Sam is represented by Michael Finkle at WME. BS: Northwestern University

Scripts

The Oysterman on the Outer Cape

by Sam Mueller

Synopsis

Sandro is not a party person. Still, he's paired up with his (romantic) partner, Claire, to join her at the parties she plans throughout The Cape to try to convince homeowners to keep the oyster farming in the harbor local. When he accidentally shucks Pearl from an oyster, she emerges like Boticelli's Birth of Venus and everything Sandro thinks he knows about life and love (and making change in a global economy)...

Sandro is not a party person. Still, he's paired up with his (romantic) partner, Claire, to join her at the parties she plans throughout The Cape to try to convince homeowners to keep the oyster farming in the harbor local. When he accidentally shucks Pearl from an oyster, she emerges like Boticelli's Birth of Venus and everything Sandro thinks he knows about life and love (and making change in a global economy) begins to change.

At the Confluence of Creeks

by Sam Mueller

Synopsis

After their father suddenly dies, estranged brothers Caleb (transgender) and Cain (cisgender) are granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hunt a bighorn sheep in rural northern Wyoming. Admittedly they’re having a hard time finding common ground and it’s only getting worse the longer it’s taking them to find a sheep. Little do they know, there's a bighorn pulling off his limbs and morphing into a man. Is it...

After their father suddenly dies, estranged brothers Caleb (transgender) and Cain (cisgender) are granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hunt a bighorn sheep in rural northern Wyoming. Admittedly they’re having a hard time finding common ground and it’s only getting worse the longer it’s taking them to find a sheep. Little do they know, there's a bighorn pulling off his limbs and morphing into a man. Is it their father? Is it God? Is it the Devil? The brothers are too busy collapsing under the weight of things they won't say to each other to notice they might be the ones being hunted. At The Confluence of Creeks is a play that asks just how much weight an olive branch can withstand.

PIN.

by Sam Mueller

Synopsis

Nonbinary high school athlete Jo Wagner has been kicked off their wrestling team for being on testosterone, but their rival MJ McKinnon is determined to have one final showdown before graduation. As the local community becomes more invested in their rivalry, their final, “unofficial” match causes both fascination and conflict. With joy, insight, and nuance, PIN. questions the arbitrary nature of gender binaries...

Nonbinary high school athlete Jo Wagner has been kicked off their wrestling team for being on testosterone, but their rival MJ McKinnon is determined to have one final showdown before graduation. As the local community becomes more invested in their rivalry, their final, “unofficial” match causes both fascination and conflict. With joy, insight, and nuance, PIN. questions the arbitrary nature of gender binaries and imagines a world in which nonbinary and trans kids can thrive.

70.3

by Sam Mueller

Synopsis

After Lola loses weight, she finds her physical body is constantly in the spotlight —
In her office, on the internet in DM’s from people she hasn’t spoken to in years, among her closest friends.
She can’t take it anymore.
She runs away to Boulder, Colorado, where not a single soul knows who she is,
And she signs up for a half Ironman.
This is where the play begins.

After Lola loses weight, she finds her physical body is constantly in the spotlight —
In her office, on the internet in DM’s from people she hasn’t spoken to in years, among her closest friends.
She can’t take it anymore.
She runs away to Boulder, Colorado, where not a single soul knows who she is,
And she signs up for a half Ironman.
This is where the play begins.

Laced

by Sam Mueller

Synopsis

The night after a queer bar outside of Tampa, Florida is vandalized, three twenty-something bartenders gather to grieve, riot, and above all, piece together the events of the night before. Fiery and poetic, LACED ferociously celebrates the spaces in which we find our truest selves.

The night after a queer bar outside of Tampa, Florida is vandalized, three twenty-something bartenders gather to grieve, riot, and above all, piece together the events of the night before. Fiery and poetic, LACED ferociously celebrates the spaces in which we find our truest selves.