Aurin Squire

Three journalism grad students compete for bylines while one of them may be a genuine sociopath—but good luck proving it. Miles (Miami, cynical), Gina (Mississippi, sharp), and Evan (California, charming) are locked in competition at a prestigious journalism program. As deadlines pile up, Gina creates a "sociopath scorecard" to evaluate whether Evan—who arrives with implausible stories about Spanish royalty, boarding schools, and an exclusive ambassador interview—is a fabulist, a liar, or something worse. The play uses journalistic structure (hook, slug, lede) as dramatic architecture, building to a climax where Evan’s big story gets held for "fact-checking" and no one can tell if he’s a monster or just exceptionally ambitious.

When a young man tries to save his Gullah family home, he dives into the history of his family lineage, the Civil War, and the first town of Black freedmen in America. Mitchelville is a story about learning from the past, saving for the future, and keeping a tradition going.

London Reviews
★★★★ London Review Hub
★★★★ Everything Theatre (UK)

Warren is a fresh-faced, new wave, thoroughly modern, hot-wired, wifi'ed, ecologically green, politically progressive, on-point staffer for the 2008 Obama campaign. When he agrees to some on-the-job training from a chorus of campaign instructors, the questions he faces out in the field begin to unravel his education in the classroom. As his job requirements and his personal beliefs split apart, the barriers between political and cultural, psychological and social, racial and religious, public and private begin to dissolve. "Obama-ology" is a 21st century tale about what happens when the traditional ethnic, social, economic, and party boundaries have become so porous that people are never quite sure with whom or where they stand. All that and it's a comedy too!

Other Reviews

1. The Public Review
★★★★
"a fast flowing production in which comedy, suspense and high emotion are delivered with equal confidence. In all respects, this production is in tune with Squire’s smart and incisive dialogue."

2. The Guardian
★★★
"really entertaining evening" and "entertaining political satire"

3. Everything Theatre
“An exuberant, entertaining, engaging, emotional and amusing performance!”

4. British Theatre Guide
"A resounding success thanks to a lively script that leavens the serious issues with apt humour, a series of gripping episodes and the efforts of a well-drilled and more than capable cast."

5. Review Gate
“See this play. This production. Both are miraculous. The whole piece, so vividly played, might hopefully retain the American Dream. But it does so with a wide-awake sense of reality.”

6. One World
“You leave the theatre entertained and provoked, remembering – if ruefully – that moment in history when those who were there could say with conviction, “Change is possible … I saw the proof.”

7. UK Theatre Network
“Aurin Squire has written a satire with substance - a play that should not be missed.”

Set among the swamps and canals of rural Florida, Defacing Michael Jackson follows a motley group of African-American teenagers who create their own Michael Jackson fan club in 1984. But when a white family moves to the neighborhood and their son tries to join the club, all the rules of the community are challenged, and relationships start to crumble. Defacing Michael Jackson is a dark comedy about losing innocence, hero worship, and American identity.

"This is simply one of the most exciting new works I've seen in a while and deserves an audience. I urge you to catch this one before it moves on. Even just to say you saw something from this amazing playwright before he becomes the toast of Broadway. - BWW Review

"it “crackles” with passion and intensity, mostly due to the Elizabeth character."
- Seattle Gay Scene

"Fire Season" is a brand-new play that you've probably never heard of ... but you need to...Squire's dialogue is so raw and honest that you can't help but lean forward and pay attention. - BWW Review

"Seattle Public Theater's production of the award-winning play is consistently exceptional. “Fire Season,” stark and indignant, is a frequently excellent drama about people for whom unrelenting despair has become a given. The show’s characters live in a rural Washington town where opioid addiction and drug dealing are rife and livable wages are hard to come by." - DailyUW

When a twelve-year-old boy overdoses on Oxycontin in rural Washington, his small-town community is left reeling. Fire Season is an at times funny and always unflinching look at strong, working-class Americans hoping to make it through another day. What happens when systems harm the people they’re supposed to help -- and what does it take to fight back?

*Actually a perfect play for Zoom. Not intentional but...here we are!*

"Don't Smoke In Bed" explodes a world in which traditional ethnic, social, economic and sexual boundaries have become so porous that people are never quite sure who or where they stand. Richard and Sheryl are an interracial academic couple starting a family together. Yet when they agree to a series of 'bedroom interviews' they begin to unravel their tenuous marriage. A seemingly solid structure splits into a bedroom divided as the barriers between psychological and social, sexual and political, public and private, melt and dissolve.

London Reviews
★★★★ The Reviews Hub
★★★★ The Upcoming
★★★★ Theatre and Performance Guide and Guru
★★★★★ Scatter of Opinion
★★★★★ Ginger Wig and Strolling Man

Chicago Reviews (2018)
★★★★ "Highly Recommended" by The Hawk Chicago

"Incredibly sharp writing, expertly paced character building, and powerful performances [...] Chimera Ensemble’s production is well worth your time."

"Not a single element feels out of place [...] It cannot be understated how sparkling and engaging Aurin Squire's writing can get."

"Not only are the backstories of critical consequence to each character’s perspective, but the writing goes further to incorporate a plethora of everyday minutiae which bring subtle twists and contradictions to each character’s arguments. Each character builds their own moral high ground with every topic, only to be torn down by thousands of little discrepancies and minute biases."

"Don't Smoke In Bed" explodes a world in which traditional ethnic, social, economic and sexual boundaries have become so porous that people are never quite sure who or where they stand. Richard and Sheryl are an interracial academic couple starting a family together. Yet when they agree to a series of 'bedroom interviews' they begin to unravel their tenuous marriage. A seemingly solid structure splits into a bedroom divided as the barriers between psychological and social, sexual and political, public and private, melt and dissolve.

“Thrillingly incisive…Mightily thought-provoking.” Ian Foster, There Ought To Be Clowns

“Well worth a look for anyone interested in contemporary race and gender politics.” John Demmery Green, London Pub Theatre

“Don’t Smoke In Bed makes important points about how uncomfortable we still are with openly discussing race, gender and domestic violence.” Breman Rajkumar, A Younger Theatre

“An honest and raw exploration of the expectations and pressures imposed by society on interracial couples…Each scene is more passionate than the last. Eye-opening and troubling, Don’t Smoke in Bed will force audiences to re-evaluate their understanding of modern society.” Michelle Keepence, The Upcoming

“Complex and powerful exploration of racial tension in the USA today.” Annabel Mellor, Theatre and Performance Guide and Guru

“Squire absolutely nails the quandary of white liberal guilt.” Ian Foster, There Ought To Be Clowns

“True moments of heartbreak and catharsis.” Ginger Wig & Strolling Man

“Squire’s rich, insightful script celebrates the power of language. The intelligent, self-aware dialogue has a natural ring and yet manages to convey impressive depths of meaning.” Annabel Mellor, Theatre and Performance Guide and Guru

“Aurin Squire writes an insightful analysis of a modern day couple with age-old problems.” Daniel Perks, The Reviews Hub

“The play is rich in themes of historic, racial, gendered, and cultural conflict.” John Demmery Green, London Pub Theatre

A writer tries to process a "sapiosexual" romance by staging a reading of his memories. But the meta-theatrical rehearsal becomes a confrontation with his own unresolved grief and the nature of memory when the actor he hired begins to challenge his version of the past. sapiosexual is a meta-theatrical two-hander exploring love, memory, and grief.

*BEST PLAY, BEST WRITING, BEST ACTOR AWARDS in the LGBT Theatre Festival, Fresh Fruit*

To Whom It May Concern is an epistolary play about a 15-year-old boy who tries to seduce a military soldier in Afghanistan through a series of letters and online encounters When Lorenzo pretends to be a young woman their romance takes off until one night Maurice decides to visit his lady-in-waiting. To Whom It May Concern is a bittersweet comedy.

REVIEWS
1. NYTHEATRE

All in all, To Whom It May Concern is an engaging and provocative new drama that allows us to walk in some other fellows' shoes for a couple of hours, yielding significant insights along the way.

2. Showbusiness Weekly

The primary delight of the evening is the script itself. Squire brilliantly employs the epistolary device to tell a story about the perils of unconventional intimacy. The tricky device works because it is intrinsic to the plot; Lorenzo would not have been able to trick Maurice into falling for ‘him’ outside the setting of the Internet. It would have been just another missed connection. The setup is so well executed that by the time they meet face to face, the audience is enthralled.

Set in an asylum for the criminally insane of a dystopic future, "Zoohouse" is a twisted tale about who has narrative authority, where we keep history, and whose lives matter. Destined for an explosive conclusion, The inmates of "Zoohouse" find themselves on a dark and surreal ride fueled by the psychological, sexual, political and social topics that permeate our everyday lives.

“Boxing the Sun” is a full-length drama of interwoven stories about Chicagoans fighting to make it through the unbearable heat and another day in the urban jungle. Set on the hottest day of the year, the lives of friends, families and neighbors spark off each other to comic and tragic results.

The story takes place on a Chicago block, mostly in and outside a small apartment complex, but it could really be set in any urban landscape. Due to the fluidity of the interweaving stories, the set should be sparse and flexible.

When 3 blacktresses get together to help a friend move in, they start thinking about their own successes, failures...and that damn chicken sandwich.

I went out on my first date with William Dale on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2018. We had a few in-person encounters and a few text/phone conversations. And then he was dead. He slipped or fell or jumped. It was late night, probably 3 or 4am on March 16th, 2018. I was in his phone so I was contacted by his friends. They assumed Will and were close, but we were not. Yet I felt haunted by such a brief exchange at the end of someone’s life. I felt disturbed by Will’s presence, his enthusiasm and zest, but also his flakiness, past issues with drug abuse, wild party nature, and then his disappearance. I am trying to make sense of this. How do you mourn for someone who you were just starting to know?

Intersecting lives, loves, and stories play out in an art gallery. This comedy is about romance, passion, and hope through the creation of art.

A young political campaign worker hits the road and has to survive a series of traffic stops. "African Americana" workshopped at Brooklyn Arts Exchange in a Occupy to Obama Festival, before receiving a full production at Theatre 503 in London.

An elderly couple reflect on the spate of police brutality cases while rediscovering the classic Nina Simone protest song, "Mississippi Goddamn."

Two passengers and a stewardess on a falling plane give a moment-by-moment account of what happens when tomorrow is no longer certain. Winner of the 2013 Fiat Lux Award from the Catholic Church and 1st Prize in the InspiraTO Theatre's International Play Festival in Toronto.

When holiday family dysfunction explodes, so does a world of traditional ethnic, social traditions. "A Family Manual for Kwanzaa" is a surreal and comic look at the disintegration of a family over the seven days holiday. This is a weird, dark comedy about my family, black history, and that strange step-sister of a holiday right after Christmas that we know as Kwanzaa.

Reviews...
"Be ready for an intense, thought-provoking evening when you see “Running on Fire” at Lee Street theatre."

"Aurin Squire’s original play asks lots of questions that have no comfortable answers. He’s not heavy-handed, with generous bits of humour throughout — though some of that humor is the sort of nervous laughter reserved for sticky situations."

"See this play. Talk about it with your friends of all colors and creeds. Listen to your inner voice carefully."
- Salisbury Post

https://www.salisburypost.com/2018/04/19/feel-the-heat-of-running-on-fi…

A young college student is out for a jog when he is implicated in a crime spree. After his property is confiscated by an officer, his attempt to seek justice sets off a chain reaction of events that ripple across the college, surrounding town, and amongst a community seething with tension. What is real and what is not get called into question in this timely play that asks 'who are we to ourselves and each other?'