Lauren Smerkanich

Lauren Smerkanich

Lauren Smerkanich is a writer-director currently living in Los Angeles. Recent honors include placing in The Top Thirty Playwrights in the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival (HALLOWEEN, 2023) and as a Semi-Finalist (GIGI INHERITS FOUR MINK COATS, 2021) in the Austin Film Festival Playwriting Competition. Her other plays include THE DIGNITY CIRCLE (produced at Central Works Theater in Berkeley, Summer 2023...
Lauren Smerkanich is a writer-director currently living in Los Angeles. Recent honors include placing in The Top Thirty Playwrights in the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival (HALLOWEEN, 2023) and as a Semi-Finalist (GIGI INHERITS FOUR MINK COATS, 2021) in the Austin Film Festival Playwriting Competition. Her other plays include THE DIGNITY CIRCLE (produced at Central Works Theater in Berkeley, Summer 2023), SMILE FOR ME, and BOIL.

In Los Angeles, she has directed at Theatre of Note and Assistant Directed on productions at Theatre of Note, The Echo Theatre Company, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre through the Block Party Program.

Plays

  • The Dignity Circle by Lauren Smerkanich
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    6–10
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    Genre: dark comedy
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    Keyword: money, Pyramid Scheme + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy
    Keyword: money, Pyramid Scheme, empowerment, female friendship, abuse of power, American capitalism, conwomen
    What would you do if I handed you forty thousand dollars, right now, no strings attached?
    Unable to resist this sales pitch, homemaker Judith is roped into A Dignity Circle, a simple gift-giving pyramid scheme that promises empowerment to the women of Sacramento while draining their bank accounts. Judith makes money, connections, and a deep friendship with the ringleader of the circle, Angela. But what...
    What would you do if I handed you forty thousand dollars, right now, no strings attached?
    Unable to resist this sales pitch, homemaker Judith is roped into A Dignity Circle, a simple gift-giving pyramid scheme that promises empowerment to the women of Sacramento while draining their bank accounts. Judith makes money, connections, and a deep friendship with the ringleader of the circle, Angela. But what will happen to Judith's newly-found independence and her newly-forged connection when the truth of the con is revealed?
  • Smile For Me by Lauren Smerkanich
    Cast: 
    7–9
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    Genre: adventure, biography + 1 more
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    Keyword: period piece, ground-breaking female artist + 8 more
    Genre: adventure, biography, period
    Keyword: period piece, ground-breaking female artist, 19th century, Marie Antionette, monarchy, Paris, French Revolution, Italy, patronage, volcanoes
    SMILE FOR ME follows the 19th century artist Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, personal portrait-painter to Marie Antoinette, immediately after her escape from Paris on the eve of the French Revolution. Finding herself in Naples, she splits her time between looking for a new patron and attempting to climb a recently-erupted Mt. Vesuvius. But will Lisabeth’s reputation from her time in Paris hinder her professional and...
    SMILE FOR ME follows the 19th century artist Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, personal portrait-painter to Marie Antoinette, immediately after her escape from Paris on the eve of the French Revolution. Finding herself in Naples, she splits her time between looking for a new patron and attempting to climb a recently-erupted Mt. Vesuvius. But will Lisabeth’s reputation from her time in Paris hinder her professional and
    personal ambitions?
  • Halloween by Lauren Smerkanich
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: holiday
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    Keyword: halloween, a marriage in crisis + 5 more
    Genre: holiday
    Keyword: halloween, a marriage in crisis, family holidays, decoration, dysfunctional neighbors, pumpkin, new home
    Lynne and Rob have just moved to a town where holiday decorations are taken seriously and the neighbors are always watching. As they carve a pumpkin in anticipation of Halloween, the young couple hash out what brought them to their new home, and decide to decorate for their own reasons - neighbors be damned.
  • Gigi Inherits Four Mink Coats by Lauren Smerkanich
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: dark comedy, holiday
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    Keyword: Holidays, family ghosts + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, holiday
    Keyword: Holidays, family ghosts, a marriage in crisis, a mother's love, accepting death, complex grief, hope and healing
    The holidays are a time for family, both living and not living. In Gigi Inherits Four Mink Coats, the newly-married Gigi attempts to navigate the complications that arise from celebrating Christmas with both her husband and her recently deceased mother. Gigi explores the experience of death in a culture that offers no instruction on how to grieve, and the audacity to hope for the future in a time of crisis.
  • Boil by Lauren Smerkanich
    Cast: 
    2–3
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: American capitalism, office + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: American capitalism, office, nepotism, causes of violence
    It starts as a standard interview in a nondescript office. Nadia, the boss's daughter, meets with Derek, a young corporate underling working his way up the ladder. She hopes to secure an entry-level position at her family's company, a task which should be relatively easy. But what starts out as mere verbal jousting between these two quickly escalates into violence. The pair must now navigate the...
    It starts as a standard interview in a nondescript office. Nadia, the boss's daughter, meets with Derek, a young corporate underling working his way up the ladder. She hopes to secure an entry-level position at her family's company, a task which should be relatively easy. But what starts out as mere verbal jousting between these two quickly escalates into violence. The pair must now navigate the consequences of their actions and determine how each one of them will survive in America's brutal corporate landscape.