Susan Lerner

Susan Lerner is a screenwriter and playwright based in New York. Her screenplays received accolades from the Austin Film Festival, Cinestory Foundation and Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards, among others, and she is a Stowe Story Labs alum. Prior to writing scripts she was a corporate lawyer and author of two novels.
Playwriting is her newest writing passion. Her ten-minute play, A Meaningful Life, was selected for the AMT New Works Summer Reading Festival in NYC and awarded Commended Status by the Jewish Plays Project’s Ten Minute Play Festival. Her short play, Morning Coffee was selected for Playfest 24 in Monterey California. Alarmed was selected by New Stage Players for "An Evening of Comedy' in Waterbury, Vermont.

Susan Lerner is a screenwriter and playwright based in New York. Her screenplays received accolades from the Austin Film Festival, Cinestory Foundation and Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards, among others, and she is a Stowe Story Labs alum. Prior to writing scripts she was a corporate lawyer and author of two novels.
Playwriting is her newest writing passion. Her ten-minute play, A Meaningful Life, was selected for the AMT New Works Summer Reading Festival in NYC and awarded Commended Status by the Jewish Plays Project’s Ten Minute Play Festival. Her short play, Morning Coffee was selected for Playfest 24 in Monterey California. Alarmed was selected by New Stage Players for "An Evening of Comedy' in Waterbury, Vermont.

Scripts

A Taxing Moment

by Susan Lerner

Cast Size
6
Genre
dark comedy

A darkly comic one-act set on New Year's Eve 2010, in which three siblings keeping vigil at their dying mother's bedside discover that the Holocaust survivor who spent her whole life hiding in plain sight had one final secret — and it changes everything.

A darkly comic one-act set on New Year's Eve 2010, in which three siblings keeping vigil at their dying mother's bedside discover that the Holocaust survivor who spent her whole life hiding in plain sight had one final secret — and it changes everything.

Alarmed

by Susan Lerner

Cast Size
4
Genre
comedy

When Goldie’s alarm goes off, the policeman dismisses her as just another confused old lady - even when there is an actual burglar in her home. The burglar plays along, casually robbing the place while the cop insists Goldie's imaging things. But when the burglar unexpectedly returns, he and Goldie strike up an unlikely friendship.

When Goldie’s alarm goes off, the policeman dismisses her as just another confused old lady - even when there is an actual burglar in her home. The burglar plays along, casually robbing the place while the cop insists Goldie's imaging things. But when the burglar unexpectedly returns, he and Goldie strike up an unlikely friendship.

Since You Left

by Susan Lerner

Cast Size
2
Genre
drama

When Brooke, a young, married attorney​, agrees to meet her old flame, Jason, for a drink, she justifies it to herself as finding 'closure'. Instead, as they spar over past betrayals and present ambitions, she is forced to evaluate the choices she's made and decide whether her current contentment is a genuine triumph or a catastrophic compromise.

When Brooke, a young, married attorney​, agrees to meet her old flame, Jason, for a drink, she justifies it to herself as finding 'closure'. Instead, as they spar over past betrayals and present ambitions, she is forced to evaluate the choices she's made and decide whether her current contentment is a genuine triumph or a catastrophic compromise.

A Meaningful Life

by Susan Lerner

1
Cast Size
3
Genre
drama,
period,
tragedy

An idealistic young woman must deal with the consequences when she learns that the man she loves has a darker side.

An idealistic young woman must deal with the consequences when she learns that the man she loves has a darker side.

Morning Coffee

by Susan Lerner

Cast Size
2
Genre
dark comedy,
drama,
period

On a Saturday morning in 1980s New York, a single working woman and her matchmaking mother spar over blind dates, nail polish, and family gossip — until an old stuffed doll unlocks a story Mom has never told. A bittersweet comedy about inherited grief and what daughters owe mothers who survived the unsurvivable.

On a Saturday morning in 1980s New York, a single working woman and her matchmaking mother spar over blind dates, nail polish, and family gossip — until an old stuffed doll unlocks a story Mom has never told. A bittersweet comedy about inherited grief and what daughters owe mothers who survived the unsurvivable.

The Hunk

by Susan Lerner

3
Cast Size
5
Genre
comedy,
romantic comedy

Betty will do anything to get the attention of the man of her dreams. But is her dream man an illusion?

Betty will do anything to get the attention of the man of her dreams. But is her dream man an illusion?