Gloria Majule

Gloria Majule is a storyteller born and raised in Dodoma, Tanzania. She seeks to tell stories that bring multiple black voices together from across the world, and are accessible to black audiences no matter where they are. She writes for and about Africans and the African diaspora.

Gloria has been awarded a MacDowell Fellowship and commissions by Audible and Atlantic Theater Company. Her canon includes My Father Was Shot in the Back of the Head (Finalist: Relentless Award, O’Neill, Seven Devils, Orchard Project), Culture Shock (Winner: Leah Ryan Prize, Finalist: O’Neill, Alliance/Kendeda, BAPF), Uhuru (Finalist: Blue Ink Award, Premiere Stages, BAPF), and Fifteen Hundred (Finalist: Seven Devils). Gloria is a five time nominee for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Her work has recently...

Gloria Majule is a storyteller born and raised in Dodoma, Tanzania. She seeks to tell stories that bring multiple black voices together from across the world, and are accessible to black audiences no matter where they are. She writes for and about Africans and the African diaspora.

Gloria has been awarded a MacDowell Fellowship and commissions by Audible and Atlantic Theater Company. Her canon includes My Father Was Shot in the Back of the Head (Finalist: Relentless Award, O’Neill, Seven Devils, Orchard Project), Culture Shock (Winner: Leah Ryan Prize, Finalist: O’Neill, Alliance/Kendeda, BAPF), Uhuru (Finalist: Blue Ink Award, Premiere Stages, BAPF), and Fifteen Hundred (Finalist: Seven Devils). Gloria is a five time nominee for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Her work has recently been developed at ACT - A Contemporary Theatre, the Alley Theatre, the Black and Latino Playwrights Celebration, Vassar’s Powerhouse Theater, the New Harmony Project, Seattle Public Theater and The New Group. She was a guest speaker for the Courageous Art Panel at Starbucks, and the President's Tea at Vassar College. Gloria graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University with a BA in Performing & Media Arts and Spanish, and was the first African woman to receive an MFA in Playwriting from Yale School of Drama.  (Curriculum Vitae available upon request)

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Scripts

(American Theater)

by Gloria Majule

1
Cast Size
2
Genre
comedy,
farce

FIVE MINUTE PLAY
A writer and a producer meet to discuss plays.

FIVE MINUTE PLAY
A writer and a producer meet to discuss plays.

Afropick

by Gloria Majule

Cast Size
5
Genre
comedy,
drama

Commissioned by Atlantic Theater Company:
Pendo can’t stay in America. At least, not without an enormous amount of money that she does not have. The faster time runs out on her student visa, the more desperate she gets, and the more she is forced to confront the horrors and opportunities of migration in this transatlantic dramedy.

Commissioned by Atlantic Theater Company:
Pendo can’t stay in America. At least, not without an enormous amount of money that she does not have. The faster time runs out on her student visa, the more desperate she gets, and the more she is forced to confront the horrors and opportunities of migration in this transatlantic dramedy.

Blessings

by Gloria Majule

Cast Size
4
Genre
dark comedy

ONE ACT PLAY
Commissioned by Yale Summer Cabaret:
Three black women from distinct walks of life try to move forward in the wake of an untimely death.

ONE ACT PLAY
Commissioned by Yale Summer Cabaret:
Three black women from distinct walks of life try to move forward in the wake of an untimely death.

Culture Shock

by Gloria Majule

Cast Size
7
Genre
comedy,
drama

Two brilliant East African students start school in an Ivy League Institution and are placed in an all-black dorm. They experience new levels of (dis)orientation in a whirl of competitive placements and cultural clashes.

Two brilliant East African students start school in an Ivy League Institution and are placed in an all-black dorm. They experience new levels of (dis)orientation in a whirl of competitive placements and cultural clashes.

Fifteen Hundred

by Gloria Majule

1
Cast Size
7
Genre
comedy,
drama,
movement/physical

Nantei, Vivi and Rachel are equally fast when it comes to running the fifteen hundred, but there is only one spot available on the Kenyan Olympics Team. Faced with high expectations from their relentless mothers and their unforgiving coach, they will each stop at nothing to get the chance to win a gold medal for their country.

Nantei, Vivi and Rachel are equally fast when it comes to running the fifteen hundred, but there is only one spot available on the Kenyan Olympics Team. Faced with high expectations from their relentless mothers and their unforgiving coach, they will each stop at nothing to get the chance to win a gold medal for their country.

Life Sentence

by Gloria Majule

Cast Size
5
Genre
comedy,
drama

Baba Grace faces a lawsuit where he must pay a large sum of money or go to jail. He plans to marry off Grace to a wealthy lawyer in exchange for a hefty bride price that will save him and his reputation. However, Grace has secrets of her own that could completely jeopardize his plans.

Baba Grace faces a lawsuit where he must pay a large sum of money or go to jail. He plans to marry off Grace to a wealthy lawyer in exchange for a hefty bride price that will save him and his reputation. However, Grace has secrets of her own that could completely jeopardize his plans.

Mala Aria

by Gloria Majule

Cast Size
4
Genre
dark comedy,
movement/physical

Hoping to discover how to eradicate Malaria, Amazia leaves her family in Tanzania to pursue a PhD abroad. An unforeseen turn of events puts her in a position where she has to decide between staying in the west and going back home to finish what she started.

Hoping to discover how to eradicate Malaria, Amazia leaves her family in Tanzania to pursue a PhD abroad. An unforeseen turn of events puts her in a position where she has to decide between staying in the west and going back home to finish what she started.

My Father Was Shot in the Back of the Head

by Gloria Majule

2
Cast Size
9—20
Genre
dark comedy,
drama

In this dark comedy, a young Tanzanian woman’s pursuit of self collides with her family’s expectations and societal pressures. My Father Was Shot in the Back of the Head uses conventions of African Storytelling Theater to tell a coming of age story that traverses continents and cultures, legacies and languages.

In this dark comedy, a young Tanzanian woman’s pursuit of self collides with her family’s expectations and societal pressures. My Father Was Shot in the Back of the Head uses conventions of African Storytelling Theater to tell a coming of age story that traverses continents and cultures, legacies and languages.

Possessed (or, "the Crazy African Girl" play)

by Gloria Majule

Cast Size
3
Genre
adventure,
comedy,
drama

Furaha returns home to Tanzania on a medical leave, and is reunited with her brother Angaza. Unfortunately for her, he believes her mental illness is in fact a demon possession, and has a plan to sort it out. As the siblings road trip from Dar Es Salaam to Singida, they encounter colorful characters and testing challenges along the way. Possessed is a dramedy that explores the toll it takes to leave home, and...

Furaha returns home to Tanzania on a medical leave, and is reunited with her brother Angaza. Unfortunately for her, he believes her mental illness is in fact a demon possession, and has a plan to sort it out. As the siblings road trip from Dar Es Salaam to Singida, they encounter colorful characters and testing challenges along the way. Possessed is a dramedy that explores the toll it takes to leave home, and the toll it takes to be back.

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Pretty Privilege

by Gloria Majule

Cast Size
2
Genre
comedy

TEN MINUTE PLAY
Coffee and Caramel reflect on a controversial casting announcement.

TEN MINUTE PLAY
Coffee and Caramel reflect on a controversial casting announcement.

Savage Training

by Gloria Majule

Cast Size
6
Genre
adventure,
dark comedy,
science fiction

Commissioned by Audible:
Four rebellious teenagers from across the African continent are invited to a leadership program in the Serengeti that promises to shape them into "outstanding global citizens." As they uncover the sinister truths lurking behind the program's facade, what begins as a bizarre training quickly spirals into a fight for survival.

Commissioned by Audible:
Four rebellious teenagers from across the African continent are invited to a leadership program in the Serengeti that promises to shape them into "outstanding global citizens." As they uncover the sinister truths lurking behind the program's facade, what begins as a bizarre training quickly spirals into a fight for survival.

Uhuru

by Gloria Majule

1
Cast Size
4
Genre
adventure,
comedy,
drama

Mshale, a tour guide, leads his first Tanzanian-only expedition to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. He is joined by Sprite, a Tanzanian-American who sets out to decolonize his mountain, and missionaries Henry and Frannie. This dramedy follows the unlikely foursome as they journey together to the Roof of Africa.

Mshale, a tour guide, leads his first Tanzanian-only expedition to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. He is joined by Sprite, a Tanzanian-American who sets out to decolonize his mountain, and missionaries Henry and Frannie. This dramedy follows the unlikely foursome as they journey together to the Roof of Africa.

Uncut

by Gloria Majule

1
Cast Size
5
Genre
dark comedy

ONE ACT PLAY
Tumaini and Chilyawanhu are "happily married" until an unexpected change in the family threatens to destroy their fragile illusion of happily ever after.

ONE ACT PLAY
Tumaini and Chilyawanhu are "happily married" until an unexpected change in the family threatens to destroy their fragile illusion of happily ever after.