Rebecca Nichloson

Rebecca Nichloson (She/Her) is a Black, queer, femme playwright, theatre maker, creative writer, and performer.

She is the author of 50+ plays and creative works, including SUBMERGED (An Opera); DEAR AMERICA (libretto & vocals and vocal arrangement; Minnesota Opera); A VERY SPECIAL MINNESOTA GARDEN (Minnesota Opera); HUE AND CRY; HELLO,I'M EVE (winner of the 2013 Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award); MARA, QUEEN OF THE WORLD; THE WILD, BOLD ENLIGHTENMENT OF SATINE; COOKING WITH ELLISE; and JILL,JACK & THE MARTIAN LADY (a play she created for a children’s educational workshop), among others.

Her fiction and performance pieces include Children of the First Hummingbird, Submerged, Zar-Baby, and Conjuring Transcendence, among others. She has been published in About Journal: Geographies...

Rebecca Nichloson (She/Her) is a Black, queer, femme playwright, theatre maker, creative writer, and performer.

She is the author of 50+ plays and creative works, including SUBMERGED (An Opera); DEAR AMERICA (libretto & vocals and vocal arrangement; Minnesota Opera); A VERY SPECIAL MINNESOTA GARDEN (Minnesota Opera); HUE AND CRY; HELLO,I'M EVE (winner of the 2013 Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award); MARA, QUEEN OF THE WORLD; THE WILD, BOLD ENLIGHTENMENT OF SATINE; COOKING WITH ELLISE; and JILL,JACK & THE MARTIAN LADY (a play she created for a children’s educational workshop), among others.

Her fiction and performance pieces include Children of the First Hummingbird, Submerged, Zar-Baby, and Conjuring Transcendence, among others. She has been published in About Journal: Geographies of Justice, The Star Tribune, and anthologies, among others.

She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting from Columbia University and an M.A. in English Literature. She also studied publishing at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Rebecca is the recipient of a commission from the Cedar Cultural Center for which she created MULTI-COLORED MUSINGS: JEWELS OF LOVE, LOSS & TRIUMPH (a three-part collection of songs exploring her Nigerian (Igbo) and African American heritage and passion for genre eclectic music) and received an honorable mention from the McKnight Foundation (Spoken Word).

She is the recipient of a Loft Literary Center Mentorship Series Fellowship, a Sesame Street Writer’s Room Fellowship, a Liberace Award, a Howard Stein Fellowship, a Matthew’s Fellowship, an America-in-Play Fellowship, and two Many Voices Fellowships from the Minneapolis Playwrights Center.

Rebecca’s work has been presented at the Walker Art Center, Signature Theatre Company (Columbia New Plays Now), Harlem Classical Theatre (Playwrights Playground), East Side Freedom Library, the Loft Literary Center, Pangea World Theatre, Red Eye Theatre, Pillsbury House Theatre, MN Opera and on Twin Cities Public Television, among others.

She has taught playwriting and storytelling at the Loft Literary Center and the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, and is the founder of The Kaleidoscope Project and artistic director of Cleveland-Harris Theatre Company (a theatre, performance, and public imagination project). Rebecca is a proud member of the Minneapolis Playwright's Center and an emerging member of the Dramatists Guild.

In addition to her artistic practice, Rebecca is a nonprofit leader with extensive experience in high-level public administration, narrative and culture change, environmental justice-driven storytelling, communications and developing programs and initiatives that uplift BIPOC, queer and historically marginalized communities. Learn more at www.RebeccaNichloson.com.

Email [email protected] for full scripts and collaboration proposals.

Scripts

HELLO, I’M EVE (An Episodic Play in Two Acts)

Written by Rebecca Nichloson

Synopsis

Hello, I’m Eve is a groundbreaking, episodic full-length play that won the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award for its unapologetic feminist perspective. Through a blend of humor and tragedy, it weaves together the stories of Black women and femmes, linking their experiences to the biblical figure Eve. Each scene presents a distinct narrative centered around a different woman, while Eve's own journey unfolds in...

Hello, I’m Eve is a groundbreaking, episodic full-length play that won the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award for its unapologetic feminist perspective. Through a blend of humor and tragedy, it weaves together the stories of Black women and femmes, linking their experiences to the biblical figure Eve. Each scene presents a distinct narrative centered around a different woman, while Eve's own journey unfolds in parallel. She grapples with the choice between remaining in the Garden of Eden with Adam or pursuing her thirst for knowledge. Featuring an all-woman cast, the play offers a rich exploration of the complexities of womanhood across time, challenging traditional narratives — both past and present. (Full script available upon request)

SETTING
The play is a plethora of stories experienced by women in different times and locations. However, the reigning story is that of Eve. The Garden of Eden should be represented visually in every scene, whether overtly or understated.

TIME
The past, present and future.

MARA, QUEEN OF THE WORLD

Written by Rebecca Nichloson

Synopsis

Two narrators tell the story of a seventeen-year-old Black girl who falls asleep in the Rondo neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota and awakens on a plantation in 1832 Alabama. Guided by an otherworldly green light and a hummingbird, she’s swept into a prophecy that binds her fate to a Warlock named Mr. W. and the sacred bones of enslaved Africans lost to the sea during the Middle Passage. Blending history...

Two narrators tell the story of a seventeen-year-old Black girl who falls asleep in the Rondo neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota and awakens on a plantation in 1832 Alabama. Guided by an otherworldly green light and a hummingbird, she’s swept into a prophecy that binds her fate to a Warlock named Mr. W. and the sacred bones of enslaved Africans lost to the sea during the Middle Passage. Blending history, ancestral magic and myth, this lyrical journey explores the lineages that connect Black past, present, and future. (Full script available upon request)

PLACE:
Mainly a cabin, a plantation, and the woods in 1832 Alabama. A bedroom in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Minimalism and representation encouraged.

TIME:
1832. 2023. 2043.

HUE AND CRY

Written by Rebecca Nichloson

Synopsis

After eighteen years in prison, Shell returns to a small rural Midwestern town to live with his brother Stevie and reconnect with his old flame, Riley. In the wake of a tragedy, unresolved tensions and hidden secrets resurface as the three are forced to confront grief. This story delves into the impact of trauma and the transformative power of grace. (Full script available upon request)

PLACE:
A small town. A...

After eighteen years in prison, Shell returns to a small rural Midwestern town to live with his brother Stevie and reconnect with his old flame, Riley. In the wake of a tragedy, unresolved tensions and hidden secrets resurface as the three are forced to confront grief. This story delves into the impact of trauma and the transformative power of grace. (Full script available upon request)

PLACE:
A small town. A kitchen. A living room. Minimalism and representation encouraged.

TIME:
Present.

Minimalism and representation encouraged.

COOKING WITH ELLISE (A Play in Two-Acts)

Written by Rebecca Nichloson

Synopsis

Ellise is a queer upper middle-class cooking show host struggling to maintain relationships with her domineering mother, her perfect sister Vivian, and her doll-obsessed husband Rupert — all while having an affair with Raine, her mother’s oncologist. Cooking with Ellise is a theatrical, comedic, and heart-warming exploration of the intimate bonds between mothers, daughters, sisters and lovers – the heart finding...

Ellise is a queer upper middle-class cooking show host struggling to maintain relationships with her domineering mother, her perfect sister Vivian, and her doll-obsessed husband Rupert — all while having an affair with Raine, her mother’s oncologist. Cooking with Ellise is a theatrical, comedic, and heart-warming exploration of the intimate bonds between mothers, daughters, sisters and lovers – the heart finding its path in the abstract world of life, death, and the beyond. (Full script available upon request).

PLACE:
Minneapolis. Multiple locations, but primarily a kitchen, a television studio, and a therapist’s office.

TIME:
The present. The past. The afterlife.

Minimalism and representation encouraged.