Adrienne Dawes

Adrienne Dawes

Adrienne Dawes is an award-winning playwright and producer from Austin, TX. Her full length plays include: Denim Doves (2016), Am I White (2014, B. Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Script; David Mark Cohen New Play Award; Kilroys honorable mention), and You Are Pretty (2004, Stanley and Evelyn Lipkin Prize for Playwriting). Adrienne is a member of the Dramatists Guild and company member of Salvage Vanguard...
Adrienne Dawes is an award-winning playwright and producer from Austin, TX. Her full length plays include: Denim Doves (2016), Am I White (2014, B. Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Script; David Mark Cohen New Play Award; Kilroys honorable mention), and You Are Pretty (2004, Stanley and Evelyn Lipkin Prize for Playwriting). Adrienne is a member of the Dramatists Guild and company member of Salvage Vanguard Theater. Adrienne is currently based in Tulsa, OK as part of the first writing cohort of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, supported by the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

Plays

  • Casta (working title) by Adrienne Dawes
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, experimental + 1 more
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    Keyword: 18th century, Mexico + 8 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, experimental, period
    Keyword: 18th century, Mexico, mixed-race, mestizo, mulatto, art history, casta paintings, Spain, mestizaje, bilingual
    Casta (working title) explores mixed-race representation in the casta paintings of Nueva Espana (Mexico) that grew in popularity over the 18th century. Casta paintings were a unique genre of portraiture that depicted different racial mixtures arranged according to a hierarchy of race and status. Casta explores these constructed images of colonial bodies and the failed attempts of the Spanish government to...
    Casta (working title) explores mixed-race representation in the casta paintings of Nueva Espana (Mexico) that grew in popularity over the 18th century. Casta paintings were a unique genre of portraiture that depicted different racial mixtures arranged according to a hierarchy of race and status. Casta explores these constructed images of colonial bodies and the failed attempts of the Spanish government to control its subjects through increasing social regulations. Casta requires actors of color (gender-neutral), preferably fluent in Spanish.
  • Not This White Woman by Adrienne Dawes
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    ·
    Keyword: Race, election + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: Race, election, women, comedy, Viola Davis, Mary J. Blige, political, safety pin
    It's any day after November 8, 2016 on public transportation during rush hour. And it's the first time Karen Michelle has truly been ashamed to be an American. She's feeling so many feels, all of the feels. She wants desperately to process with the other female passengers, who, just so happen to be Black. Karen Michelle is trying so hard but no one wants to connect. No one even seems to care that...
    It's any day after November 8, 2016 on public transportation during rush hour. And it's the first time Karen Michelle has truly been ashamed to be an American. She's feeling so many feels, all of the feels. She wants desperately to process with the other female passengers, who, just so happen to be Black. Karen Michelle is trying so hard but no one wants to connect. No one even seems to care that she's wearing a safety pin and "Not This White Woman" tee shirt.
  • Teen Dad by Adrienne Dawes
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: African-American family, multiracial + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: African-American family, multiracial, childhood trauma, family trauma, mixed race child/teenager, mixed race, mixed-race
    When Tanya gets engaged to John, a mild-mannered social worker, her daughter Abby orchestrates an invitation for her biological father Thom to join them on a weekend vacation to a beachfront property in a conservative gated community. The family is forced indoors to heal the wounds of the past, let go and grow up. ** 2 roles (Abby and Alisha) are for mixed-race actors.
  • Am I White by Adrienne Dawes
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: drama, experimental
    ·
    Keyword: biracial, mixed race + 5 more
    Genre: drama, experimental
    Keyword: biracial, mixed race, mental illness, prison, neo nazi, american race relations, passing
    When Neo-Nazi terrorist Wesley Connor returns to prison after a failed bomb plot, he is confronted with two identities that threaten his position within the White Order of Thule most: fatherhood and his own mixed race heritage. Inspired by the true story of Leo Felton and Erica Chase, Am I White travels between linear narrative, recurring dreams and minstrel show nightmare to discover if a singular self exists...
    When Neo-Nazi terrorist Wesley Connor returns to prison after a failed bomb plot, he is confronted with two identities that threaten his position within the White Order of Thule most: fatherhood and his own mixed race heritage. Inspired by the true story of Leo Felton and Erica Chase, Am I White travels between linear narrative, recurring dreams and minstrel show nightmare to discover if a singular self exists in post-modern “post-racial” America. NOTE: There is not currently a mixed-race category for roles offered on NPX but this play requires 2 mixed race actors (1M/1F) and 3 White actors (1M, 2F).
  • Denim Doves by Adrienne Dawes
    Cast: 
    10
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: feminist comedy, feminist satire + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, experimental, satire
    Keyword: feminist comedy, feminist satire, dystopian future, sci-fi, dark comedy, devised
    “You are safe here, Sister.” Tucked safely into the woods of what was once Belle, MO, a modest compound is home to five sister wives and their reluctant Husband. While the wives enjoy many freedoms, they have one simple and sacred task: a wife must produce the next heir, or they all risk being cut from the braid. When a new wife mysteriously arrives the night of the Seedling, she disrupts their semi-...
    “You are safe here, Sister.” Tucked safely into the woods of what was once Belle, MO, a modest compound is home to five sister wives and their reluctant Husband. While the wives enjoy many freedoms, they have one simple and sacred task: a wife must produce the next heir, or they all risk being cut from the braid. When a new wife mysteriously arrives the night of the Seedling, she disrupts their semi-annual procreation ritual. Will this new wife's radical ideas, ancient riot grrl songs, and acid wash denim compromise the safety and sanctity of this devout compound? Set in a dystopian future, Denim Doves is a collaboratively-devised feminist farce that explores themes of women in subjugation and the hilarious consequences of a rigid dick-tatorship. Original music by Erik Secrest with lyrics by Cyndi Williams. PRESS: "With 'Denim Doves', Adrienne Dawes has created a strong feminist statement, while also delivering solid entertainment. It never feels preachy, even provides some of the biggest laughs I’ve had in some time, while still delivering its messages loudly and proudly (after all, it ends with a group women literally gearing up to fight the patriarchy)." - Examiner.com “Mix the first episode of “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” with 1970s science fiction films “Zardoz and The Apple,” add in a dash of Judd Apatow humor, and you’ve got “Denim Doves,” a new collaboratively devised theater piece written by Adrienne Dawes and created with Salvage Vanguard Theater . . . "Denim Doves” is ultimately a feminist statement about the hidden power and strength of women in even the most absurd and desultory of circumstances." - Austin American Statesman "The brazenness with which sex and menstruation are treated in the production is actually refreshing . . . it's nice to know that I'm not the only woman who's ever read a work of imaginative or dystopian fiction and wondered how a girl's period is supposed to fit into all that." - Austin Chronicle
  • You Are Pretty by Adrienne Dawes
    Cast: 
    7–10
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    ·
    Keyword: comedy, sex workers + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: comedy, sex workers, site-specific, feminist, feminist comedy
    You are Pretty explores the intimate lives and loves of workers of the Hippie Ho House, a legal brothel located in Moundhouse, NV. The Hippie Ho House depends primarily on the earnings of its top performer Bunny, known for her kinky parties and exaggerated “polyorgasmic” performances. As the women work to entertain a rotating cast of clients, their livelihood is threatened when Bunny refuses a client for the...
    You are Pretty explores the intimate lives and loves of workers of the Hippie Ho House, a legal brothel located in Moundhouse, NV. The Hippie Ho House depends primarily on the earnings of its top performer Bunny, known for her kinky parties and exaggerated “polyorgasmic” performances. As the women work to entertain a rotating cast of clients, their livelihood is threatened when Bunny refuses a client for the first time. Press: "You are Pretty . . . presents this world to you warts and all: the flimsy sheen of sex on top, the rage and lust churning below the surface, comedy, romance, and a free drink besides. For a play with such a tantalizing, sensationalistic premise, though, Pretty is actually full of nuance, quiet moments, and sadness. It's about the fragile people sucked into such a ruthless lifestyle (however they mask it as a world of fantasy)." - Austin Chronicle Noted as one of theater critic Hannah Kenah's "favorite moments onstage in 2008" - Austin Chronicle "If I could be young again, I would offer join (or offer my house to) Austin's busiest acting troupe, St Idiot Collective. Their site-specific valentine this February is You are Pretty by Adrienne Dawes, an earnest tale about the legal sex industry from a feminist perspective that has turned - how shall we say? - romantic." Playwright Amparo Garcia Crow in American Theater Magazine, October 2007
  • How to Talk to a Girl Wearing Headphones by Adrienne Dawes
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    ·
    Keyword: coffeeshop, comedy + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: coffeeshop, comedy, meet cute, romantic comedy, podcast
    How do you talk to a girl wearing headphones? Start a podcast.