Adrienne Dawes

Adrienne Dawes

Adrienne Dawes (she/her) is an Afro-Latina playwright, producer, and teaching artist originally from Austin, TX. Adrienne is a member of the Dramatists Guild, ScriptWorks, the Latinx Theatre Commons, and a company member of Salvage Vanguard Theater.

Plays

  • Hairy & Sherri by Adrienne Dawes
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: austin, foster care + 6 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: austin, foster care, american race relations, American Family, adoption, mixed race, gentrification, disability
    FULL LENGTH: Hairy and Sherri (Sharon) are an “adorkable” interracial couple living in gentrified East Austin. When they very graciously and publicly open their home to Ryshi, a 12-year-old former foster care youth with special needs, Hairy and Sherri are confronted with the realities of their marriage and “good” intentions.  
  • End of the Day, Ep 1 by Adrienne Dawes
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: love island uk, reality tv + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, farce
    Keyword: love island uk, reality tv, British, absurd comedy, absurd farce, clown show, clowning, climate change, pandemic, nihilism
    UNPRODUCED FULL-LENGTH:
    EPISODE ONE - Tud, Myleigh, and Lancelot are perhaps the only surviving contestants of a British reality dating show broadcast during a massive extinction event. Isolated from the outside world, they dance between denial and acceptance, searching for love and meaning in a pointless, absurd existence.

    Inspired by absurdist theatre, Sims 4, and Love Island UK,...
    UNPRODUCED FULL-LENGTH:
    EPISODE ONE - Tud, Myleigh, and Lancelot are perhaps the only surviving contestants of a British reality dating show broadcast during a massive extinction event. Isolated from the outside world, they dance between denial and acceptance, searching for love and meaning in a pointless, absurd existence.

    Inspired by absurdist theatre, Sims 4, and Love Island UK, "End of the Day” is an eight-play cycle that examines the unique anxieties, uncertainties, and frustrations of trying to find love in the “coronial age.”
  • This Bitch: Esta Sangre Quiero by Adrienne Dawes
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    9–20
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    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: Lope de Vega, influencers + 8 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, farce, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Lope de Vega, influencers, bawdy, bilingual, college age characters, golden age, Spanish, social media, gen z, comedia
    UNPRODUCED FULL-LENGTH: When Diana, a ruthless and power-hungry Pilates influencer, learns that her social media manager Teodoro is hooking up with her makeup artist Madeinusa, it sparks bitter jealousy. Even though it would be social suicide for her to date someone with zero followers, Diana finds herself falling madly in love but if she can’t have Teodoro . . . no one can!

    THIS BITCH: ESTA...
    UNPRODUCED FULL-LENGTH: When Diana, a ruthless and power-hungry Pilates influencer, learns that her social media manager Teodoro is hooking up with her makeup artist Madeinusa, it sparks bitter jealousy. Even though it would be social suicide for her to date someone with zero followers, Diana finds herself falling madly in love but if she can’t have Teodoro . . . no one can!

    THIS BITCH: ESTA SANGRE QUIERO is a big, bawdy, bilingual Gen Z comedy inspired by Lope de Vega’s Golden Age comedy “El perro del hortelano.”
  • Casta by Adrienne Dawes
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    7–12
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    Genre: docudrama/historic, experimental + 1 more
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    Keyword: 1700s, Mexico + 8 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, experimental, period
    Keyword: 1700s, Mexico, mixed race, mestizos, art history, casta paintings, Spain, mestizaje, bilingual, Museums
    FULL LENGTH: Casta is inspired by a series of casta paintings by Miguel Cabrera, a mixed-race painter from Oaxaca. Casta paintings were a unique form of portraiture that grew in popularity over the 18th century in Nueva España that depicted different racial mixtures arranged according to a hierarchy defined by Spanish elites.

    When a lowly apprentice is commissioned to paint a casta series for a...
    FULL LENGTH: Casta is inspired by a series of casta paintings by Miguel Cabrera, a mixed-race painter from Oaxaca. Casta paintings were a unique form of portraiture that grew in popularity over the 18th century in Nueva España that depicted different racial mixtures arranged according to a hierarchy defined by Spanish elites.

    When a lowly apprentice is commissioned to paint a casta series for a wealthy patron, he tries to conform his work to a set hierarchy but finds the images revolt, illuminating a complex portrait of fluid Latinx identities.

    Casta is in development with Salvage Vanguard Theater in Austin, TX with a creative team that includes director Jenny Larson and composer Graham Reynolds.
  • Dupe by Adrienne Dawes
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2–4
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    Genre: dark comedy, farce
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    Keyword: identical twins, urban literature + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, farce
    Keyword: identical twins, urban literature, authorship, black writers, New York City, African American culture and identity
    UNPRODUCED FULL LENGTH: When emerging writer Parker Davis discovers her image has been stolen and appropriated as the author photo for the infamous urban book series “Pastor Prey,” she enlists the help of her estranged identical twin sister/entertainment lawyer Poesía Whetstone to sue the publishing company. Feeling Grasso, CEO of Ghettro Publishing, then turns to her estranged identical twin sister/famous YA...
    UNPRODUCED FULL LENGTH: When emerging writer Parker Davis discovers her image has been stolen and appropriated as the author photo for the infamous urban book series “Pastor Prey,” she enlists the help of her estranged identical twin sister/entertainment lawyer Poesía Whetstone to sue the publishing company. Feeling Grasso, CEO of Ghettro Publishing, then turns to her estranged identical twin sister/famous YA novelist Great Grasso for help connecting to her lawyer . . . Poesía Whetstone.
  • Teen Dad by Adrienne Dawes
    Recommendations: 11
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: African-American family, family + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: African-American family, family, trauma, mixed race, teenagers, afro-latinx, Latinx family, dramedy
    FULL LENGTH: Abby, a precocious emo-goth teenager, orchestrates a surprise reunion for her mother Tanya and birth father Tom, with the help of her mom's fiance/healer John. Hoping to provoke long-lasting reconciliation between her parents before her high school graduation, Abby's plans completely derail when Tom arrives with his new girlfriend Alisha. Can this family confront their past traumas,...
    FULL LENGTH: Abby, a precocious emo-goth teenager, orchestrates a surprise reunion for her mother Tanya and birth father Tom, with the help of her mom's fiance/healer John. Hoping to provoke long-lasting reconciliation between her parents before her high school graduation, Abby's plans completely derail when Tom arrives with his new girlfriend Alisha. Can this family confront their past traumas, "deal and heal?"

    "Teen Dad" subverts popular regional theatre "kitchen-sink beach house dramedy" to share a heartfelt, comedic exploration of generational trauma and recovery in a mixed race Black and Latinx family.
  • Am I White by Adrienne Dawes
    Recommendations: 6
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: drama, experimental
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    Keyword: biracial, mixed race + 4 more
    Genre: drama, experimental
    Keyword: biracial, mixed race, mental illness, prison, neo-Nazi, american race relations
    FULL LENGTH: 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...
    FULL LENGTH: 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.
  • RUN.HIDE.FIGHT by Adrienne Dawes
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: domestic violence, crisis + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: domestic violence, crisis, trauma, workplace, workplace violence, gun control, active shooter
    10 MIN: When a disgruntled employee disrupts an emergency preparedness drill, crisis actors Soloway and Linnea find themselves trapped in an all too real scenario of workplace violence.
  • Denim Doves by Adrienne Dawes
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    10–12
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: feminist, Dystopia + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, experimental, farce, political, science fiction
    Keyword: feminist, Dystopia, devised, intergenerational, laadan, reproductive freedom
    FULL LENGTH: “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...
    FULL LENGTH: “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.