Sara Jean Accuardi

Sara Jean Accuardi

Sara Jean Accuardi’s full-length plays include The Delays, BREAK, The Storyteller, < 3, Love Scenes, and Portrait of the Widow Kinski. Her writing has been produced and developed around the country, including with Theatre Vertigo, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Something Marvelous, Victory Gardens, Portland Center Stage, Chicago Dramatists, The Blank Theatre, and Spooky Action Theater. The Delays...
Sara Jean Accuardi’s full-length plays include The Delays, BREAK, The Storyteller, < 3, Love Scenes, and Portrait of the Widow Kinski. Her writing has been produced and developed around the country, including with Theatre Vertigo, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Something Marvelous, Victory Gardens, Portland Center Stage, Chicago Dramatists, The Blank Theatre, and Spooky Action Theater. The Delays received the 2019 Drammy Award for Outstanding Original Script, and The Storyteller was an O’Neill National Playwrights Conference finalist. Sara Jean holds an MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage from Northwestern University, and is a member of the Dramatist Guild and LineStorm Playwrights.

Plays

  • THE DELAYS by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 6 more
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    Keyword: new years, travel + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, holiday, immersive, political, romantic comedy
    Keyword: new years, travel, family, holidays, work, time, one location, Politics, friendship, LGBT
    [full length] In an airport, where everyone's busy going somewhere, THE DELAYS focuses on a group going nowhere. A play about the small moments that connect us. Winner of the 2019 Drammy Award for Outstanding Original Script.

    “It’s a moving, well-crafted play that shows how easy it is to get trapped… I enjoyed THE DELAYS immensely. Accuardi’s writing is sharp, and I love her decision to...
    [full length] In an airport, where everyone's busy going somewhere, THE DELAYS focuses on a group going nowhere. A play about the small moments that connect us. Winner of the 2019 Drammy Award for Outstanding Original Script.

    “It’s a moving, well-crafted play that shows how easy it is to get trapped… I enjoyed THE DELAYS immensely. Accuardi’s writing is sharp, and I love her decision to reveal the characters’ lives in reverse. Somehow, knowing the end makes the journey even more poignant.” – Krista Garver, Broadway World

    “Accuardi's play is both new and a masterpiece... It takes regret and satisfaction, pain and joy, and fuses them together to create a tapestry of spectacularly honest stories and characterizations." - Bennett Campbell Ferguson, Willamette Week
  • < 3 by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 13
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: social media, friendship + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, mystery/thriller, tragedy
    Keyword: social media, friendship, high school, teenagers, Mothers, peer pressure, growing up, coming of age, family, infidelity
    [full length] 14-year-old Ellie is a good kid. It’s the worst. 25-year-old David is grown-up. It’s the worst. Is it more dangerous to grow up too fast or too slowly?
  • THE STORYTELLER by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 7 more
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    Keyword: Fathers and Daughters, homelessness + 8 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, dark comedy, drama, fable/folktale, fantasy, immersive, romantic comedy, tragedy
    Keyword: Fathers and Daughters, homelessness, Mothers, teenagers, coming of age, first love, growing up, letting go, family, Shakespeare
    "I have done nothing but in care of thee,
    Of thee, my dear one—thee my daughter," - William Shakespeare, The Tempest

    [full length] Finalist, 2019 Eugene O'Neill Center's National Playwrights Conference. Randi has lived off the grid with her father for as long as she can remember. She knows better than to question things—at least, until now. THE STORYTELLER is a riff on...
    "I have done nothing but in care of thee,
    Of thee, my dear one—thee my daughter," - William Shakespeare, The Tempest

    [full length] Finalist, 2019 Eugene O'Neill Center's National Playwrights Conference. Randi has lived off the grid with her father for as long as she can remember. She knows better than to question things—at least, until now. THE STORYTELLER is a riff on THE TEMPEST that explores the magic and power of the narratives we create.
  • BREAK by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: education, teachers + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, immersive, political, tragedy
    Keyword: education, teachers, middle school, bullying, suicide, accountability, small cast, public school, one location
    [full length] In the wake of tragedy and budget cuts, four teachers try to make it through a Monday.
  • PORTRAIT OF THE WIDOW KINSKI by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama, fantasy + 1 more
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    Keyword: art, Artists + 6 more
    Genre: drama, fantasy, period
    Keyword: art, Artists, Good part for older actors, small cast, one location, dreams, memory play, music
    [full length] A promising artist falls into obscurity. Decades later, his widow works tirelessly to find an audience for his neglected work. But the opportunity to finally secure her husband’s legacy forces her to take a hard look at the past and what was left behind.
  • LOVE SCENES by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Cast: 
    5–13
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: ensemble, love + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: ensemble, love, community, Shakespeare, family, friendship, heartache, play with music, apartment life, Relationships
    [full length] 6 couples. 6 scenes. 1 apartment building. 24 hours. Ah, love.
  • Commencement by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: divorce, divorce affects the kids + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: divorce, divorce affects the kids, grandparents, Mothers, fathers, Absent fathers, grandchildren, graduation, family, broken family
    [10-minute play] Two mothers, whose children are in the midst of a bitter divorce, attend their granddaughter's 5th grade promotion ceremony.
  • A Science Thing by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: estranged parents, abandonment + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: estranged parents, abandonment, second chances, science, blind date, Heart, family, bittersweet
    [10-minute play] A couple meet in the Theory Eatery at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), Portland, OR.
  • That Water Moment by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: parenthood, disability + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: parenthood, disability, special needs, disabled child, autism, birthday party
    A 10-minute play about parenting and struggling with the unknown.

    "Most touching was Sara Jean Accuardi’s “That Water Moment,” which hinged on the balance of frustration and faith in the lives of young parents (played by Kerry Ryan and Isaac Lamb) struggling with the care of a developmentally disabled child." - Marty Hughley, The Oregonian
  • Off Duty by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: drama, political
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    Keyword: police, single parent + 5 more
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: police, single parent, friendship, Relationships, lunch break, terrorism, law-enforcement
    A 10-minute play about two low-ranking police officers on their lunch break trying to make sense of the world and proceed as normal in the chaos of a catastrophic event.
  • Cold Call by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: comedy
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    Keyword: ticket sales, call center + 1 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: ticket sales, call center, telemarketing
    [10-minute play] The arts don’t sell themselves; somebody’s got to do it. A 10-minute play about the intersection of humanity and ticket sales.
  • Rough Edge by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: biography, comedy + 5 more
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    Keyword: food court, 1990s + 8 more
    Genre: biography, comedy, dark comedy, drama, period, political, tragedy
    Keyword: food court, 1990s, Tonya Harding, class, frozen yogurt, figure skating, Ambition, fast food, mall, Olympics
    [10-minute play] It's 1994, and two Cool Temptations employees at Clackamas Town Center discuss the fate of Portland's most infamous Olympian. 
  • Ever-Fixed by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: Stalking, love + 6 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: Stalking, love, Relationships, broken heart, ex-lovers, uncomfortable, fear, abuse
    A 10-minute play based on Shakespeare's sonnet 116.