Sara Jean Accuardi

"I have done nothing but in care of thee,
Of thee, my dear one—thee my daughter," - William Shakespeare, The Tempest

[full length] 17-year-old Randy has lived her entire life off the grid with her dad on an old rotting houseboat, and she’s sick of it. Inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest, this play explores the magic and power of the narratives we create. Winner of the Oregon Book Award for drama, the International Thomas Wolfe Playwriting Competition, and a finalist for the O'Neill Center's National Playwrights Conference.

[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

[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?

[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.

[full length] In a gun safety training program designed for educators who are considering arming themselves in the classroom, a group of school teachers find themselves grappling with hard questions.

[full length] TYA. As a group of high school theatre kids rehearses a student-directed production THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST relationships are tested, alliances shift, and what's beneath the surface has a moment in the light. A love letter to high school theatre and how it can help us discover what's really important. 

“One must be serious about something if one wants to have any amusement in life.” - Oscar Wilde, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

[full length] In the wake of tragedy and budget cuts, four teachers try to make it through a Monday.

[full length] It won't stop snowing, it's getting late, Gloria's parents still haven't come to pick her up, and these daycare employees just want to get home. A play about the importance, and the limits, of sharing and caring. O'Neill Center's National Playwrights Conference semi-finalist.

[full length] 6 couples. 6 scenes. 1 apartment building. 24 hours. Ah, love.

An audio play told through phone-calls, voice mails, and text messages between the employees of Four Seasons Total Landscaping in the hours leading up to the infamous press conference on November 7, 2020. The play explores connection amid a backdrop of political absurdity.

[full length] No ties allowed. Who will win, who will die, who will join her sisters in the infernal halls of disgrace?

"The play is a powerful commentary on a media culture that objectifies women, a society that teaches us that other women are threats, and a patriarchal system that refuses to let us out of the wrestling ring." - Krista Garver, Broadway World

[full length] This play, co-written by Josie Seid and Sara Jean Accuardi, lifts Mr. Fezziwig from the pages of A Christmas Carol to tell a story all his own. Set after the jubilant Christmas ball where we meet young Scrooge’s benevolent employer in Dickens's tale, this story looks past Fezziwig’s merry smile to find a man who may be in need of a Christmas miracle all of his own. Fezziwig’s Fortune is an origin story about family, forgiveness, and the importance of what ties us together.

[10-minute play] A play about the small things that tie us together.

[10-minute play] 13-year-old Joy is really over being in quarantine. Her hamster, the reincarnation of Hieronymus Bosch -- you know, that 15th-century painter who created those totally bonkers hellscapes-- is really over being a hamster. Will they find connection in isolation?

Commissioned by Portland Center Stage at the Armory for PlayatHome.org

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.

[10-minute play] A mother and son do their best to mark the passage of time.

[10-minute play] Two mothers, whose children are in the midst of a bitter divorce, attend their granddaughter's 5th grade promotion ceremony.

[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.

[10-minute play] It's 1994, and two Cool Temptations employees at Clackamas Town Center discuss the fate of Portland's most infamous Olympian. 

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

A 10-minute play based on Shakespeare's sonnet 116.