Sara Jean Accuardi

Sara Jean Accuardi

Sara Jean Accuardi’s plays have been produced, workshopped and read throughout the United States. Her plays include THE DELAYS (Theatre Vertigo, Portland, OR; Drammy Award for Best Original Script), THE STORYTELLER (O’Neill National Playwrights Conference finalist; Something Marvelous, Chicago, IL), < 3 (Seven Devils Playwrights Conference), and PORTRAIT OF THE WIDOW KINSKI (The Blank Theatre, Los Angeles,...
Sara Jean Accuardi’s plays have been produced, workshopped and read throughout the United States. Her plays include THE DELAYS (Theatre Vertigo, Portland, OR; Drammy Award for Best Original Script), THE STORYTELLER (O’Neill National Playwrights Conference finalist; Something Marvelous, Chicago, IL), < 3 (Seven Devils Playwrights Conference), and PORTRAIT OF THE WIDOW KINSKI (The Blank Theatre, Los Angeles, CA; JAW Playwrights Festival), among others. Her short plays OFF DUTY and THAT WATER MOMENT where both recipients of the Smith and Kraus Spotlight Award for the best 10-minutes plays, 2019. Sara Jean is a member of the Dramatist Guild and LineStorm Playwrights. She holds an MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage from Northwestern University.

Plays

  • THE DELAYS by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: Relationships, New Years Eve + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Relationships, New Years Eve, airport terminal, Y2K, 1990s, 2008 financial crisis, minimum wage, dreams, air travel, time travel
    [full length] In an airport, where everyone is busy going somewhere, The Delays focuses on a group going nowhere. Taking place around the new year, and traveling back ten years, and then another ten years, the past lives of these characters slowly reveal themselves, while asking bigger questions about the small moments that connect us. Winner of the 2019 Drammy Award for Outstanding Original Script.
    ...
    [full length] In an airport, where everyone is busy going somewhere, The Delays focuses on a group going nowhere. Taking place around the new year, and traveling back ten years, and then another ten years, the past lives of these characters slowly reveal themselves, while asking bigger questions about the small moments that connect us. Winner of the 2019 Drammy Award for Outstanding Original Script.

    “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

    “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
  • THE STORYTELLER by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    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 recently. Now she wants to know...
    "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 recently. Now she wants to know everything. She wants to know her story. But who’s going to tell it?
  • BREAK by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: education, teachers + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, political, tragedy
    Keyword: education, teachers, middle school, bullying, suicide, accountability, marriage, student teacher, budget cuts, public school
    [full length] In the wake of tragedy and budget cuts, four teachers try to make it through a Monday.
  • < 3 by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Recommendations: 8
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    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. Tracy Maccarini's got it figured out, though. She's neither. Or both. Is it more dangerous to grow up too fast or too slowly?
  • PORTRAIT OF THE WIDOW KINSKI by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama, fantasy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: memory, con artist + 7 more
    Genre: drama, fantasy, period
    Keyword: memory, con artist, art, aging, genius, friendship, second chances, marriage, violin
    [full length] A promising artist falls into obscurity. Decades later, his widow, once a promising artist herself, works tirelessly to find an audience for his neglected work. A chance encounter yields the possibility of a gallery show and a critical reexamination, but the opportunity to finally secure her husband's legacy forces her to take a hard look at the past.
  • LOVE SCENES by Sara Jean Accuardi
    Cast: 
    7–13
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    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
    ·
    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: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    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
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    ·
    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
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama, political
    ·
    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
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    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
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    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: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    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.