Madeline Sayet

Madeline Sayet

Madeline Sayet is a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Hollywood & Entertainment, NCAIED Native American 40 Under 40, MIT Media Lab Fellow, a TED Fellow, a National Directing Fellow, and has been a Van Lier Directing Fellow at Second Stage, a National Arts Strategies Creative Community Fellow, and a recipient of The White House Champion of Change Award from President Obama. She is a member of the Mohegan Tribe and the...
Madeline Sayet is a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Hollywood & Entertainment, NCAIED Native American 40 Under 40, MIT Media Lab Fellow, a TED Fellow, a National Directing Fellow, and has been a Van Lier Directing Fellow at Second Stage, a National Arts Strategies Creative Community Fellow, and a recipient of The White House Champion of Change Award from President Obama. She is a member of the Mohegan Tribe and the Executive Director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program. Her play "Where We Belong" is touring the nation as part of a national tour produced by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in association with The Folger Shakespeare Library, locations include: The Public Theater, The Goodman, Seattle Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Baltimore Center Stage, Philadelphia Theatre Company. Where We Belong is published by Bloomsbury/Methuen Drama.

Plays

  • Together by Madeline Sayet
    Recommendations: 8
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: drama, political
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    Keyword: colonialism, Division
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: colonialism, Division
    There are two onstage. They are whoever you want them to be. But they will be themselves. And they will not like each other. No matter what.
  • Could You Love Me? by Madeline Sayet
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    1–100
    ·
    Genre: political
    ·
    Keyword: gun violence, queer
    Genre: political
    Keyword: gun violence, queer
    Written for "After Orlando." Intentionally does not list who it should be performed by. It could be the shooter or the victim. It could be any gender. The only requirement is they must speak directly to the audience - and they must try to get the audience to love them enough to save their life.
  • Blood on the Leaves by Madeline Sayet
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale
    The sky is different. They are missing. The constellations that keep us honest, ensure we do what we are supposed to do. We need them to light the way. Based on the traditional story of the Hunter and the Bear, this play was commissioned for the 2019 Climate Change Theatre Action.
  • Daughters of Leda by Madeline Sayet
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    8–18
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    Genre: adaptation, adventure + 7 more
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    Keyword: feminist, Greek mythology
    Genre: adaptation, adventure, comedy, dark comedy, fable/folktale, fantasy, political, romantic comedy, satire
    Keyword: feminist, Greek mythology
    As the seasons change and Persephone returns to the underworld, a mortal girl arrives at the same time asking questions that turn history upside down. The Fates have a game up their sleeve – they are tired, they need a vacation. But in order to leave, they have to give the stories they exploited back. In a whirlwind of events, Adam & Eve, Leda (& the Swan), Helen, Clytemnestra, Iphigenia, and Electra...
    As the seasons change and Persephone returns to the underworld, a mortal girl arrives at the same time asking questions that turn history upside down. The Fates have a game up their sleeve – they are tired, they need a vacation. But in order to leave, they have to give the stories they exploited back. In a whirlwind of events, Adam & Eve, Leda (& the Swan), Helen, Clytemnestra, Iphigenia, and Electra all come together to choose their own destinies and finally tell their side of the stories that have instilled fear of feminine knowledge for far too long.

    *It is important to the story that it be cast as diversely as possible
  • Return to the Edge of Life by Madeline Sayet
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6–8
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: apocalypse
    Genre: adventure, comedy, drama, political, science fiction
    Keyword: apocalypse
    10 Minute Play. They all come from the same town, they haven't seen each other since the fall. But today is an important day. So they have returned to commence an important event.
  • Where We Belong by Madeline Sayet
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: Native Theater, solo performance + 2 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: Native Theater, solo performance, colonialism, Decolonization
    In 2015, a Mohegan theatre-maker moves to England to pursue a PhD in Shakespeare, grappling with the question of what it means to remain or leave, as the Brexit vote threatens to further disengage the UK from the wider world. Moving between nations that have failed to reckon with their ongoing roles in colonialism, Achokayis finds comfort in the journeys of their Native ancestors who had to cross the ocean in...
    In 2015, a Mohegan theatre-maker moves to England to pursue a PhD in Shakespeare, grappling with the question of what it means to remain or leave, as the Brexit vote threatens to further disengage the UK from the wider world. Moving between nations that have failed to reckon with their ongoing roles in colonialism, Achokayis finds comfort in the journeys of their Native ancestors who had to cross the ocean in the 1700s to help their people. In this intimate and exhilarating solo piece, Sayet asks us what it means to belong in an increasingly globalized world.
  • The Neverland by Madeline Sayet
    Cast: 
    14–20
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    Genre: adaptation, adventure + 3 more
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    Keyword: Native, adaptation + 1 more
    Genre: adaptation, adventure, comedy, musical, young audiences
    Keyword: Native, adaptation, Decolonization
    This contemporary adaptation of Peter Pan follows a Mohegan teen who has just arrived at a strict religious boarding school, a place where she must follow rules she cannot see any sense in. Believing her Mohegan name too difficult to pronounce, the teacher calls her Wendy and informs her that her Mohegan culture and everything she cares about is never coming back. This triggers the arrival of Pan and Tink who...
    This contemporary adaptation of Peter Pan follows a Mohegan teen who has just arrived at a strict religious boarding school, a place where she must follow rules she cannot see any sense in. Believing her Mohegan name too difficult to pronounce, the teacher calls her Wendy and informs her that her Mohegan culture and everything she cares about is never coming back. This triggers the arrival of Pan and Tink who have come to gather the Nevers (the spirits of everything and everyone who have been told they can’t exist anymore). Pan takes them to The Neverland, a refuge where nothing and no one can ever be erased. But now, even The Neverland is under threat by pirates. Can Wendy, her friends, Pan, Tink, and The Neverlanders stop Hook from finding The Neverland and turning it into another place of hate and taking? Instead of assimilation, we find out just what wonder was possible in our world all along.

    Please reach out for script.
  • What We Give Back by Madeline Sayet
    Cast: 
    1–10
    ·
    Genre: drama
    Genre: drama
    Written for the 2021 Climate Change Theatre Action: Imagining a Green New Deal
  • Antigone or And Still She Must Rise Up by Madeline Sayet
    Cast: 
    15
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: Classic, political + 7 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, political
    Keyword: Classic, political, COVID, plague, uprising, greek, adaptation, Antigone, democracy
    An adaptation of Antigone written for our 2020 moment, and to be performed distanced and masked safely.
    The plague has not yet left Thebes. In a broken world at the edge of plague, famine, and war a new leader takes over. This particular adaptation of Antigone asks what would it take for this to no longer be a story about one girl who rises up against injustice- but for all of us to listen, rise up, and stand with her.