Chris Barlow

Chris Barlow

Chris Barlow writes comedies and parodies for young actors, as well as "grown-up plays" about frivolous millennial things like crippling student debt and global catastrophe. He received his MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU's Department of Dramatic Writing and his BA in Theater from Fordham Lincoln Center. His plays for young actors are published by Stage Partners (yourstagepartners.com) and his...
Chris Barlow writes comedies and parodies for young actors, as well as "grown-up plays" about frivolous millennial things like crippling student debt and global catastrophe. He received his MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU's Department of Dramatic Writing and his BA in Theater from Fordham Lincoln Center. His plays for young actors are published by Stage Partners (yourstagepartners.com) and his other work has been performed at venues all across New York City, including Ars Nova, HERE Arts Center, Ensemble Studio Theater, Dixon Place, the Dramatists Guild, T. Schreiber Studios, UCB Chelsea, and the PIT Loft.

Plays

  • iFeel (A Sci-Fi Rom Com for Young Actors)
    Relationships are hard, but thankfully technology has made them easier than ever before: Just sync your feelings through the cloud with iFeel! But when Sam and Tyler decide to take their relationship to the next level— and start syncing their feelings— the result is a zany sci-fi rom-com that asks just how much sharing is too much sharing...
  • School of Sharks (A Shark Tank Parody for Young Actors)
    Does your school have what it takes to come up with the next million dollar idea? Find out when everyone’s favorite startup competition comes to town, and students, teachers, and parents all gather to pitch their wildest and weirdest business ideas to a panel of eccentric investors. With wacky pitches, hilarious sharks, flexible casting, and bonus scenes to customize the runtime, SCHOOL OF SHARKS is the perfect...
    Does your school have what it takes to come up with the next million dollar idea? Find out when everyone’s favorite startup competition comes to town, and students, teachers, and parents all gather to pitch their wildest and weirdest business ideas to a panel of eccentric investors. With wacky pitches, hilarious sharks, flexible casting, and bonus scenes to customize the runtime, SCHOOL OF SHARKS is the perfect play to take a bite out of boredom in your school.
  • How To Die Alone (A Guide for Beginners)
    Best friends Amelia and Sean are doomed to repeat their romantic mistakes in this trippy dark comedy featuring three weddings, three demons, and everything your grandmother needs to know about buying her first smartphone. Does co-dependency mean mutually assured destruction? Or will these roommates finally escape the demons (both literal and figurative) haunting their lives?
  • Equity (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Student Loans)
    Picture if you will: A not-too-distant future where artists delinquent on their student loans are paid a visit by the mysterious Man from the Bank, a hard-working functionary who repossesses whatever equity he can (surgically, if necessary). Then picture the listless housewife who "hires" one of these failed artists as her pool boy (slash boy toy). Sure it sounds torrid, but Whoopi and Joy on The View...
    Picture if you will: A not-too-distant future where artists delinquent on their student loans are paid a visit by the mysterious Man from the Bank, a hard-working functionary who repossesses whatever equity he can (surgically, if necessary). Then picture the listless housewife who "hires" one of these failed artists as her pool boy (slash boy toy). Sure it sounds torrid, but Whoopi and Joy on The View say it’s all the rage! And besides, all Corinne has to do is sign on the dotted line...

    It's a brave new world where anything is possible, but only if your credit rating says so. Scrawny young Sam's years of studying in the fine arts of cartooning and illustration have been lobotomized right out of his head, but his arrival turns perpetually-bored Corinne's lust for, well, *lust* into a lust for a new life when she tries to restore his artistic ambition by borrowing some talent from the bank. What could possibly go wrong in a world where nothing goes right unless you're willing to pay the price?
  • Friends Don't Let Friends (or: Television Lied To Us)
    Matt and Kayla always thought they had the rare gay/lesbian BFF relationship that could withstand whatever the world threw at them–– the kind of codependent friendship that would make for a great TV show (if either one of them would ever get around to to writing it). But when Kayla’s girlfriend helps her score a dream job writing for a real TV show in Los Angeles, Matt’s resentment opens the door to questions...
    Matt and Kayla always thought they had the rare gay/lesbian BFF relationship that could withstand whatever the world threw at them–– the kind of codependent friendship that would make for a great TV show (if either one of them would ever get around to to writing it). But when Kayla’s girlfriend helps her score a dream job writing for a real TV show in Los Angeles, Matt’s resentment opens the door to questions of nepotism, diversity, and representation that threaten to tear their friendship apart.
  • Post-Apocalyptic La Ronde (Set in the McDonald's on 170th & Broadway)
    It's the end of the world and everyone who's anyone (from the girl who used to manage the Sprint store to the former Secretary of State) is going to make a pit stop in one place: The McDonald's on 170th Street and Broadway.
  • The Heart is a Lonely Arsonist
    A marriage proposal sets off a chain reaction that ends with a 20-year relationship going down in literal flames. Or an open relationship opens up a committed couple to catastrophe. Or a young man discovers the limitations of love in the real world. A lawyer and the city's most powerful gay man share a midtown interrogation room while they try to unravel which story is the real story–– and which one will...
    A marriage proposal sets off a chain reaction that ends with a 20-year relationship going down in literal flames. Or an open relationship opens up a committed couple to catastrophe. Or a young man discovers the limitations of love in the real world. A lawyer and the city's most powerful gay man share a midtown interrogation room while they try to unravel which story is the real story–– and which one will win with a grand jury–– in this anti-romance exploring the limits of love in an era of unlimited possibilities.
  • The Finale
    A pair of "friends with benefits" face a crossroads in their relationship when the weekly TV night that gave them an excuse to hook up comes to an end.
  • A Visit From the Bank
    A mysterious man from "the bank" shows up unannounced to repossess a young artist's debt–– by any means necessary.
  • The Perils of Online Dating in the 21st Century
    Emily is 55, recently divorced, and struggling to make a real connection in the vast world of online dating. It was hard enough when she was in her 20s and had to deal with Tinder dates who looked nothing like their profile pictures, but nowadays she can find herself hitting it off with a teenager hiding behind a middle aged avatar in an online bar. Will she overcome disappointment once again or will these...
    Emily is 55, recently divorced, and struggling to make a real connection in the vast world of online dating. It was hard enough when she was in her 20s and had to deal with Tinder dates who looked nothing like their profile pictures, but nowadays she can find herself hitting it off with a teenager hiding behind a middle aged avatar in an online bar. Will she overcome disappointment once again or will these digital drinks with her best friend Olivia turn out to be her final round?
  • Sun Giant
    Walter and Margaret gain a new friend when their vacation on the world's first solar-powered cruise ship is interrupted by an unexpected hijacking.