Abby Dunbar

Abby is a DC-based emerging playwright from Los Angeles. They hold their B.A. in Theatre Arts and Media & Visual Cultures Studies from the University of Redlands. Abby has had their plays staged by Avant Bard Theatre, Rorschach Theatre, Santa Cruz Actors Theatre, The Bechdel Group and the Gi60 Houston Play Festival. Abby is also an educator and has taught with Fringe Benefits Theatre, CASA at Sheridan School, Round House Theatre and DC Public Schools. They completed the Theatre Washington Mentorship Program in 2025.

Abby is a DC-based emerging playwright from Los Angeles. They hold their B.A. in Theatre Arts and Media & Visual Cultures Studies from the University of Redlands. Abby has had their plays staged by Avant Bard Theatre, Rorschach Theatre, Santa Cruz Actors Theatre, The Bechdel Group and the Gi60 Houston Play Festival. Abby is also an educator and has taught with Fringe Benefits Theatre, CASA at Sheridan School, Round House Theatre and DC Public Schools. They completed the Theatre Washington Mentorship Program in 2025.

Scripts

The Questionably True Account of the Time Marie Curie Shared her Lab with a Woman or, On Chemistry

by Abby Dunbar

Cast Size
3
Genre
biography,
docudrama/historic,
drama,
period,
tragedy

When Marie Curie gets a new feisty female lab assistant, they find solace in one another despite the oppressive patriarchy of the time.

When Marie Curie gets a new feisty female lab assistant, they find solace in one another despite the oppressive patriarchy of the time.

Two Mothers

by Abby Dunbar

Cast Size
2
Genre
drama,
political

Two mothers with conflicting backgrounds encounter each other in the waiting room of a fertility clinic and discuss parenting.

Two mothers with conflicting backgrounds encounter each other in the waiting room of a fertility clinic and discuss parenting.

Overcoming Orion

by Abby Dunbar

Cast Size
8—20
Genre
adaptation,
drama,
fable/folktale,
fantasy,
tragedy

Overcoming Orion is a queer retelling of the Greek myth of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, and Orion the hunter. It reimagines Artemis as the owner of a lesbian bar, and Orion as a trans man. The play begins in the present day, where Artemis is running her bar and skirting her duties as goddess of the hunt. When Iphigenia comes seeking shelter and suddenly kisses Artemis, we are plunged into Artemis’s memories...

Overcoming Orion is a queer retelling of the Greek myth of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, and Orion the hunter. It reimagines Artemis as the owner of a lesbian bar, and Orion as a trans man. The play begins in the present day, where Artemis is running her bar and skirting her duties as goddess of the hunt. When Iphigenia comes seeking shelter and suddenly kisses Artemis, we are plunged into Artemis’s memories, where she recalls her brief but intense romance with Orion. The narrative oscillates between past and present day, telling the story of Orion’s tragic murder and Artemis’s intense struggle with the experience of grief. When Artemis’s father Zeus threatens to strip her of her godly title, she is forced to make a decision—reclaim her power or join her mother in exile. While visiting her mother who was exiled for the crime of having children with Zeus, Artemis is visited by Orion in her dream, who tells her that she is strong enough to move forward with her life, despite what she believes about herself. Emboldened, Artemis finally has the strength to face her brother Apollo, who was responsible for Orion’s murder, and reclaim her place on the throne. The play concludes with a tender kiss between Artemis and Iphigenia, the woman who gave Artemis the initial push to make a change.

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