Amber Dunton

Amber Dunton is a playwright and performer based in the Washington, DC area. Her work examines oversimplified narratives and reveals the humanity beneath. Her ten-minute play, *Overturned* was named a "2024 Region IV Finalist for the Gary Garrison 10-Minute Playwriting Award" by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). Her current full-length, *A Study in Violet*, is an adaptation of Doyle's *A Study in Scarlet*, explicitly queer through period-accurate literary archaeology, not modern reinterpretation.

Amber Dunton is a playwright and performer based in the Washington, DC area. Her work examines oversimplified narratives and reveals the humanity beneath. Her ten-minute play, *Overturned* was named a "2024 Region IV Finalist for the Gary Garrison 10-Minute Playwriting Award" by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). Her current full-length, *A Study in Violet*, is an adaptation of Doyle's *A Study in Scarlet*, explicitly queer through period-accurate literary archaeology, not modern reinterpretation.

Scripts

A Study in Violet

by Amber Dunton

Cast Size
10—16
Genre
adaptation,
drama,
mystery/thriller,
period

*A Study in Violet* is a queer, period reimagining of the origin story of the world's most iconic detective duo– Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson in their first case, *A Study in Scarlet*. When the pair is thrust into a mysterious murder investigation, it pushes the bounds of their companionship. As they pursue the murderer, they begin to uncover not only the crime, but the real story– the truth that Watson...

*A Study in Violet* is a queer, period reimagining of the origin story of the world's most iconic detective duo– Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson in their first case, *A Study in Scarlet*. When the pair is thrust into a mysterious murder investigation, it pushes the bounds of their companionship. As they pursue the murderer, they begin to uncover not only the crime, but the real story– the truth that Watson could never publish.

A story of love and repression, *A Study in Violet*, examines who gets to tell the truth and how history hides the implicit. Through Watson's narrative asides, the characters' testimonial flashbacks, and raw emotion seeping through the cracks of the classic whodunit, we see the story the original novel could not tell– and the power of finally reclaiming it.

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Overturned

by Amber Dunton

1
Cast Size
4—5
Genre
drama,
political

Three women enter a women's health clinic in Washington, DC, on June 24th, 2022– the day Roe v Wade, and their lives, are overturned. As they watch the news and wait for their appointments, they form a sisterly bond with each other; three ordinary women, on an extraordinary day.

Three women enter a women's health clinic in Washington, DC, on June 24th, 2022– the day Roe v Wade, and their lives, are overturned. As they watch the news and wait for their appointments, they form a sisterly bond with each other; three ordinary women, on an extraordinary day.

Three Scandals Walk into a Gay Bar

by Amber Dunton

Cast Size
4
Genre
comedy,
political

"I hate gay Halloween, wdym you're..." was a viral TikTok trend in 2025, highlighting how queer culture and Halloween collide to create a counter-cultural costuming movement, using the one day a year dedicated to disguising one's identity to celebrate queer culture, and protest a society that, year-'round, pushes queer identity to the shadows. In a historic year for American politics, one fraught with problems...

"I hate gay Halloween, wdym you're..." was a viral TikTok trend in 2025, highlighting how queer culture and Halloween collide to create a counter-cultural costuming movement, using the one day a year dedicated to disguising one's identity to celebrate queer culture, and protest a society that, year-'round, pushes queer identity to the shadows. In a historic year for American politics, one fraught with problems within every aspect of American society, for one night we shut them out and celebrate, even if only for 10 minutes.

"Three Scandals Walk into a Gay Bar" takes place during the final round of the 2025 Halloween costume contest at Dorothy's on Liberty, a historic Naval gay bar in Adams Morgan, DC. The three finalists– David dressed as Armie Hammer dressed as Hannibal Lecter, Sam as a slutty Watergate scandal, and Mandy as a hot Toulmouche's "Reluctant Bride–" give their eleventh-hour speeches to drunken crowd to determine who wins the money. A bartender at Dorothy's and drag queen, Dublin Peach Mint, serves as the emcee and clap-o-meter judge– ultimately determining who wins. In an uncomfortable 10-minutes, three drunken, kinda-shitty, but wholly human strangers fight for the winning spot, as a not-drunk, but also kinda shitty and wholly human, bartender emcees, trying to not get the Instagram live taken down for violating the terms of service in the process.

As the characters spill the tea, the audience realizes their costumes are the least scandalous thing in Washington that night. Oh, and, on your way home, make sure to remember those third amendment rights...

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