DAN O'BRIEN
| Nationality: | USA |
| Literary Agent: *: | |
| Email: | |
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Plays by Dan O'Brien
Am Lit, or Hibernophilia |
| 1st Produced: | Keen Company - Jose Quintero Theatre (New York, NY, United States) | 2001 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN | - | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | 15-25 min | Drama | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | 1 male | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | A recently widowed professor at a nameless midwestern college contemplates returning to Ireland in search of lost love, youth, and perhaps himself. Told via emails, phone calls, and old-fashioned letters, Am Lit is a modern epistolary monologue of loss and yearning. | |||||
Angel in the Trees |
| 1st Produced: | 2008 | |||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | Monologue play | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | A New Yorker adrift in the deep South | |||||
Cherry Sisters Revisited, The |
| 1st Produced: | Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival | 2007 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | comedy | Play with Music | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 5 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | The Cherry Sisters Revisited is a new play based on the true story of Addie, Effie, Lizzie, Ella, and Jessie Cherry, five sisters from Marion, Iowa, who took the vaudeville world by storm with the collective awfulness of their talent. | |||||
Crazy Jane on God |
| 1st Produced: | 2001 | |||||
| Company: | Drama League Directors Project | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | 30 min | - | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Manhattan Theatre Club (New York, NY), 6@6 Reading Series, 2000 | |||||
| Synopsis: | Ayoung man and an older woman; a young poet and his greatest fan. One night in a house in the woods in winter. A drama. | |||||
Dear Boy, The |
| 1st Produced: | Second Stage Theatre, New York | 2005 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | Drama, 90 min | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Directed by Michael John Garcés. Supported by Tennessee Williams Fellowship in Playwriting in 2002 - 03 at the University of the South (Sewanee) | |||||
| Synopsis: | On the verge of retirement, English teacher James Flanagan questions the life he didn't live. In Dan O'Brien's stirring drama, unexpected encounters help him realize who he is and what he has accomplished. | |||||
Demon |
| 1st Produced: | Next Page Reading Series | 2007 | ||||
| Company: | Atlantic Theatre Company | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Elisabeth's son has been acting strange lately, praying all the time. But each step she takes toward understanding her son's behavior only threatens Elisabeth more. A chamber piece for two voices, and a memory play of sorts, Demon is a dramatic poem about the manifestations of secrecy and the mystery of family. | |||||
Dinner Table |
| 1st Produced: | - | |||||
| Company: | Slant Theater Project | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | One act | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Originally performed under the overall title "Obstruction Plays" with five other plays. | |||||
| Synopsis: | - | |||||
Disappearance of Daniel Hand, The |
| 1st Produced: | William Penn Charter School (Philadelphia, PA, United States) | 2004 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN | - | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | 100-120 min | Drama | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 5 |
| Parts Other: | 3 males, 5 females (8-15 actors possible: 3-6 males, 5-9 females) | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Have you ever wanted to disappear? Daniel Hand disappeared, but he left behind some clues: a note, some video artwork, and a school full of conflicting impressions and theories. When Shannon, an aspiring filmmaker, starts shooting a documentary about the enigma of her missing classmate, she learns he was an athlete, honors student, artist, drug user, and perhaps a religious fanatic. Can she believe all the labels the other students are trying to slap on him? Is Daniel, Shannon, or anyone what everyone perceives them to be? | |||||
either/or |
| 1st Produced: | Project Y Theatre Company (New York International Fringe Festival) (New York, NY, United States) | 2000 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN | - | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | 25-35 min | Comedy | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | 3 males, 3 females (4-6 actors possible: 2-3 males, 2-3 females) | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Over the course of three vignettes in a coffee shop, three pairs of farcically troubled people grapple with the social mores that define who we are -- sometimes through classical Greek wrestling, sometimes by whacking a slab of high-priced beef. Together,either/or and its companion piece"Will You Please Shut Up?"ruthlessly pinpoint the absurdities, insecurities, and indulgences that riddle modern relationships. | |||||
Her First Screen Test |
| 1st Produced: | 2002 | |||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN | - | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | 5-10 min | Comedy | Parts: | Male | 0 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | 1 female | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | A young vaudeville actress prepares for her first photo shoot. This piece is part of Snapshot, an anthology of short plays. To perform this piece independently, click "Add to Shopping Cart" above. To perform this piece as part of the full-length collection, go to Snapshot. | |||||
House in Hydesville, The |
| 1st Produced: | Geva Theatre Center, in Rochester, New York | 2009 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | drama | Historical | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 5 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Commissioned by Geva Theatre Centerand developed at PlayLabs 2007, Playwrights' Center, Minneapolis, MN | |||||
| Synopsis: | In the winter of 1847, the Fox family moved from Rochester to a small house in the snow-covered fields of Hydesville, New York. Soon after, they began to hear strange sounds-rapping in the walls-amidst tales of a long-ago murder. Where was this knocking sound coming from? What secrets did the house hold within its walls? Inspired by the true story of the Fox sisters, founders of Modern Spiritualism, The House in Hydesville is a haunting drama that explores the mystery of family and the wellsprings of the soul. | |||||
Irish Play, An |
| 1st Produced: | Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island | 1999 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Dramatic Publishing, Inc, | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | Comedy Drama, 100 min | Comedy | Parts: | Male | 5 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Directed by John Emigh | |||||
| Synopsis: | Amateur actors in Cork City, Ireland convene at their local pub-theater for the first read through of a new “Irish play.” What no one knows yet is that the play has been written by an American, and that an African-American has been cast in the lead. Over the course of the evening the newly assembled cast debates (in typically Irish fashion) the play’s deficiencies and merits, who will play which part, and whether or not to do the play at all. There’s Ed, a patriot and single father, whose idea it was to do the play in the first place; Martha, the stage-manager; Michael, playwright and all-around lady’s man; Cynthia, an aging ingenue and self-proclaimed Celtic goddess; Willie, the theater’s patriarch; Joachim, an African-American just recently married into the Irish culture; and acid-tongued Declan, a young man with ambition but no direction. Irish and American Cultures come into conflict, old rivalries re-ignite, and secrets are revealed as the group struggles towards an understanding of this enigmatic Irish play. What begins as a comedic examination of Irish theatre and identity, becomes by evening’s end a character drama of strong emotional force. | |||||
Key West |
| 1st Produced: | Geva Theatre Center, Rochester, New York | 2004 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | Drama, 90 min | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Directed by Skip Greer. Commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club | |||||
| Synopsis: | It's a rainy night in Key West, Florida, when Brigid - a young woman from the Bronx - ducks into Niall O'Neill's dusty pub. She's searching for her missing car keys and wonders if Niall has found them. But as they share a drink and a conversation, it becomes clear that what Brigid is really seeking is much deeper - and more mysterious | |||||
Lamarck |
| 1st Produced: | Perishable Theatre (Providence, Rhode Island) | 1998 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | Drama, 120 min | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 6 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Winner of the M. Elizabeth Osborn Award for Playwriting Excellence by the American Theatre Critics Association. | |||||
| Synopsis: | - | |||||
Last Supper Restoration, The |
| 1st Produced: | Kennedy Center, Washington | 1997 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, NY, 1998 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 4 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | weaves the imagined story of Leonardo da Vinci with an art restorer in Milan during World War II | |||||
Moving Picture |
| 1st Produced: | Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, Mass | 2002 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | Drama, 90 min | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 9 | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Directed by Darko Tresnjak. Commissioned by Ensemble Studio Theatre Sloan/First Light Grant | |||||
| Synopsis: | Vaudeville and slap-stick collide with the towering figure of famed American inventor Thomas Edison in this new comedic drama about the birth of the motion picture. | |||||
Ondine |
| 1st Produced: | Rand Theater, UMass Amherst Campus, Amherst, Massachusetts | 2008 | ||||
| Company: | University of Massachusetts-Amherst | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | Romance | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | flexible | |||||
| Notes: | Adapted from the play by Jean Giraudoux. Directed by Gina Kaufmann, with designers Jane Cox, Rob Kaplowitz, Sean Cote, Sarah Nelson, Margaret Inners as dramaturg. | |||||
| Synopsis: | This lovely, bitter-sweet fairy tale of star-crossed lovers is unlike anything else we have on tap for the season. Traveling through a forest, knight errant Hans meets and falls in love with the water sprite Ondine despite an engagement to a woman at court. Ondine's relatives are skeptical of the match, and Ondine wagers with Hans's life - should he betray her, he will die. Once married and living in Hans's world, trouble quickly threatens the young lovers' happiness. Giraudoux is among the most influential European playwrights of the twentieth century; learn why when this gem of a play makes its UMass Amherst debut. | |||||
Snapshot |
| 1st Produced: | 2002 | |||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN | - | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | 80-100 min | Drama/Comedy | Parts: | Male | 11 | Female | 11 |
| Parts Other: | 11 males, 11 females (4-25 actors possible: 2-15 males, 2-15 females) | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | A photograph captures and documents a single moment in time and space -- a snapshot of history, of a reality bounded by the photo's frame. But what lies outside, beyond, behind the photograph? And what stories, memories, or associations does an image of place inspire? In this multi-writer project from Actors Theatre of Louisville, a diverse assortment of talented playwrights encounter and transform Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, 1969, a compelling image of the monument by renowned photographer Lee Friedlander. Their thought-provoking scenes and monologues range from delightful comedy to utterly serious tragedy, each approaching the photo's themes through a new lens. To perform the entire collection, click "Add to Shopping Cart" above. To perform an individual piece independently, click on its title below: | |||||
Southern Cross |
| 1st Produced: | - | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | - | |||||
Three Christs of Ypsilanti, The |
| 1st Produced: | Playwrights' Center, Ruth Easton New Plays Series, Minneapolis, Minnesota | 2008 | ||||
| Company: | Playwrights' Center | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 4 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Adapted from the nonfiction book by Milton Rokeach. | |||||
| Synopsis: | The Three Christs of Ypsilanti is the story of three men who thought they were Jesus Christ and the doctor who tried to change their minds. Adapted from the seminal psychological study of the same title by Dr. Milton Rokeach. | |||||
Voyage of the Carcass (full-length), The |
| 1st Produced: | Perishable Theatre (Brown University New Plays Festival) (Providence, RI, United States) | 1999 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN | - | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | 100-120 min | Comedy/Drama | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | 2 males, 1 female | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Bo'sun Smythe is dead. Trapped in the ice at the North Pole, only three members of the doomed Carcasscrew remain: Bane Barrington, buffoonish explorer; Ship's Chaplain Kane, a rector in drag; and Israel, their mute Canadian first mate. Will they make it home alive? First, they'll take a five-minute break, and explore themselves, their roles, and their predicament as the actors Bill, a struggling mime; his wife Helen, erstwhile actress; and Dan, the passive-aggressive puppet-master, i.e. the writer of this play. Weaving commedia dell'arte with theatre verite, The Voyage of the Carcass is a play about dreams, and the aftermath. (A one-act version of this play is also available.) | |||||
Voyage of the Carcass (one-act), The |
| 1st Produced: | Appalachian State University (Boone, NC, United States) | 2006 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN | - | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | 45-55 min | Comedy/Drama | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | 2 males, 1 female | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Bo'sun Smythe is dead. Trapped in the ice at the North Pole, only three members of the doomed Carcasscrew remain: Bane Barrington, buffoonish explorer; Ship's Chaplain Kane, a rector in drag; and Israel, their mute Canadian first mate. Will they make it home alive? (A full-length version of this play is also available.) | |||||
Will You Please Shut Up? |
| 1st Produced: | Kennedy Center/Kenan Foundation (Washington, DC, United States) | 2003 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN | - | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | 40-50 min | Comedy | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | 1 male, 1 female | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Sylvia and Tom haven't seen each other in years when they bump into each other on the NYC subway. They were the loves of each other's lives, but something got in the way. . . Moving backwards in time, the play traces the origins of their toxic loathing to a once idyllic love. Together, "Will You Please Shut Up?" and its companion pieceeither/or ruthlessly pinpoint the absurdities, insecurities, and indulgences that riddle modern relationships. | |||||