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Alena Smith

ALENA SMITH

  (1980 - )
Nationality:    USA
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Literary Agent:    ICM Partners  represented by Ross Weiner

Alena Smith was one of Variety's 10 TV Writers to Watch in 2014. She lives in Los Angeles, where she writes for Showtime's The Affair, and previously wrote for HBO's The Newsroom. Alena created the Twitter character Tween Hobo (featured in Paste, The Believer, A.V. Club, and elsewhere); Tween Hobo: Off The Rails, a novel, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2014. Alenas plays have been produced internationally, including The Bad Guys, which was made into an independent film. She received her MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama, and studied philosophy at Haverford College and Oxford. Her essays about writing for theater, TV, and the internet have been published in Grantland and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

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below is a list of Alena Smith's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Alice Eat Your Words         And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt         Apple of Discord         Bad Guys, The         Day Such As Today At the Pavillion         Icebergs         It or Her         Lacy Project, The         Leftovers         Modern Life of Karen Bollaert         New Sincerity, The         O'Hare         Plucker         Sacrifices, The         Saturnalia in Poughkeepsie

Alice Eat Your Words

Synopsis:
Words, words, words. Words bewitch us, bamboozle us, and belittle us. But words are the only tools we have to fight back. When Alice, a teenage poet, is sentenced to her bedroom by her over-protective father, she falls down a rabbit hole of sorts into the heart of today's pop-cultural language game. Once trapped inside "the TV in her head," Alice has to fight for a way out of all the nonsense. Along the way she encounters a wonderland of odd characters and cartoons, including a chauvinistic game-show host, a posh political commenter, and a wacky lady with an alligator purse.

Notes:
Any number of variations of doubling And cross-gendering of parts is possible Amongst the roughly 20 characters

1st Produced:
Yale Cabaret, New Haven, Ct     2004

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New New Plays, Yale Summer Cabaret     2004

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Apple of Discord

Synopsis:
Four goddesses compete over the golden apple - re-telling the story in their own words. A short play of four monologues

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Philly, Pa    

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bad Guys, The

Synopsis:
Childhood buddies whose paths have diverged reunite on a late summer afternoon for some beer, grilling and weedbut deep within their friendships lurk ghosts that rock the patio beneath them. Bitingly comic and ruthlessly recognizable, this is the story of a generation at war with itself over what it means to "man up."

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Mcginn Cazale Theatre, 2162 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10024     22 May 2012

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY   978-0822227533

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Day Such As Today At the Pavillion

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
Riverside Park, New York     2007

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Icebergs

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
-     2016

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
work-in-progress

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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It or Her

Synopsis:
In the basement of a suburban house hides a man and his incredible collection of figurines. Like a mad scientist of patterns and paranoias, he plays with his objects, fervently hoping to discover their secret - what he calls "the ultimate arrangement" - before his hideout is invaded, and his own dark secret is revealed

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Philly, PA     2009

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lacy Project, The

Synopsis:
Her mother's photographs turned Lacy into an icon of childhood innocence and beauty. Now, on the night of her 22nd birthday, Lacy has to navigate between image and reality, sex and friendship, self-indulgence and responsibility. This wild tragicomedy presents an incisive portrait of a young woman held captive by her own childhood, and a vivid picture of a generation unable to grow up.

Notes:
the Lacy Project was Also produced in the 2007 Ice Factory festival At the Ohio theatre, NYC

1st Produced:
A.R.T. Institute, Cambridge, Ma     Jul 2007

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Leftovers

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     2007

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Modern Life of Karen Bollaert

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New Play Festival, Philadelphia     2005

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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New Sincerity, The

Synopsis:
Rose Spencer has just achieved the ultimate young-intellectual's dream: becoming a staff writer for a prestigious New York literary/criticism journal. And her editor, the smart and attractively cynical Benjamin, is definitely flirting with herwhile also respecting her writing. With the sudden rise of an Occupy-style political movement in a public park right outside the journal's offices, Rose sees a way to participate in what may be the defining activist movement for her generation, but too quickly she must learn to recognize the difference between sincere action and skillful self-promotion.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Bay Street Theater, 1 Bay Street, Sag Harbor     Jun 2015

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, Inc. NY (2015)   978-0-8222-3425-8

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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O'Hare

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Plucker

Synopsis:
Ever since Alexis, a young composer, moved in with her boyfriend in way uptown Manhattan, her pet parrot has been having an anxiety attack. What's worse, Lee, the girl she's been flirting with, just showed up uninvited to dinner - and Julian and Thomasina, the Perfect Couple, are due over any minute. And is it really a good idea to start downing shots of a so-called truth serum? Plucker is an old-school farce about a new generation dealing with the anxieties of commitment and co-habitation

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
NYLon Production

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, Inc. NY (2016)   978-0-8222-3616-0

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sacrifices, The

Synopsis:
the Sacrifices takes place over the course of a family's first day on a Caribbean cruise. Justin, the family's son, just graduated from a prestigious art school, is an intensely ambitious and competitive young man, rabid for money and fame in the booming contemporary art market. Eager to head straight for New York in pursuit of his ambitious dreams, Justin is dismayed when his parents reveal that they have no plans to continue supporting him financially, now that he's finished with school. Over the course of this day on the cruise, the Sacrifices tracks a series of negotiations, confrontations, and revelations amongst the members of this liberal, bourgeois Jewish family. While at first their conflicts seem to arise from petty financial disputes, deeper sources of discord emerge. This is a family struggling with the anxieties of getting older, of reaching the end of a life together as a nuclear unit, and they cling to each other just as much as they try to let go.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
-     2009

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Saturnalia in Poughkeepsie

Synopsis:
the play takes place at a sleepy bookstore, on the day of winter solstice in upstate New York. Nell, the salesclerk, is trapped with only her timid boss and a couple of crazy customers for company. She teeters on the borderline between inertia and creeping insanity. Just when she gives up hope that anything exciting will ever happen to her, three unexpected visitors explode onto the scene-all refugees from a glamorous and mysterious party in the bookstore bathroom. Between a libidinous Anne of Green Gables, a lascivious Philip Roth, and a prank-playing Sylvia Plath, not to mention a potent cocktail of mind-altering substances, Nell's life suddenly gets really thrilling-especially when she begins to suspect that her life isn't real at all.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Yale School Of Drama, New Haven, Ct    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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