The Playwrights Database
JASON GROTE
(1971 - )
Nationality:
USA
email:
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Website:
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Literary Agent:
Antje Oegel International represented by
Antje Oegel
Jason Grote is a playwright and television writer based in Brooklyn. His plays include 1001, Civilization (all you can eat), Maria/Stuart, Hamilton Township, Darwins Challenge, Box Americana, and This Storm Is What We Call Progress. He is a staff writer for the NBC/Dreamworks show, "Smash," produced by Steven Spielberg, Theresa Rebeck, and Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, premiering in January 2012. Current projects include a commission from aCT/Seattle about Stalin and Shostakovich, and a musical adaptation of 1001 with composer Marisa Michelson. a resident playwright at New Dramatists since 2006, his work has been produced and developed at the Museum of Modern art, the Sundance Theatre Lab, Playwrights Horizons, the ONeill Theater Center, the Denver Center Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, Portland Center Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Robert Wilsons Watermill Center, Page 73 Productions, ensemble Studio Theatre, Voices of Change Festival for New American Plays (Theater Bielefeld, Germany), Clubbed Thumb, the Civilians, the Foundry, MaSS MoCa, the Luminato Festival, Soho Rep, the Lark, the Glej Theater (Slovenia), Salvage Vanguard, HeRe, the Contemporary American Theater Festival, Baltimore CenterStage, Collaboraction, Theatre @ Boston Court, and elsewhere. He was the 2006 P73 Playwriting Fellow. His plays have been published by Samuel French and Playscripts Inc., and in the Back Stage Book of New American Short Plays 2005 (edited by Craig Lucas), and his comics debut will take place in the upcoming Significant Objects anthology from Fantagraphics, edited by Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker. He occasionally blogs at Hilobrow.com, voted one of Time magazines top blogs of 2010.
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1001
1001 spins themes and variations from the classic 'a Thousand and One arabian Nights' to explore the incarnations of love, sex, religion, cruelty and war from ancient Baghdad to the post-9/11 era. Playwright Jason Grote combines savage wit, political insight, Borgesian time-warping, and theatrical ingenuity in a dazzling tour de force that Sheherezade herself would envy.
Notes:
Developed in 2004-05 Soho Rep Writer/Director & Phase 2 Labs And Colorado New Play Summit; read At Baltimore Centerstage And Last Frontier Conference (Valdez, AK)
1st Produced:
Denver Center Theater 2007
Organisations:
Developed at Soho Rep
1st Published:
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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(Anti)Gone
Synopsis:
antigone is charged with the crime of burying her brothers -- even though the war left no bodies for her to bury. Haemon could take over the kingdom if he ever stops playing video games and trying to kill his father. and airline pretzels and huge corporate deals cannot satisfy erisycthon's hunger. In this postmodern take on antigone,daily life becomes mythic in the urban non-landscape of malls, highways, and airports.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Williamstown Theatre Festival (Workshop) (Williamstown, Ma, United States) 2005
Organisations:
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1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York -
Music:
-
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Genre:
30-45 min Comedy/Drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: 2 males, 2 females, 2 either (5-22 actors possible: 3-12 males, 2-10 females)
Further Reference:
-
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All You Can Eat
Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
- 2006
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Box Americana: A Wal-Mart Fantsaia
Synopsis:
In the extensively researched Box Americana: a Wal-Mart Retail Fantasia, the Ghost of Sam Walton is resurrected with his own personal chorus of Chinese workers to sing the praises of consumer Utopia. Located at Wal-Mart 24-2-128, the economic epicenter of Sprawlville, USA, the play takes place at a moment when the world's largest employer is defending itself against the largest class-action lawsuit in American history for gender discrimination. It follows Kelly, a delusional but passionate cheerleader for the Wal-Mart ideology, and Danae, an African American mother escaping the double threats of Hurricane Katrina and her violent, impoverished past. they both seek a future of advancement based on merit and hard work, but when push comes to shove with this corporate behemoth, they discover that the Promised Land is a swamp of inequity and empty rhetoric. Inspired by DUKeS V. WaL-MaRT, the largest class action suit in history (info available at walmartclass.com), and described in Liza Featherstone's book SeLLING WOMeN SHORT
Notes:
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1st Produced:
The Working Theater, NYC 2006
Organisations:
the Working Theater
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 4 Other: some doubling
Further Reference:
-
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Cats
Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
Summerworks Short Play Event 2006
Organisations:
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1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
short play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Christmas Carol, A
Synopsis:
Seven years have passed since Marley's Christmas death, and Scrooge has not changed a bit. But, on this particular Christmas, the shrimp boats lower their nets. Marley pushes his face against hers. She screams and flees back to Scrooge; on her cheek stands out in red the marks of two rows of teeth.
- nytheatre.com
Notes:
part of the Baby Jesus One-act Jubilee: Second Coming, A selection of world-premiere yuletide-themed plays
1st Produced:
Organisations:
the Brick Theater
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
One act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Civilization (All You Can Eat)
Synopsis:
the filming of an ironically racist TV commercial kicks off this burlesque of America's love/hate obsession with food. a feral pig on a rampage, mass choreography, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson using hip-hop to sell snacks, auto-erotic asphyxiation, chaos theory, and the search for love, meaning and hope during the 2008 presidential election - all braided together to devastating effect
Notes:
This is part of Clubbed Thumb's Annual Summerworks Festival. In Civilization (all You Can eat)
1st Produced:
Organisations:
a commission of Clubbed Thumb
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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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
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Darwin's Challenge
Synopsis:
the young Charles Darwin sets out for a voyage on the HMS Beagle - but when he arrives at the Island of Galapagos, he finds himself transported to a 21st century reality TV show entitled Darwins Challenge. Hijinks ensue. Is humanitys survival based on our ruthlessness and cunning, or our compassion and intelligence?
Notes:
Recipient of eST/Sloan grant
1st Produced:
Ensemble Studio Theatre -
Organisations:
ensemble Studio Theater
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Farce
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Hamilton Township
Synopsis:
an autobiographical play set in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, in which the teenage author saves a prostitute from the legendary Jersey Devil. as a toxic storm rages outside, the old lady sleeps, soundly, on her couch. Jason and Babydoll wait, trapped in her home, with a full case of the hags wine coolers. Neither is sure why theyre there. they only know whos pulling the strings: the nameless, hard-rockin hedonist who orchestrated their very special evening. Based on a true story, Hamilton Township marries memoir, horror, punk rock and a New Jersey suburb to tell a story about adolescence, the nature of evil - and the worst party in the history of ever
Notes:
developed in 2005-06 Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab
1st Produced:
Salvage Vanguard May 2008
Organisations:
Soho Rep
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: 1 either
Further Reference:
-
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Hylan Blvd
Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
24-Hour Plays, Atlantic Theater -
Organisations:
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1st Published:
- -
Music:
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Genre:
short play
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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In His Bold Gaze, My Ruin Is Writ Large
Synopsis:
a comedic, free adaptation of Racine's Phaedra, combining the original story with Hitchcock, Iggy Pop, Mixed Martial Arts, and Slavoj Zizek.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
24-Hour Plays / The Orchard Project (Hunter, NY, United States) 2006
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York -
Music:
-
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Genre:
10-25 min Comedy
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 3 Other: 2 males, 3 females (5-8 actors possible: 2-3 males, 3-5 females)
Further Reference:
-
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Island Of Never Giving Way On Your Desires
Synopsis:
the secret origin of Roosevelt Island.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Sanctuary: Playwrights Theater For Six Nights. -
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Contained in Knock the journal of antioch University, Seattle, -
Music:
-
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Genre:
short play
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Kawaisoo (the Pity Of Things)
Synopsis:
a tragicomic meditation on groceries and catstrophe. ellie takes us on a tour of a suburban grocery store in the wake of a personal - and national - trauma.
Notes:
One-woman show, 20 min. long; winner of Swamp King, produced At NYU, the Makor, the American Living Room @ HeRe
1st Produced:
Chashama 2002
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Back Stage Book of New American Short Plays 2005 -
Music:
-
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Genre:
short Tragicomedy Tragedy
Parts:
Male: - Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Maria/Stuart
Up-and-coming cartoonist Stuart fights to keep the lid on his mother's and aunts' simmering angst. But the family's secrets channel themselves into a bizarre shapeshifter that guzzles soda, communicates by fax, and spouts old German verse. Friedrich Schiller's classic tale of warring queens inspires this gothic romp through the weirder side of suburban America.
Notes:
Based on "Maria Stuart" by Friedrich Schiller
1st Produced:
Organisations:
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1st Published:
Music:
-
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Genre:
comedy
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 5 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Moloch And Other Demons
Synopsis:
Paradise Lost meets Fast Food Nation in this fable of a late-capitalist Hell. Mahu works in a meat plant that turns undesirables into fast food consumed by Moloch, an elder-demon. When an invasion from Heaven shatters his family, his daughter Dawn escapes - only to encounter Hobbididence and Modo, two aWOL soldier-angels hiding at the edge of a nuclear blast zone.
Notes:
also Appeared in Hell Festival; developed/read At Salvage Vanguard, Circle X, the Makor, the Ohio, New Dramatists
1st Produced:
Organisations:
American Living Room Festival
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 3 Other: some doubling
Further Reference:
-
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Myth America
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
written by Arthur Kopit, Theresa Rebeck, Israel Horovitz, Rachel Axler, Ian Cohen, Brian Dykstra, Jason Grote, Julien Schwab, Matthew Paul Olmos, Saviana Stanescu, And Lloyd Suh.
1st Produced:
TBG Theatre, NY 2007
Organisations:
Personal Space theatrics
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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New Jersey Book Of the Dead, The
Synopsis:
Diana tries to unionize her workplace (a call-center in Jersey City), but faces OMNIVORe - a powerful computer surveillance program that invades her personal life and her dreams.
Notes:
Staged readings At the Flea, the Playwrights' Center of San Francisco, Coe College (Cedar Rapids, Ia); winner of DramaRaMa, Reva Shiner Award, Coe College Playwriting Award, runner-up for Princess Grace, semifinalist (top 5%) for Cesterfield Writers' Film
1st Produced:
The Bloomington Playwrights' Project 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
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 3 Other: 1
Further Reference:
-
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Prometheus Rendered
Synopsis:
Blending the modern and the mythic, this free adaptation of aeschylus' Prometheus Boundshows us a Prometheus subjected to the torture techniques used by U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Culture Project (Impact Festival) (New York, NY, United States) 2006
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
10-25 min Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: 1 male, 1 female, 2 either (4-6 actors possible: 1-5 males, 1-4 females)
Further Reference:
-
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Shostakovich
Synopsis:
The life of Russian composer Shostakovich
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
- -
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Historical play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Southridge High School Forensics Team Presents: Assorted Tales Of Robin Hood, The
Synopsis:
Southridge High School has lost the annual forensics competition for the past ten years, but things really go haywire when the entire team is suddenly transported to Sherwood Forest midway through their performance of Robin Hood. as they act out their roles of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and the Merry Men, the real life Dramas of love triangles, competitiveness, social and class distinctions unfold and further complicate things, turning the classic story of peasants vs. the aristocracy into a battle between the nerds vs. the jocks. (This play was specially commissioned by Playscripts for high school actors.)
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Keen Teens At The Kirk Theatre (New York, NY, United States) 2009
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
25-35 min Comedy
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 2 Other: 4 males, 2 females, 4 either (8-10 actors possible: 4-8 males, 2-6 females)
Further Reference:
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This Storm Is What We Call Progress
Synopsis:
Part urban romantic comedy, part Kabbalistic horrorshow, part allegory for Israel and Palestine that doesn't quite add up, part cautionary tale about power, and part historically inaccurate look at Hannah arendt and Walter Benjamin. a young man stumbles into a dusty old recording studio run by an enigmatic old woman and her beautiful assistant. Here he is drawn into an ancient and powerful world of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalistic ritual and discovers that he may be something more than he had ever imagined.
Notes:
Developed in 2003-04 Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab
1st Produced:
Rorschach Theater Jun 2008
Organisations:
Soho Rep
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
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Genre:
Comedy/Drama Comedy
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Three Classics
Synopsis:
Three Classics combines the modern with the mythic in three adaptations that view classic stories through the lens of a post-modern, urban non-landscape. In(anti)gone, the aftermath of war is explored in a world of shopping malls, highways, and airports. Racine's Phaedra is combined with Hitchcock, Iggy Pop, Mixed Martial Arts, and Slavoj Zizek in In His Bold Gaze, My Ruin is Writ Large. the final play, Prometheus Rendered, is an examination of the Prometheus myth using the torture techniques employed by U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay. To purchase this book of three plays, click "add to Shopping Cart" above. To perform an individual play, click on its title below:
Notes:
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1st Produced:
- -
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York -
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
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Genre:
Various Comedy/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: Various
Further Reference:
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