doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee


Saviana Stanescu

SAVIANA STANESCU

  
Nationality:    Romanian
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    Elaine Devlin Literary, Inc.  represented by Elaine Devlin

Saviana Stanescu is a Romanian-born multi-award-winning playwright. Her work has been widely presented internationally and in the US. Recent New York productions include "Aliens with extraordinary skills" off-Broadway at Women's Project (published by Samuel French), "Waxing West" (2007 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Full-length Script) and "YokastaS Redux'' at La MaMa Theatre, "Suspendida" and "Vicious Dogs on Premises" (with Witness Relocation) at the Ontological Theatre, "Polanski Polanski" and "Aurolac Blues" at HERE Arts Center, "The E-Dating Project" at Strasberg Institute for Theatre&Film, and the site-specific "I want what you have" at the World Financial Center. "Aliens with extraordinary skills" (Inmigrantes con Habilidades Extraordinarias) and "Final Countdown" (Cuenta Regresiva) ran for 8 months in Mexico City at Teatro La Capilla and Teatro El Milagro. "Bucharest Underground" won the 2007 Marulic Prize for Best European Radio-Drama. In Stockholm, Sweden, Saviana's play "White Embers" produced by Dramalabbet made it in the TOP 3 of Best Plays in 2008, and in NYC is published by Samuel French as one of their 2010 OOB festival winners. Ms Stanescu has published books of poetry and drama including "The New York Plays", "Aliens With Extraordinary Skills", "Waxing West", "Google me!", "Black Milk", and "The Inflatable Apocalypse" (Best Play of the Year UNITER Award in 2000). She co-edited the anthology of plays "Global Foreigners" (with NYU professor Carol Martin) and "roMANIA after 2000" (with CUNY professor Daniel Gerould). Her plays have received readings and workshops at The Lark, Long Wharf Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, New York Stage&Film, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Playwrights' Foundation, Traveling Jewish Theatre, Immigrants Theatre Project, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Origin Theatre Company, PS122, HERE, etc. Saviana is a member of EST (Ensemble Studio Theatre) and a Usual Suspect with New York Theatre Workshop. She was a 2005-2007 TCG fellow with the Lark Play Development Center, where her plays "Waxing West" and "Lenin's Shoe" had barebones productions. She also was a 2007-2008 NYSCA playwright-in-residence with Women's Project and writer-in-residence for Richard Schechner's East Coast Artists. She holds an MA in Performance Studies (Fulbright fellow) and an MFA in Dramatic Writing (John Golden Award for excellence in playwriting) from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, where she is on faculty in the Drama Department. She also teaches playwriting at Primary Stages - Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA). Ms Stanescu is the Director of Eastern European Exchange for The Lark Play Development Center, the curator of playgroundzero for undergroundzero festival, and the founder/president of Immigrant Artists and Scholars in New York (www.IASNY.us).

Buy Plays with Doollee

Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.
AbeBooks.co.uk   AbeBooks.com   Stageplays.com   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template

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

         Aliens with Extraordinary Skills         Ants         Aurolac Blues         Body Maps         Dream Acts         East Coast Artists In Waxing West         E-Dating Project, The         Final Countdown         For a Barbarian Woman         Hurt         I Want What You Have         Inflatable Apocalypse, The         Jelly- Love and Peanut- Butter         Lenin's Shoe         Myth America         Polanski Polanski         Suspendida         Vicious Dogs on Premises         Waxing West         White Embers         Yokasta's Redux
Aliens with Extraordinary Skills

Aliens with Extraordinary Skills
A dark comedy about a clown from the 'unhappiest country in the world', Moldova, who pins her hopes on a US work visa. Chased by Homeland Security, a deportation letter deflates Nadia's enthusiasm and a pair of spike heels might be all it takes to burst her American Dream (or turn it into a nightmare. . .). New York City, with its special energy, seems like the perfect solution for her problems, but is it really? Luckily, Nadia is not alone in her journey: A Russian illegal immigrant, Borat, her fellow clown, tries to find his own path in the Big Apple, by working as a cab driver. Lupita, her Latina roommate, an exotic dancer and wanna-be actress, shows Nadia the tough side of the city. Meanwhile, Bob, an American washed-up musician finds himself in the relationship with the Moldovan girl. Aliens with Extraordinary Skills is based on true stories of immigration explored and fictionalized by a playwright who tries to understand her own story. the moral of the 'fable' might be that - regardless our passport and native language - we are all 'aliens' in search for love, understanding and a place to call 'home'.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Julia Miles (Wpp) Theatre, NY     2008

Organisations:
Women's Project

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:
dark comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  2 either

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Ants

Ants
Two immigrant Romanian sisters struggle to make ends meet as they attempt to capture a piece of the American Dream. Kara is the provider. She has been working in a factory sending money home for her younger sister Mia, making it possible for her to come to America to finish up her PhD in biochemistry. Everything is working according to their plan. They have a nice house. Mia is making remarkable progress with her research on ants under the guidance of her professor, Adam Kohn. Kara spends her free time reading Tarot cards. And then the unthinkable happens

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New Jersey Repertory Company
179 Broadway, Long Branch, New Jersey 07740     07 Feb 2013

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:
comedy 105 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Aurolac Blues

Aurolac Blues
Two Romanian street kids dream of an idealized life in America.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
HERE Arts Center - Dorothy B. Williams theater
145 6th AVenue, New York, NY 10013    

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Body Maps

Synopsis:
A theatre-dance piece of stories and e-motions

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Minus, As Part Of The New York International Fringe Festival In 2002 At The Culture Project - 45     2002

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://www.indietheaternow.com/Plays   

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:
theatre-dance piece 60 min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  8            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Dream Acts

Synopsis:
Imagine that you don't have a country. It doesn't matter if you believe you're American, because no one else believes you - not potential employers, not banks that issue student loans, not the government. there is no way to become legally American. You don't exist. Worse, you are hunted for deportation. You love this country, but the country does not love you back. In Dream Acts, five undocumented teens from Nigeria, Mexico, Ukraine, Korea, and Jordan face the extraordinary challenge of living ordinary lives under the radar. Each story is moving and urgent; some are funny, others are tragic, and through their experiences, we learn about facts about the DREAM Act and the secret lives lead by undocumented youth.
- nytheatre.com

Notes:
written by Mia Chung, Jessica Litwak, Chiori Miyagawa, Saviana Stanescu, Andrea Thome

1st Produced:
HERE Arts Center - Dorothy B. Williams theater
145 6th AVenue, New York, NY 10013     23 Mar 2012

Organisations:
Dream Act Union

1st Published:
http://www.indietheaternow.com/Plays   

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 75 min

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

East Coast Artists In Waxing West

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

E-Dating Project, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Strasberg Institute For Theatre&Film    

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Final Countdown

Synopsis:
A Balkanesque comic tragedy about balloons, children and deviant parents. Zozo, a homeless Romanian, confronts her weird past as the daughter of a professional mourner and an artist gravedigger as she copes with rape and murder in the present.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
World Theatre Presents and the Lark Theatre Company

1st Published:
http://www.indietheaternow.com/Plays   

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 Drama, 60 min

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

For a Barbarian Woman

Synopsis:
On the edge of the Black Sea, the greatest poet of the Roman Empire, Ovid, and an American/NATO colonel are forever transformed by a barbarian woman. Two millennia apart, boundaries of politics, time and desire continue to be shattered. Who will survive?
- nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Pope Auditorium, 113 West 60th Street, NY     06 Oct 2011

Organisations:
Fordam University Theatre Company and the Ensemble Studio Theatre

1st Published:
http://www.indietheaternow.com/Plays   

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 100 min

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Hurt

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Best 10-Minute Plays 2013 Plays For Three Or More Actors. Published by Smith and Kraus, Inc.    

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:
ten min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

I Want What You Have

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
part of Women's Project presents Girls Just Wanna Have Fund$: six new works About women And wealthPerformances take place throughout the complex And the Audience will move from space to space. Women's Project, taking its theme from A Venue that has "world financial" in its name, presents six new, short, site-specific works About the relationships between women And wealth (or lack thereof) in Girls Just Wanna Have Fund$.

1st Produced:
World Financial Center, NY     2007

Organisations:
Women's Project

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:
short site specific work

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Inflatable Apocalypse, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     2000

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Jelly- Love and Peanut- Butter

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Lenin's Shoe

Synopsis:
explores the effect of relocation, particularly on young immigrants who want to rid themselves of their pasts.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Lark Studio, NY     2006

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:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

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:
-

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Polanski Polanski

Synopsis:
In 1977 the legendary filmmaker Roman Polanski was arrested on molestation charges, pled guilty to one of seven counts related to his actions with a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles. He was remanded to Chino prison for a 90-day psychological evaluation and released after 42 days. After determining that he could not trust the judge in his case, Polanski fled the U.S. in 1978. He was once again arrested 31 years later in Switzerland. After spending two months in jail he was allowed to wait out extradition proceedings under house arrest in his Swiss Chalet. the Nature of being a Nomad is to be in quest of something and Nomad theatrical Co.'s quest in the creation of Polanski Polanski is to coax the psycho-emotional workings of a complex mind from the level of the unconscious to the active level of the conscious (through our fictional account of three key threshold moments in Polanski's life), just as this filmmaker often does successfully in his own work. This play is in no way a docuDrama, and is not particularly interested in the judgment of right and wrong, except insofar as how the individual himself allows himself to commit, wrestles with, and judges his own actions.
- nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
HERE Arts Center - Dorothy B. Williams theater
145 6th AVenue, New York, NY 10013     22 Sep 2010

Organisations:
Nomad theatrical Company

1st Published:
http://www.indietheaternow.com/Plays   

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 70 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Suspendida

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Vicious Dogs on Premises

Synopsis:
Witness Relocation artistic director Dan Safer uses the metaphor of trained dogs and concepts of Choice theory to investigate people's weird shifts between cruelty and love in his newest play/physical theater piece, Vicious Dogs on Premises. Witness Relocation's work normally blurs and ignores the lines between dance and theater, and includes aspects of installation art, live video, task-based performance, timed activities, competitions and improvisation of all sorts (movement, Dramatic, and philosophical). This work also includes a literary component: a play commissioned by Witness Relocation from Romanian-American playwright Saviana Stanescu
- nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Witness Relocation

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/physical theater piece

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Waxing West

Synopsis:
In Waxing West, Romanian cosmetologist Daniela Popescu arrives in the United States as the soon-to-be bride of the sexually repressed computer engineer, Charlie Aronson. As Daniela seeks to adjust to her new life with Charlie in the land of dreams, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu-formerly dictator-and-wife of Romania, but now vampires-haunt her, making her life miserable. This comic yet socially and politically relevant Drama journeys between Romania and New York, between past and present, between the American Dream and the American nightmare. Will Daniela be able to escape the ghosts of her past to move on?
press release

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
East Coast Artists

1st Published:
http://www.indietheaternow.com/Plays   

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 100 min

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

White Embers

White Embers
From the initial pool of over 850 submissions, the Final Forty plays were chosen to be performed over a period of one week. A panel of judges comprised of celebrity playwrights, theatrical agents and artistic directors nominated one or more of each evening's plays as finalists. the final round was then held on the last day of the festival. Out of these plays, six winners were chosen by Samuel French, Inc. to receive publication and licensing contracts.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Lion Theatre, Theatre Row
410 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036     18 Jul 2010

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Off Off Broadway Festival Plays, 35th Series, Samuel French, Inc. (January 19, 2011)   

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:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Yokasta's Redux

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page