break, or catch fire
Two Acts - 90 minutes
2M, 2F
In a tiny room surrounded by frosted glass, Tessa sits on a couch. On the other end of the couch sits Brendan, a police officer assigned to wait with her before she gives evidence that on a one-night stand 12 years ago, she was raped. Quickly, the tension in this tiny room reaches breaking point, culminating in an act of violence where the line between victim and perpetrator becomes blurred.
Two weeks later, Jos climbs the walls of the same small room, trying to open a window so he can smoke one last cigarette before the jury returns with their verdict on what happened when he picked up a girl at a bar 12 years ago and took her home for the night. He is soon joined by his wife Caitlin, who moves at a ferocious pace as she tries to stand by her man and keep her splintering family together.
break, or catch fire explores two sides of the same story by four people stuck in a room waiting for 12 strangers to determine the truth.
Available to read on the New Play Exchange
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Wild on White
Two Acts - 110 minutes
3M, 2F
After meeting a film producer by chance in her small, nowhere town, Izzy arrives in the big city to find fame and fortune. Before she can do that, Izzy fronts up to the home of her estranged sister, Lizzie, for a reunion that has been decades in the making. Lizzie left their hometown decades ago and has never looked back. Now she calls herself Elizabeth, has a successful career in finance and lives in a penthouse completely decorated in various shades of expensive white furniture.
Two weeks later, in the same penthouse, Izzy’s boyfriend sits with a bottle of whiskey and a baby in a pram desperately searching for answers. Because Izzy never came home and now it seems that Elizabeth is nowhere to be found either. Into this mess comes Amos, a police detective who broke up with his fourth wife last night and is battling the mother of all hangovers and Elizabeth’s husband, John, who doesn’t believe that his wife is missing.
Moving back and forth between the reunion between Elizabeth and Izzy, and the search for a story that explains their sudden disappearance, Wild on White is a story about family and how we make it, how we lose it, and whether blood is actually thicker than water.
Available to read on the New Play Exchange
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Virus Attacks Heart
One Act - 80 minutes
1M, 1 F
Jamie’s nineteen. Beatrice is almost twice his age. A spilled drink in a nightclub leads to an odyssey of connection, confession, heartache, and transcendence for two strangers who discover just how much they need each other. A raw, uncompromising, yet deeply poetic theatrical exploration of a one-night stand.
Productions:
* EAT New Works Festival
* Planet Connections Theatre Festivity
* Venus Theatre Company
‘Virus Attacks Heart … is a romance for people who don’t do romances. It’s a horror story of a relationship that makes you ache for an intimacy as deep as the one on stage. It’s a kitchen table drama spiked with Viagra, or, conversely, the most sophisticated porno this side of the Internet. Poetic, erotic, heartfelt and sometimes shocking, Virus Attacks Heart is a remarkable experience that will leave your head spinning and your cheeks flushed … When it’s over, there is the sense that you have just watched something beautiful, something tragic, and, ultimately, something real.’
5 Stars Michael Poandi, DC Metro Theater Arts
‘Playwright Shannon Murdoch captures the essence of chaos, swirls in life’s elements of crazy, and blends emotions into a verbal fury … The play is powerful; the utter chaos of it a titillating treat that encourages clarity amid confusion.’
41/2 Stars Amanda Gunther, Theatre Bloom
Published by Original Works. Also available at Amazon.
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New Light Shine
Two Acts - 90 minutes
2M, 2F
When he was twelve, Joe snuck into the field on the edge of town and saw the Town Mayor with his sister Peregrine. This one moment has overwhelmed and transformed his life, becoming the only thing that holds any importance to him.
Years later, in jail for murder, Joe waits for Peregrine so that he can explain his plan for her future, a plan so intricately assembled that he has given it a name—New Light Shine.
* Winner of the 2011 Yale Drama Series Award (John Guare, Judge)
* Selected for the 2011 National Playwrights Festival, Sydney, Australia
* Produced by DeSotelle Studio (NYC)
* Stage-read by Yale Repertory Theatre
* Published by Yale University Press
"raw, haunting, richly poetic, and deeply emotional. It affected me like no other entry" - John Guare
Available for purchase at Book Depository and Amazon
For all licensing arrangements, please contact shannon.e.murdoch@gmail.com
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2M, 2F
When he was twelve, Joe snuck into the field on the edge of town and saw the Town Mayor with his sister Peregrine. This one moment has overwhelmed and transformed his life, becoming the only thing that holds any importance to him.
Years later, in jail for murder, Joe waits for Peregrine so that he can explain his plan for her future, a plan so intricately assembled that he has given it a name—New Light Shine.
* Winner of the 2011 Yale Drama Series Award (John Guare, Judge)
* Selected for the 2011 National Playwrights Festival, Sydney, Australia
* Produced by DeSotelle Studio (NYC)
* Stage-read by Yale Repertory Theatre
* Published by Yale University Press
"raw, haunting, richly poetic, and deeply emotional. It affected me like no other entry" - John Guare
Available for purchase at Book Depository and Amazon
For all licensing arrangements, please contact shannon.e.murdoch@gmail.com
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