Plays & Screenplays

My writing for the stage and screen has been produced in the USA and abroad and won several awards. If you’re interested in producing or reading my work, please contact me directly.

Plays

PB&J

(full-length dark comedy)

Lillie and Millie make the best peanut butter and jelly in Vermont thanks to a special ingredient. Can radio host Dick Longfellow uncover their secret before he becomes their next victim?

Productions:

  • NY International Fringe Festival, 2007 (dir. Cyndy Marion)
  • Staged reading at La MaMa E.T.C., NYC, 2006

Awards:

  • Finalist for the Jerome Fellowship at the Playwrights’ Center
  • Semifinalist for the Princess Grace Award

“Tara Dairman’s absurdly hilarious script is equal parts Arsenic & Old Lace and Cabin Fever with a Lorena Bobbitt slant. … Under the elegant direction of Cyndy Marion, five actors deliver delicately prosaic and absurd dialogue loquaciously reminiscent of, say, Stephen Fry, but without the pretense. … PB&J is laugh-out loud funny. It’s smart. It’s even a little touching and intense at times. It’s everything it promises to be and a little bit more, and it’s certainly worth the time and ticket price to go see it.” –nytheatre.com

“Worth seeing–if only for its cocky plotline.” – Time Out New York

“PB&J is most effective in its many monologues that break the fourth wall. Playwright Tara Dairman has a flair for direct storytelling.” – OffOffOnline.com

“PB&J is a witty, engaging piece of theatre…This engagingly quirky drama manages to combine an imaginative, non-realistic premise with a core of human emotions and problems. This is quite a difficult balance to achieve.” – Soho Theatre, London

The Question House

(one-act comedy)

If you were trapped in a house where you could speak only in questions, how long would you survive? In a race against time, God, and declarative statements, the intrepid employees of The Question House are ready to find out…or are they?

Productions:

  • Northern Michigan University, 2009 (dir. Jen Henry)
  • FRIGID New York Festival, 2009 (dir. Catherine Siracusa)
  • Dartmouth College, 2000 (dir. Jim McNicholas)
  • Workshop production by HB Ensemble at HB Studio, NYC, 2008
  • Staged reading at La MaMa E.T.C., NYC, 2001 (dir. George Ferencz)

Award:

  • Winner of the Eleanor Frost New Play Award at Dartmouth College

“Fresh, crisply paced…When you get right down to it, isn’t it all about the fun playwright Tara Dairman has with the constant tension (and the humor) engendered by her conceit? Who’ll slip up? Who’ll escape from the Question House? Will we? Will you?” – Jon Sobel, blogcritics

“A graceful act of skating on thin ice.” – Backstage (Critic’s Pick)

“Dairman’s play is full of funny moments and clever turns of phrase.” – stagebuzz.com

Tara Has Written a Play

(short comedy)

Tara’s parents sit in the audience, waiting for the play their daughter wrote to begin. But then they start wondering…what if it’s about them?

Productions & publication:

“Tara Dairman’s ‘Tara Has Written a Play’, featuring Geraldine Plunkett and Des Cave, skips nicely from real to surreal. …she focuses on experimentation with structure and dialogue with a charming and often surprising outcome.” – The Sunday Tribune

“The winner by far was Tara Dairman’s ‘Tara Has Written a Play’…it was inventive, dramatic, funny, and creative.” – http://www.wow.ie

From the Belgian

(one-act dark comedy)

Expat Conor Studler is the toast of the Brussels theater scene thanks to his plays about his wacky mother back in the States…until Mom shows up to visit, that is.

Productions:

  • Staged reading by HB Ensemble at HB Studio, NYC, 2009 (dir. Catherine Siracusa)
  • Staged reading at La MaMa E.T.C., NYC, 2004 (dir. Cyndy Marion)

The Wedding Cake

(extremely silly short comedy)

Not-so-expert bakers Kelly, Sheets, and Bakesmear risk death to create the perfect cake for the top-secret nuptials of Lonely-o Montypoo and Cruliette Crapulet.

Production:

  • Staged reading at La MaMa E.T.C., NYC, 2004 (dir. Cyndy Marion)

Award:

  • Finalist for the Heideman Award (Actors Theatre of Louisville’s National Ten-Minute Play Contest)

Screenplays

Yesterday

(comedy/fantasy)

The Dungs might be the most pathetic cover band in Ireland. But when the Beatles suddenly disappear from history, it’s up to frontman Johnny–the only person who remembers their songs–to bring them back.

Awards:

  • Quarterfinalist in the Slamdance Screenwriting Competition
  • Quarterfinalist in the AAA Screenplay Contest
  • Second rounder in the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition