An expansion of the bestselling playwriting book! Coming in the summer of 2025.

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"I wish I had this book when I began my writing journey. It's fresh, funny, thought-provoking, and provides important insights into the industry so that playwrights can get their work on stage immediately." 

Antoinette Nwandu, Award-Winning Playwright and Screenwriter, Broadway & Netflix

“We're living through a frantic and feverish time in history, and simultaneously in a golden age of playwriting. The fastest society is colliding with the slowest art form. This book will guide you to the center of that collision, where you can locate the love and ferocity that draws you to writing while sharpening your craft and getting your play on to the stage.”
Rob Handel, Chair of Dramatic Writing, Carnegie Mellon University

"Read this book now. It is a gift to our students and our industry. It's going to revolutionize how we teach playwriting." 

Jessica Bashline, University of Miami

Playwriting with Purpose  provides a holistic approach to playwriting from an award-winning playwright and professor. It provides invaluable creative tools to use for your entire playwriting journey whether you are new to the form or a longtime practitioner. The book is designed to be an ongoing resource; so you have the support you need to write, revise, and produce a new play at the moment you want it.

Each chapter includes incisive craft lessons, provocative writing prompts, examples from plays, tips from working artists, reading recommendations, and more. Thoroughly revised, new features to this edition include: 

-Vastly expanded sections on structure, world building, business of playwriting, writing for television and film, and more

-New writing exercises and pro tips from working playwrights

-An exploration of art and craft through a new selection of international plays

-New excerpts from both classic and contemporary plays

-Shorter chapters with more subject headings to make it easier to find the exact craft lesson or writing prompt you want when you want it

-Sample syllabi and other teaching tools for educators

Playwriting with Purpose gives writers and students the tools to succeed in today’s theater industry.

“Playwriting with Purpose is an empowering and accessible playwriting companion for new and experienced writers alike. Goldfinger draws on an exceptionally wide range of classical and contemporary texts from around the globe to create an expansive and inspiring provocation of what a play can be. I love that this book considers both the art and the artist - encouraging playwrights to think about why and how they write, as well as what they write. It demystifies and offers practical advice on navigating the business of playwriting - from writing applications to networking - offering valuable insight into the inner workings of an industry that is often overwhelming to new playwrights. This engaging, encouraging and comprehensive guide to both the craft and business of playwriting feels like having your own personal mentor in your pocket!”

Dr Jenny Knotts, PhD in Playwriting, University of Glasgow

"A refreshing and galvanizing treatise on the craft of playwriting. Great for emerging playwrights!"

Yussef El Guindi, Award-Winning Playwright, Back of the Throat, Language Rooms

“Playwriting with Purpose is a practical and straightforward book. It's great to use both in classes and as individual playwrights. At its heart, this book makes a difficult thing easier. The material is focused and pragmatic, drawing from a dynamic community of experts.”

Justin A. Maxwell, The Creative Writing Workshop, University of New Orleans

"I'm going to put this book on the Required Reading list for playwriting, acting, and directing classes. Actors and directors also need to know how plays function in order to do their best work." 

Margaret Laurena Kemp, University of California, Davis

"Goldfinger’s workbook combines well curated examples with engaging exercises and evocative writing prompts to create an endless array of customizable approaches to playwriting. It speaks to the full range of those interested in creating scripted drama - students and teachers, novices and experts." 

David S. Thompson, Agnes Scott College

2 Characters: 1 F/Non-Binary, 1 M

Read and license from Concord Theatricals (formerly Samuel French): Click Here.

A father-daughter arson team burns their relationship to the ground, and then rises from the ashes. A lyrical, heartbreaking, and darkly funny play with music about the eternal bond between parent and child.

Reviews

"Spellbinding...Hypnotic...Exquisitely written...The opening scene...would be equally at home in a Cormac McCarthy novel or a hardboiled HBO series. And I mean that as a serious compliment...it explores the fine lines separating parent and child, life and death, earthliness and eternity, letting go and moving on, profanity and poetry, the grotesque and the sublime." -Juneau Empire (Alaska)

“Elegant, evocative two-hander…a terrifically atmospheric play, filled with silences and even occasional song, some traditional hymns, some written specifically for this production…The Arsonists is a wonderful play (I’ve already ordered the script to become part of my “permanent collection”) being given a wonderful production.” -Theatre Buzz Atlanta

“More than anything, this is a story of relationships – of saying what you always wanted to say, or what you had never felt able to say. Of loving and letting go…For how a difficult relationship can burn up the people within it just as explosively as fire. For the power of love to destroy yet also to cleanse and transform…Music is almost another character tonight. M and H share a talent for and a deep love of music, that bonds them further than blood can. I grew up in Ireland, where music is central to the culture, and I see the same bonding in H and M that I saw between friends, family and strangers at gatherings, funerals, parties and pubs across Ireland. Music brings us together. It enables us to say things we can’t otherwise put into words. A look shared over the top of their guitars, feeling the rhythm flow between them, roaring out pain or joy, being neither talk nor silence. That is a language unto itself…With its metaphor upon metaphor and inhabiting the space between living and death, reality and fantasy, past and present, The Arsonists will leave you unsettled. I don’t know that it will make you appreciate your dad or your daughter any better. But it makes me more appreciative of silence. Of the spaces between words that often say more than any words can.” -TheatreReview (New Zealand)

"For those who are seeking the bold and the unusual...A play like The Arsonists is a rare find." -Connecticut Post-Chronicle

“A hypnotic, surprising journey…radiant, lyrical language…an amazing concentration of potent imagery, in a way that keeps your brain humming. In addition to the compelling father-daughter theme, there’s a ghost story, ending with a glimmer of redemption. But The Arsonists is not at all like Jacob Marley addressing Scrooge from beyond the grave. This is a haunting of a very different sort.” –Capital Public Radio (Sacramento, CA)

“Goldfinger’s script raises more questions than it answers, which is as it should be – which is why it’s a magnificent piece of work.” -Nilsson (New Paltz, NY)

"Thrown Stone has turned up the heat, setting the atmosphere ablaze with an emotionally intense drama that ignites the mind, and fires up the senses...The music, performed live by the two cast members, has a sound that can be described as a cross between old hymns, folk, and deep southern country gospel...Part of the beauty of this show is that the actual situation depicted is left open to the interpretation of the audience. My personal view is that M is so mentally deranged that she is having delusions of seeing her late father, and that H's entire existence during the time of the show is strictly taking place in M's mind." -Broadway World (Ridgefield, CT)

"From the opening moments of The Arsonists, playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger pulls the audience into the deep, dark recesses of the Northern Florida swamps and its murky, quirky inhabitants...a strange and beautiful weaving-together of Southern Gothic tales and the Greek mythology Electra" -Sacramento News

“A searing family drama...A remarkable work with roots that stretch back to Greek drama but is as contemporary as today...The more I think about this play, the more I appreciate it and want to see it again. That is not always the case, believe me. I’m glad somebody wrote this—specifically Jacqueline Goldfinger—and that Capital Stage encourages and performs such new works.” -Sacramento Press

“This is not a ‘wordy’ play, but each bit of dialogue is pure gold...The finale, in particular, is spectacular." -Davis Enterprise (Davis, CA)

"Arsonist sparks provocative ideas about life, death and family legacies...playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger’s script comes across as both challenging and engrossing...a play that dares to take on the grandest of themes — life, death and the legacy our actions and love bestow upon our children." -Sacramento Bee

"Jacqueline Goldfinger’s spellbinding new play...The Arsonists, put me in mind of a kind of gender-reversed Sam Shepard—especially Shepard’s early collaborative work with Patti Smith...As in Shepard, there is a sense that love, loss, and betrayal are inseparable...What makes Arsonist so extraordinary is in part its contradictory oddness. It’s realistic and gritty, but also beautifully poetic; epic in scale, but it runs only 70 minutes. There’s very little plot, but every line tells a story. By the time we reach the finale, the tone has shifted considerably. There is a sense here that the playwright honors a history of theater (the Greeks, Shepard, also Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra), but it’s also contemporary. Best of all, Goldfinger’s voice is distinctly, wonderfully her own." -Philadelphia Magazine

"The Arsonists packs a strong punch...the play is edgy and thought-provoking...This is not a play for the faint of heart." -Broadway World (Philadelphia, PA)

"Haunting, and atmospheric, Jacqueline Goldfinger’s compelling new play, The Arsonists, is premiering at Azuka Theatre....The play exists on two planes, the real and the psychological, and Goldfinger leaves it to us to figure out whether we’re watching some fascinating aftermath of a crime or the torment in a woman’s mind. But that’s the dramatic pleasure of subtext: You get both." -The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Haunting and primal...the play with music is at once earthy and otherworldly, acutely poignant, at times comic and often hair-raising, as the desperate characters struggle with letting go and moving on...Goldfinger employs language that strikes a balance between the profane and the poetic...The Arsonists is an impactful spine-chilling meditation on the age-old themes of life and death, the power that nature holds over humanity, and the ties that bind father to daughter. That’s a lot to think about in just over an hour, and to continue to ponder long after you leave the theater." -DC Metro Arts

"A heartbreaking modern myth...The Arsonists shoulders enormous emotional weight. That’s a testament to Goldfinger’s carefully balanced array of music and metaphor, as well as the raw emotional expression of the actors...The Arsonists burns as fiercely as the name suggests, making it well worth attending. Fair warning, though: if, like me, you’re the father of a daughter, you will need to hug her after this play, even if that means waking her up a bit too far past her bedtime." -ArtWave

"The Arsonists: A Love Poem...A Must See...It captures the largeness of life, of feeling, and how even after death you continue to sing the story of your ancestors, sometimes turning the daily pains into joy." -League of Cincinnati Theatres

"Compelling...How many times have you heard someone say they wished they could have one more hour, one more day with a loved one who had passed from sight? If you had that hour, how would you fill it?  Mundane, ordinary tasks? Reminiscing about the past? Preparing the one left behind for the future? Has the daughter in this case found a way to have that one more hour or has she conjured the whole episode in her mind? Is there one last thing she needs to do for her father or does she wish there was one last thing she could do for him? Is her final angry act her poetic way of saying “goodbye” to her father or to her lifestyle? These are questions the playwright lets you work out for yourself...a gritty, bold group of story-tellers...A WOW factor of 8.5!!" -GetBoulder.com

"Goldfinger's language is poetic, striking and often highly evocative...there’s a kind of eternity written into the script." Westword (Denver)

"My strong reaction to The Arsonists as it rocked and reeled on that dilapidated shack of a set was 'How nice that someone else is writing Sam Shepard plays now that Sam Shepard is dead.' The play is a physical and philosophical sparring match between a father and daughter, infused with supernatural elements, drinking, swearing, fire imagery and long interludes of live music." -Hartford Courant (From JG: I know that Shepard comment might have been intended as snarky, but I am thrilled to be compared to Shepard. I love his work.)

"Edgy...nuanced...Inspired by the Greek tragedy Electra, which finds Electra mourning for her father’s death and mindful of the suffering she experienced at her mother’s commands, likewise, this striking play becomes a new and novel American play. Instead of a Greek chorus trying to soothe M as it did for Electra, she picks up her guitar and sings...The music in this dramatic and touching play moves the action forward. It is a musical mix of gospel and folk beautifully and passionately performed by both M and H...Everything about this production is blood red hot." -Ridgefield Press (Connecticut)

“Among the relatable messages that Jacqueline Goldfinger imparts is that love is essential to human completeness. Among her thought-provoking insights, the one I most appreciated is ‘weakness sometimes masquerades as strength.’ That is a clear-eyed universal truth—one which we are seeing played out these days, way beyond a theater stage, on the world stage. If only more people could find it in themselves to recognize that mind-bending, yet very real, illusion.” -TapIntoYorktown.com (New Paltz, NY)

4 Characters: 3 F/Non-Binary, 1 M/Non-binary

Read and license at TRW Plays.

Renee and Dani are expecting. Ann and Jamie are also expecting. Set in the near future, Babel paints the picture of a society where embryos must be pre-certified. When each couple faces the test results, things take a frighteningly complicated turn — a decision must be made. This dynamic and stirring dark comedy begs the question, “How far will we go before we realize we’ve lost our humanity?”

If you like Booker’s “Black Mirror,” Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go,” or Haley’s “The Nether,” then this play is for you.

Reviews

“A perfect nightmare… What draws you into Redtwist’s Babel (directed by Rinska Carrasco-Prestinary) is the uncanny nature of the unfolding scenes. Moments of gentle kindness between soon-to-be parents quickly transform into suspicious paranoia. When you’re finally given a chance to breathe, more fully understanding the world’s eugenics phenomenon, another complication arises. By the end, all you are left with is a deep sense of dread that we are slowly approaching this Tower of Babel sort of reality. But there’s also a deeper hope that we can topple the tower ourselves.” -Chicago Reader

“Remarkable… Babel is a fascinating, at times funny, and at times terrifying vision of a future.” -Broadway World

“I highly recommend Babel for the great writing that blends suspense and dark humor. The direction is crisp without being dragged down by the heavy subject matter. A special shout-out to the costume designer Kathleen Gardin for the Stork.” -Third Coast Review (Chicago)

“Babel exposes the fault lines in the best-laid plans, a timeless message that applies even to our most innate impulse as a species—to survive, to reproduce.” -Thinking Dance

“Bitingly clever, seriously funny, and intriguing from start to finish, Jacqueline Goldfinger's dark comedy Babel is exactly the sort of well-executed science fiction theater that can change your perspective forever.” -Talkin’ Broadway

"Quirky characters, quippy dialogue, and the startling collision between the goofy and the deadly serious." - The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Thought-provoking… In its current production at Redtwist Theatre, directed by Rinska Carrasco-Prestinary, the play raises important questions with the aid of some clever dramatic devices… Elements of the story remind me of Celeste Ng’s acclaimed 2022 novel “Our Missing Hearts,” which is also set in a dystopian United States, albeit one that enforces McCarthyite patriotism rather than genetic perfection. Ng’s novel and Goldfinger’s play both center on families whose lives are upended by oppressive regimes… Throughout the show, actors make their entrances and exits with robotic movements, eyes straight ahead, while stark red and blue lighting (by Cat Davis) and ominously cheerful voice-overs promoting the certification program (sound design by Jake Sorgen) reinforce an ever-present Big Brother…the play addresses significant ethical questions through the lens of an imaginary, yet plausible, future.” -Chicago Tribune

“Dynamic, Stirring, Humorous…Goldfinger weaves humor throughout her script—sometimes dark, sometimes almost slapsticky—breaking the tension of the play’s larger themes…Goldfinger clearly did her research with this script, which is part of what makes it so effective.” -Broad Street Review

“Jacqueline Goldfinger’s 90-minute play Babel glories in rapid-fire dialogue, comic visuals, and relatable characters—but its underlying issues are deadly serious…The wonder and delight of this recently written play is its lightness when dealing with such big, weighty issues. In fact, a play like Babel might be the best way to approach thorny bioethical questions.” -New Jersey Stage

“Babel is a compelling work of speculative fiction, which examines a number of philosophical issues, while remembering to do so through convincing characters. Although the play predates the pandemic, its theme of desperation for a sense of control over unknown circumstances is obviously resonant. But a sub-theme — established by ‘Beyond the Sea,’ and developed by Brishen Miller’s attractive background design for two scenes set on a beach — cautions against trying to dominate nature too much. The randomness of the sea’s waves illustrates nature’s unpredictability, and Renee’s success in finding peace of mind, and a satisfying resolution, largely will depend on her ability to accept that randomness.” -Town Topics (Princeton, NJ)

“A searing study of how social pressures can drive wedges between couples and friends that cannot be healed.” -Philadelphia Public Record

“At once warm, funny, witty, touching and disturbing, Babel actually puts us in touch with what makes us human, reminds us that what’s perfect may not be what’s best, and suggests that some things might be best left a mystery.” -Passyunk Post 

“Compelling…Gripping…well-crafted play leads the audience to the result that despite playing God, with the best of intentions, everyone still remains only human.” -KC Applauds Magazine

“Goldfinger’s absorbing new play, spins us into the near future – a future so near, we can almost confuse it with our own times. The inhabitants of that world look like us, dress like us, speak like us, ache like us and break like us…But there are crucial differences between Babel’s world of the future and our own, and those differences are what make this play a captivating piece of theatre…Playwright Goldfinger presents this situation quite effectively, letting the characters thrash their way through these problems in progressively tense scenes. The crisis at the core of the play is rendered skillfully, with the two couples using bubble-wrapped language to communicate their dilemmas, until their true feelings detonate in barbed exchanges. But there are also dollops of humor dropped in to keep things from getting too heavy too early…The future Jacqueline Goldfinger presents to us in Babel is a stark reflection of who we are now and the direction we might be heading in. if we’re not alert. Any play that can do that, and still keep us entertained, is a commendable achievement.” -Philadelphia Free Press

5 Characters: 4 F, 1 M

Order the play from Yale Press or anywhere books are sold.

Winner of the Yale Drama Prize, "Bottle Fly" is a beautiful depiction of queer survival in the Everglades. This play with music captures the many layered dynamics of race, poverty, and bigotry sun-baked into life in South Florida with heart, humor, and hope.

"Bottle Fly is an ambitious work….[It] illuminates love in many guises: love for those who have mattered to one in the past, love that was born as pity, love tinged with guilt, love for those who need your protection and love for someone who, without even knowing that she was doing it, holds out the promise of a more beautiful life."—Nicholas Wright, Broadway/West End playwright, Vincent in Brixton and The Reporter (UK)

“Jacqueline Goldfinger is that rarity in American theatre--a poet-playwright. Bottle Fly is a gorgeous play, roaring with the sacred and the profane and--for all its passion--delicately conveyed.”—Dan O’Brien, playwright, The Body of an American and The House in Scarsdale, Guggenheim Fellow in Drama & Performance Art (USA)

Also read Bottle Fly on the New Play Exchange.

(Pictured: Cover of Yale Press commercial edition; photo by Chloe Aftel, Premiere of Bottle Fly at Redtwist Theatre in Chicago; photo by Tom McGrath)

Read for free and license for production at Stage Partners.

5 Characters (small cast): 2 F, 2 M, 1 Non-binary -OR- 11 Characters (largest cast): flexible

Join a cosmic mission when the sequel to A Wrinkle in Time!

One of literature’s favorite heroines, Meg Murry, is back to join forces with her brother Charles Wallace and friend Calvin O’Keefe for a fantastical adventure. The exciting sequel to Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved book A Wrinkle in Time to the stage. When an extraterrestrial creature recruits the trio to fight an evil force, they’ll travel across a galaxy—and through the cells of a human body—to stop it. This thrilling sci-fi story reveals that love and kindness are the best antidotes to evil. Most enjoyed by 8+

(Pictured: World Premiere at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts)

Reviews

“The Kennedy Center's world premiere adaptation of the young adult fantasy classic brings the novel's unique blend of sci-fi and whimsical poetry to life…From its very beginning, A Wind in the Door strikes a delicate balance between the peppy silliness of a kid-friendly adventure and the solemnity of a transcendent journey across the galaxy. It's dizzying in just the right way as the audience is thrown into the supernatural world of Meg and Charles Wallace's attic, where magical beings suddenly appear and an imaginary sub-cellular structure called the farandolae contains the secret to the universe's salvation…the Kennedy Center's smart and heartfelt adaptation manages to crystallize the big ideas with time to spare for the grade school good stuff, from physical comedy to puppet dances…One of Madeleine L'Engle's biggest talents is connecting the cosmic to the personal, and this synthesis between the vast and intimate is captured beautifully in Jacqueline Goldfinger's adaptation. While concepts like the importance of "taking root" and Meg's power to "name" people for who they are might seem a bit abstract for an elementary or middle schooler, A Wind in the Door makes big themes tangible and accessible without talking down to its audience. The idea of love vanquishing darkness is not exactly radical, but it's not every day that the triumph of good over evil is depicted through squirming farandolae or the feather of a many-eyed heavenly being. In the world of A Wind in the Door, we all depend on each other to survive (no matter how many eyes we have), and whether we look out for one another can determine the fate of us all. It's a timeless lesson and one that couldn't be more important for the times we live in now.” -Broadway World

“The Kennedy Center’s world premiere commission of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wind in the Door opened over Labor Day weekend to a much deserved standing ovation. The sequel to A Wrinkle in Time, and second installment of L’Engle’s Time Quartet, was adapted for the stage by Jacqueline Goldfinger and features the beloved characters Charles Wallace, Meg, and Calvin as they battle an evil force, which threatens all existence, through a series of tests…A Wind in the Door is a heart-warming tale about love, hope, and responsibility. The story addresses the unpleasant truth that there are many evils in the world. And though things may not seem to affect us all directly, these evils could ultimately destroy our world if we do not band together and fight. This message transcends into so much that is going on today. Climate change, civil rights, prejudice, and mental health stigmas. The list is endless…The Kennedy Center has created a fantastic, original production with a subtle yet powerful message that all youth should hear. With a knockout cast and impressive production team, A Wind in the Door is destined to become a new family favorite.” -DC Metro Theatre Arts

“This one-hour staging based on the 1973 Madeleine L’Engle young adult novel can boast of a strong cast and effective adaptation by Jacqueline Goldfinger…he second novel in L’Engle’s Time Quintet series sees the return of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin, made famous in 1962’s A Wrinkle in Time…Six-year-old Charles Wallace is ailing, and his teenage sister Meg and her friend Calvin are caring for him. They are visited by an otherworldly teacher called Blajeny and a dragon-like creature called Proginoskes (“Progo” for short), who say the humans must shrink down and venture inside Charles Wallace’s body to convince a farandole — a sentient micro-organelle — to resist the siren song of the demonic Echthroi and “root” inside the young boy to save his life.” -Maryland Theatre Guide

Read it on the New Play Exchange.

Watch the five-minute video preview here.

(one person show, 70 minutes, no intermission)

Winner of the Glaspell Prize. When a soldier returns from war carrying the ghosts of his* tour, he’s faced with a sobering decision: address his alarming PTSD with Virtual Reality therapy, or risk losing his family forever. This electric, vivid drama explores the power of healing with heart, humor, and hope.

*Can be played by any gender performer. Slightly different scripts for male, female, and non-binary performers.

If you are from a theatre considering producing the show, contact me for private archival video of world premiere production at Urbanite Theatre.

Developed with support from the Sloan Foundation, OmniLife, and Operation Warrior Resolution.

REVIEWS

“Powerful” and “Compelling” -Sarasota Magazine

“Goldfinger’s dialog is razor-sharp; her storytelling is laser-focused.” -The Observer

“Goldfinger's play takes a gritty, no-holds-barred look at perhaps the darkest element of warfare—its propensity to shatter the humanity of its participants… Backward Forwards Back is the kind of play that every policymaker who contributes to decisions on the use of force should be made to watch, as it reminds us, in the words of Ernest Hemingway, to ‘never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.’" -Bradenton Times

“Riveting… That struggle [returning from war] is rarely conveyed as viscerally as it is in ‘Backwards Forwards Back’… It also contains a message of hope - that there can be a way back from trauma and, as the Soldier can finally concede, it’s ‘a dance worth doing.’” -The Gabber

"Perhaps only military veterans and those closest to them can fully comprehend how the horrors of war lead to post traumatic stress disorder and the emotional roller coaster that follows when they return home…playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger does more than any stage work I can recall to give the rest of us a sense of how seemingly simple things in our world can trigger episodes and potentially dangerous reactions.” -Sarasota Union-Tribune

“Beautiful…Evocative…Devastating…Compassionate.” -KC Arts

“Wildly kinetic… tour de force…The idea that these dehumanized digital tactics might be the best hope of survival for millions of Americans is portrayed with measured, thoughtful consideration, while the human cost implied tips the scales in an undeniable direction.” -The Pitch KC

(Pictured: “The Soldier” in three different iterations: Centenary Stage, Unicorn Theatre, Urbanite Theatre)

Read and license from TRW Plays.

5 Characters (small cast): 2 F, 1 F/Non-Binary, 1 M, 1 M/Non-Binary -OR- 6-12+ Characters (large cast): Flexible

Trigger Warning: Reference to and discussion of sexual violence on a college campus

Movement: Given the stylized nature of this piece, theaters often include a choreographer or movement specialist on the creative team. However, this is not required, only preferred.

Click follows a hacktivist named Fresh who turns industrial espionage into high art. As this virtual Banksy takes over the global imagination, the man who stole her life develops a technology that sends the two of them on a collision course at the heart of the corporate empire, where innovation comes at any cost. A cyberpunk drama for the #MeToo era, a story of trauma, transformation and reclaiming who you are.

THIS PLAY IS MEANT TO BE INDIVIDUALIZED FOR EACH COMMUNITY. So changes in references, language, etc are permissible.

The Playwright would like to offer special thanks to: JT Rogers, Marissa Wolf, Lisa Dillman, Rudy Ramirez, Katherine M. Carter, Melisa Bensussen, Carrie Chapter, Emerson Stage/ArtsEmerson, Cristina Alicea, The Drama League (NYC), Westport Playhouse, Chris Ghaffari, Christina Pumariega, Barron Bass, Kita Updike, Kim Taff, Sara Marnich, Viv Chace, Nell Bang-Jensen, Jeremy Gable, MJ Kaufman, Maybe Burke, Finn Lefevre, Ashley Rogers, Jessica Bashline, David LaMacchia, The Producer’s Fund, Allison Heishman, WOAR (Women Organized Against Rape), Rebecca Wright, The Vortex Theater, and the University of the Arts Faculty Development Fund.

Reviews

“4.5 Stars…heartbreaking, innovative and relevant play is sure to keep you engaged throughout all 90 minutes…Goldfinger addresses tough subjects surrounding the #metoo movement in Click, but also manages to add bits of tasteful humor throughout the show…an overall enjoyable experience for those open to the more ‘artsy’ and poetic side of live theater. For those open to seeing unique new work about feminism, the #metoo movement and technological advancement, watching Click is a good way to spend an evening.” -Medium, Guinevere Govea

“Goldfinger is an inventive, compelling writer.” -Broad Street Review

“it is a thoughtful play that tells an important story.” -Broadway World

“Riveting…Wonderful theater…Playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger is a gift to the theater community in general and to the Philly theater community in particular. Her gift transcends her awards (Yale Drama Prize and Barrymore Award among others).  It is her ability to smartly examine society from a human point of view.  Her new play Click is another play that can examine, raise consciousness, and entertain....Goldfinger adds a Greek chorus that helps the audience see the fallout of the main characters’ words and actions. They manage to capture both the “crowd think” and the individuality of their characters…A great thought-provoking experience.  As Fresh tells us today it is all about the click, but after the click there is no sound.” -Philadelphia Life & Culture Magazine

“Ms. Goldfinger’s exploration of how our society handles rape is both timely and apropos. Even though she started her writing after reading and hearing about the Steubenville case, she has taken the play’s rape case into the frightening world of futuristic technology.” -DelcoVulture

Get more information here: pictures, video reel, libretto and review.

Request materials and rights from Composer Melissa Dunphy.

Winner of the Opera America Discovery Award. Based on a true story, Alice Tierney follows four archeologists who unearth the mysterious history of Alice Tierney; an infamous woman in 1880s Philadelphia. Tierney's death was officially recorded as a suicide but others claim she was actually murdered. As the archeologists unearth her home, they also create multiple Alices; projections of who she might have been. This new opera explores how we construct and tell our stories, and how our stories shape the way we see ourselves and the world.

(Pictured: World Premiere at Oberlin Opera then Opera Columbus, Production at Boston University Opera Institute)

4 Characters: 3 F, 1 M

Read and license the play on Playscripts.com.

In this wicked dark comedy of friendship, obsession, and Southern sensibilities, Mr. Witherose leaves Birdie, Gretch, and Minnie to tend to his bar while he is away on business in Atlanta. Birdie and Gretch are battling for Mr. Witherose's affection in his absence, but neither knows that Minnie is guarding his terrible secret. When an innocent tryst goes awry, the ghosts of sordid secrets come out into the open, providing a wild mix of fearless comedy and Southern Gothic horror.

Reviews

“A grand, grotesque little play…An entertaining new theater piece by Jacqueline Goldfinger, a top-notch premiere.” -Philadelphia Inquirer

“3 Women comes to mind…Sharp comic timing brings a vital levity to the cutting plot twists and nightmarish revelations. It’s an interesting examination of need for authority, whether real or imagined, that keeps us in the most precarious situations. Emotional needs beat logic to the truth in this pressure-cooker drama.” -Philadelphia CityPaper

“Smoky, provocative and refreshing…As the best theater does, it forces us to reflect and leaves us in awe of what we witnessed on stage. Plus… there’s fake blood and a great soundtrack and lots of laughs.” -Uwishunu.com

“Suspenseful and provocative…a refreshing new story admirably written…What makes this play different than a mundane portrait of the modern South is its mythic quality. the terrible girls forces us to reflect on the duality of human nature and witness how deceit, desire, and obsession can lead to transgression.” -NYTheatre.com

“Captivating play by Jacqueline Goldfinger…This is an immensely entertaining and thought provoking play that will leave audiences with a great sense of satisfaction resulting from excellent performances in a superbly well-staged production. This is a play that will be appreciated on a great many levels. It is a dark comedy for sure, but, it will also reach deep within the hearts of its audience as it delves into the complex inner lives of these three wonderfully constructed characters. ” -Stage Magazine

A wandering preacher is embroiled in the passions and politics of a swampy Florida outpost ruled with a macabre sense of justice by two rival sisters during the Great Depression. The Oath is a darkly comic look at ambition, ideals, and gender dynamics in a time of crisis.

Note: We love this play but recognize that conversations around gender in society have moved beyond the conversations that were posited in this play when it was produced over a decade ago. As such, we no longer offer this play for production.

REVIEWS

“Magnificent” & “Soulful” -Theatre Buzz

“Outstanding drama… Wonderful, thought-provoking… Goldfinger marvelously unfolds the story with great dialogue and sympathetic characters.” -Theater Talk

“An intriguing journey through the swampy American South…The Oath sends its audience upon a mind-enriching exploration in which we leave with more questions than answers—questions that will haunt even the most resistant audience member’s mind.” -Show Business Weekly

“It’s perhaps due to [Goldfinger’s] deliberate subtlety that The Oath’s symbolism is so affecting. The story is laden with religious parallels, questions of female identity and themes of secrecy and familial duty, but the presence of a nationwide crisis that hovers over its cast of characters is what allows us to relate to them right off the bat—even before Goldfinger dismantles, in a startlingly effective manner, the initial archetypes that these characters represent.” -OffOffOnline

(Pictures from: The Oath Off-Off Broadway at the Arclight Theatre, produced by Manhattan Theatre Works.)

Winner! Barrymore Award for Outstanding Play

Winner! Brown Martin Award

“Top 10 Productions of 2012” -Philadelphia Weekly

It’s 1962, Florida State University is integrating, and the city is on edge. When a White security guard shoots an unarmed Black man in a panic, the community does not know who or what to believe. Was it an honest mistake? Was it an intentional murder? Was there something else, something deeper and more corrosive at play?

This play was written before Trayvon Martin was murdered. The parallels to the shooting were noted by news sources. In addition, this play was written before “subconscious bias” and “unconscious bias” were widely used, so it describes these ideas without using that vocabulary.

Note: We love this play but recognize that conversations around race and culture have moved beyond the conversations that were posited in this play when it was produced over a decade ago. As such, we no longer offer this play for production.

REVIEWS

“Like many of Goldfinger’s plays, Slip/Shot is decidedly southern gothic, with an ethereal lyricism that evokes Faulkner, McCullers, Williams.” -American Theatre Magazine

“Flashpoint excels with Slip/Shot. This beautifully crafted and intensely moving drama…is served by a powerful cast and an imaginative and skilled director.” -Philadelphia Inquirer

“Searing drama…movingly premiered…Celebrate the power of hope.” -Philadelphia City Paper

“A remarkable new play…and it benefits from director Rebecca Wright’s intense production…go to Slip/Shot and be dazzled by Goldfinger’s perceptive dialogue, by characters who are intelligently and distinctly drawn, and by finely detailed observations that make the sparsely lit and designed play seem uncommonly vivid. The performances are all excellent.” -Talkin’ Broadway

“Goldfinger has a unique poetic voice. She isn’t writing just to entertain an audience (though she manages to do so); she is writing to pose questions that have no quick, simple answers. In Slip/Shot, Goldfinger asks us to consider the basis of our suspicions and the impact America’s legacy of racism has on both our individual and national identity.” -Philadelphia Weekly

“We are magnetically pulled into the story…a great cast and script.” -Examiner.com

“I urge everyone to see this play. It is wonderful theatre that will generate deep and enlightening conversation; kudos to Flashpoint for bravely asking the questions so many of us want to avoid.” -Stage Magazine

“Jacqueline Goldfinger’s writing in Slip/Shot is assured and unhurried, offering heft, a feel for the South, and a good story. As her sheriff (Keith Conallen) says, ‘Nothin’ folks like better than a juicy story.’” -CurtainUp

“Painful and potent drama…we have a historic homily about family, trauma, the reality of things falling apart, and the way we grow and heal once the dust has settled and the sun rises once again. The 1960′s may be an extremely popular era these days, but the reality of this play cuts through the nostalgia of flipped hair and circle skirts, and focuses on the humans at the heart of the drama…It’s filled with darkness and the shadows of hate, but it’s also beautifully nuanced and celebrates the power that love gives us to let go, and move on…Those looking for easy answers on “how to solve the problem or racism” or “whose fault is whose” wont find anything of the sort in Goldfinger’s work. Instead, she gives her audience an examination of tragedy as it exists in life, using a painful accident and its ramifications to look at humanity, family and the way our experiences inform our entire lives. All of the characters in this world are valid complete human beings, regardless of how they ultimately decide to deal with Monroe’s death, and as the play ends, we are left with a sense of lingering sorrow and that all-pervasive villain hope. False or true, it’s what keeps us going, moving forward, into the future. And we have to believe that that’s better than living in the past. Have you seen the past lately? It’s a mess.” –Staged

(Pictured: productions at Flashpoint Theatre in Philadelphia and Seattle Public Theatre in Seattle)

All Ages

A Christmas Carol (with Christmas carols)

Little Women (with period music)

Ages 5+

The Little Mermaid(adaptation for ages 5+ with a focus on friendship and self-confidence)

Ages 10+

The Ghost's Bargain(adaptation of a lesser known Charles Dickens’ ghost story)

Enter Bogart (original one act for middle and high school performers, inspired by Film Noir and Humphrey Bogart)

(Pictured: Little Women set design by Jayme Mellema, A Christmas Carol at Portland Theater)

License these works through ASCAP.

SHORT OPERA FILM

Letter to My Children

Composer Justine F. Chen, World Premiere @ Resonance Works, 2021

Won Best Music Short @ 2022 Paris Short Film Awards.

It has been screened at: Decameron Opera Coalition, Aïres Online, Symbiotic Film Festival, Iconic Images Festival, Anatolia International Film Festival, Golden Bridge Istanbul Film Festival, Touradeau Music Festival, Everyday Arias, and others. Letter to My Children on FilmFreeway

ART SONG

Generation Cycle: The Morning Song / The Darkest Hour / The Great Work Libretti

Composer Melissa Dunphy, World Premiere @ AGO National Convention, Congregation Emanu-El, 2024

Drexel Cycle: Brick and Bone / The Hour of Peace is Upon Us

Composer Melissa Dunphy, World Premiere @ Drexel University Chorus and Chamber Singers, 2024

CHORAL

Weaver of Eternities

Composer Dominick DiOrio, World Premiere @ NOTUS at Indiana University, 2024

A Bright Morning Dawns

Published by ECS Publishing

Composer Dominick DiOrio, World Premiere @ Chiesa di Ognissanti (Florence, Italy) by Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia, 2023

Composer Dominick DiOrio, American Premiere @ Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, 2024

My Harbor, My Home

Published by Walton Publishing

Composer Dominick DiOrio, World Premiere @ Macalester College Choir, 2023

Ascension

Composer Melissa Dunphy, World Premiere @ San Diego Opera and La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls Festival, 2022

Halcyon Days

Composer Melissa Dunphy, World Premiere @ Voces8, UK, 2020

Published by Edition Peters

Halcyon Days on BBC Radio 3

"One work I hear them record, Halcyon Days by Melissa Dunphy, has particular poignancy. The final piece sung at the end of an academic year, it was also the first sung on returning from Covid, and Lapwood asks the singers to remember what it felt like to be together again after the challenges of the pandemic. It works." -Gramophone

"Melissa Dunphy’s Halcyon Days is a Rutter-esque ditty: a lovely ensemble narrative in which VOCES8 affectionately shaped the phrases and pointed the text; counterpoint and dialogue were counterposed with homophony, and the result was a beautifully concordant and consoling prayer." -Opera Today

"[Dunphy's] Halcyon Days (text Jacqueline Goldfinger) is a radiant meditation of the sacred, the familiarity of ‘well-worn prayers’ and a rising up towards a dawn of joy and peace." -Seen and Heard International

Set Myself Free

Composer Melissa Dunphy, World Premiere @ Amuse Singers, NYC, 2019

IN-PROCESS

Another Room, Composer Maria Corley

The Sheltering Bough, Composer Luna Pearl Woolf

POETRY

Outside Vega, TX, Poetry Wales Literary Magazine, click here

Never Trust Mickey Mouse Dreams, “Beyond Queer Words” Anthology

In Memory of Things that Break, Bangalore Review, click here

Summer on Dry -Dock Boats, inBetween Literary Magazine

Ask me any question that reminds me of you, inBetween Literary Magazine

Gospel on the Radio, Touchstone Literary Magazine, click here

We were coming out of the school, La Piccioletta Barca

PRAYER

A Morning Prayer for the Conflicted Heart, Ritualwell, click here

A Chanukah Candle Lighting Prayer for Difficult Times, Ritualwell, click here

An Evening Prayer in Times of Conflict, Ritualwell, click here

A Prayer for Healing Relationships Within the Jewish Community, Ritualwell, click here

Front page image by Chloe Aftel.

SECOND EDITION COMING IN 2025!

A #1 Bestselling Theatre Book on Amazon 2023 & 2024

Order a copy today. Available at all bookshops.

Click here to download sample quarter and semester syllabi.

Teachers/Professors: Request a free inspection copy.

Playwriting with Purpose

Forward by Octavio Solis

I wrote Playwriting with Purpose: A Guide and Workbook for New Playwrights because there are a number of good books on writing plays, but all of them pre-suppose an enormous amount of theatre knowledge - knowledge that could be a barrier for those who want to make plays but have not had the benefit of prior training. So I wrote a prequel to those books - one that people can pick up from a library shelf or in a classroom and immediately begin writing. I hope that this will increase accessibility to the foundations of playwriting practice, and open the door to playwriting for a wider-range of writers and artists.

Each chapter includes a short lecture as well as writing prompts and reading recommendations based on the lecture topics. The reading recommendations are from published plays; both classic and contemporary. Plus, it has side bars with professional tips and additional information.

How did I hone this material?

I've taught playwriting and dramaturgy around the country for organizations including: University of California, Davis, The Dramatist Guild Institute, The O'Neill Center's National Theater Institute, The Kennedy Center Playwright's Intensive, University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and the Kennedy Center-American College Theatre Festival.

Reviews

“Positive, practical, and concise…The approach in Playwriting with Purpose feels just right: to write a full-length play can feel overwhelming at first, but to write a monologue feels just right. Start small. The other day my fifth-grade daughter told me Confucius said, “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” My advice? If the mountain is your play, let Goldfinger help you carry away some small stones.” Amy R. Martin, Southern Review of Books

"I wish I had this book when I began my writing journey. It's fresh, funny, thought-provoking, and provides important insights into the industry so that playwrights can get their work on stage immediately." -Antoinette Nwandu, Award-Winning Playwright and Screenwriter, Pass Over (Broadway), She's Gotta Have It (Netflix)

“I love this book! It is a clear-eyed, direct, practical guide for playwrights of all experience levels.” -Allison Horsley, Broadway Dramaturg and Translator, Jersey Boys, The Cherry Orchard

"A refreshing and galvanizing treatise on the craft of playwriting. Great for emerging playwrights!" -Yussef El Guindi, Award-winning Playwright, Back of the Throat, Language Room

"Goldfinger’s workbook combines well curated examples with engaging exercises and evocative writing prompts to create an endless array of customizable approaches to playwriting. It speaks to the full range of those interested in creating scripted drama—students and teachers, novices and experts." -Professor David S. Thompson, Agnes Scott College

"I'm going to put this book on the Required Reading list for acting and directing classes. Actors and directors need to know how plays function in order to do their best work." -Professor Margaret Laurena Kemp, University of California, Davis

"Read this book now. It is a gift to our students and our industry. It's going to revolutionize how we teach playwriting." -Professor Jessica Bashline, University of Miami

Order from Routledge, available at all book shops.

Teachers/Professors: See a free preview here.

Co-Authored with Broadway Translator Allison Horsley

"In this book Allison Horsely and Jacqueline Goldfinger have skillfully managed to create a practical guide which makes the herculean task of writing an adaptation seem accessible to all and uncomplicated, while still managing to retain its valuable service to seasoned playwrights. They also infuse a beautifully surprising humor and wit into the text that coaxes one into remaining in a creative space while using it as a guide. Moreover, their work in process for adaptations pays immense homage to the artistic soul of the playwright as storyteller, and not only the academic." -Amina Robinson, Award-Winning Performer-Director, Theatre Professor at Temple University

"There is so much wisdom in this book – both the authors’ own pearls, gleaned from broad experience within the profession, and a trove of insights from a wonderfully diverse group of other notable artists grappling with the challenges and rewards of adaptation and translation. The whole is neatly organized, with important Big Principles clearly laid out and supported by practical exercises and words of wisdom, which should be an inspiration to the experienced as well as the novice. The book’s welcoming tone encouragingly relieves the daunting pressure of undertaking a new adaptation or translation, and its principles are never presented as Dictums but rather as helpful guides, acknowledging always that there are many ways to skin the proverbial cat." -Michael Hollinger, Award-Winning Playwright-Adaptor-Translator, Theatre Professor at Villanova University

"This book gives you courage to start writing and keep writing. It looks at adaptations from all angles, while prompting and nurturing your own unique approach. It's for the novice, the experienced, the student, the professor, and everyone in between." -Elena Araoz, Director, Producing Artistic Director of Theater and Music Theater at Princeton University

"This book provides excellent blueprints for anyone interested in theatrical adaptation. Having spent years adapting poetry, fiction, and non-fiction for the stage, in either academic or commercial settings, a guidebook like this would have been invaluable. I will most certainly keep it by my side from now on." -Jerrell L. Henderson, Director, Puppeteer, African American Theatre Archivist

"This accessibly-written guide offers practical insights into translation and adaptation from a diverse group of leading practitioners. Envisioned as 'a community toolbox,' Writing Adaptations and Translations for the Stage provides real-world advice on creating theatrical work that speaks to the present moment. The authors and contributors deliver nuanced perspectives on the page-to-stage journey of a translation and/or adaptation, from the selection of source material to the rehearsal process. Annotated case studies, a summary of US copyright law, and a bibliography of recommended readings add useful resources. This book will be valuable to students learning the art of translation and adaptation and writers looking to enrich their craft." -Claudia Wilsch Case, Associate Professor of Theatre, Lehman College/CUNY

"Candid and wise. This insightful book gets at the heart (or, a translator might say, soul) of the artistic process and will set playwrights and their collaborators up for success. Goldfinger and Horsley keenly understand that there’s no singular ‘right’ way to create an adaptation for the stage, but there are plenty of missteps they can help you avoid and many helpful exercises that will put you on a solid path. From respect for legacy, to asking the right and difficult questions early on, this book hones in on both the practical and the passionate elements essential in doing this kind of work for the theatrical medium." -Jill Rafson, Producing Artistic Director, Classic Stage Company

With Contributions From:

Libby Appel

Julia Bumke

Katherine M. Carter

Ken Cerniglia

Sailor St. Claire

Jo Clifford

Keith Hamilton Cobb

Chris Coleman

Roger Ellis

Michael John Garcés

Jackson Gay

John Glore

Christopher Hampton

Stephen Karam

Hone Kouka

Amy Lebo

Emily Mann

Des McAnuff

Christopher Mirto

Dominique Morisseau

Malika Oyetimein

Lisa Peterson

Randy Reinholz

Sarah Ruhl

Megan Sandberg-Zakian

Tina Satter

Stef Smith

Seema Sueko

Jeremy Tiang

Deanie Vallone

Thom Weaver

Miriam Weisfeld

Rebecca Wright

(Pictured: adaptation of A Wind in the Door at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, adaptation of Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins at Gas & Electric Arts in Philadelphia)

The Sledgehammer Series books are available wherever books are sold!

Current Titles

Doodles from the Margins: Three Plays by Hansol Jung includes Wild Goose Dreams, Wolf Play, and No More Sad Things as well as doodles literally in the margins from the playwright discussing how she was thinking about the writing as she was writing the plays.

Rarities & Wonders by Phillip Howze weaves together an array of disclosures, marvels, and meanderings to reveal the "intelligent, unruly" (New York Times) voice of a formidable writer.

Three Plays by Christina Anderson includes her award-winning plays How to Catch Creation, Good Goods, and Hollow Roots set in Christina's preferred text style with a cover designed by the playwright.

The Impossible Plays of Migdalia Cruz by Migdalia Cruz with essays by Virginia Grise, Todd London, and Morgan Jenness and illustrations by Christian Potter Drury

Coming Soon

Before You Go by Sharon Bridgforth

What is Sledgehammer?

I volunteer as the Creative Director for the non-profit press Tripwire Harlot at their Sledgehammer Series imprint. The Sledgehammer Series publishes playwrights who have been under-published in volumes that combine visual art with performative text to create a theatrical experience on the page. It provides artists, educators, scholars, and theatre lovers access to some of the most important and provocative voices in the American Theatre.

It’s was a joy to be the Guest Editor for the Spring 2023 Special Issue of the Journal of American Drama and Theatre themed “Revolutions in New Work Development” and published by CUNY Academic Commons in collaboration with the American Theater and Drama Society. Read it here: jadtjournal.org

Thank you to our brilliant contributors for sharing your work with us.

ARTICLES

-“From Safe to Brave—Developing A Model for Interrogating Race, Racism and the Black Lives Matter Movement Using Devised Theater” by Dr. Kimmika L. H. Williams-Witherspoon

-"Chevruta Partnership and the Playwright/Dramaturg Relationship," by Becca Levy and Jared Rubin Sprowls

-“Global (re)Entry: Migration, Surveillance, and Digital Artmaking” by Mohamadreza Babaee, Ph.D.

-“’Emergent Strategy’: Abolitionist Pedagogy in Pandemic Time” by Marissa Nicosia Ph.D. and Jack Issac Pryor, Ph.D.

-“Effing Robots Online: The Digital Dramaturgy of Translating In-Person Theatre to Online Streaming” by L. Nicol Cabe

INTERVIEWS

-“An Interview with Sarah Gancher & Jared Mezzocchi: How Collaboration is Dramaturgy Between Playwright & Multimedia Creator” by Drew Barker

-“Reviving Feminist Archives: An Interview with Leigh Fondakowski ” by Caitlin Kane , Ph.D.

-“Starting with the Space: an interview with Patrick Gabridge” by Talya Kingston

-“(Re)Generation: Creating Situational Urban Theatre During COVID and Beyond” by Jessica Bashline and MK Lawson

CASE STUDIES

-“México (Expropriated): Reappropriation and Rechoreography of Ballet Folklórico” by Jessica L. Peña Torres, Ph.D. Candidate

-“Meet Me Where I Am: New Play Dispatches from the DC Area” by Jared Strange, Ph.D.

-“Making Up for Lost Time: New Play Development in Academia Post COVID 19” by Jackie Rosenfeld and Cade M. Sikora

-“The Heart/Roots Project and a Pandemic Pivot” by Beth Wynstra, Ph.D. and Mary Pinard

-“How to Make a Site-Specific Theatrical Homage to a Film Icon Without Drowning in Your Ocean of Consciousness; or, The Saga of Red Lodge, Montana” by Michael Osinski

-“The Front Porch Plays: socially-distanced, Covid-safe, micro-theatre” by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder

BOOK REVIEWS

-Rob Ascher's review of “Feeling the Future at Christian End-Time Performances” by Jill Stevenson

-Jada Campbell's on “Democracy Moving: Bill T. Jones, Contemporary American Performance, and the Racial Past” by Ariel Nereson

-Jeanne Klein's review of “Borderlands Children’s Theatre: Historical Developments and Emergence of Chicana/o/Mexican-American Youth Theatre” by Cecilia Josephine Aragón

-Meghan Landon's review of “Aural/Oral Dramaturgies: Theatre in the Digital Age” by Duška Radosavljević

-Clay Sanderson's on “The Cambridge Companion to American Theatre Since 1945” edited by Julia Listengarten and Stephen Di Benedetto.

-Ansley Valentine's review of “Pandemic Performance: Resilience, Liveness and Protest in Quarantine Times” edited by Kendra Claire Capece and Patrick Scorese

SPECIAL THANKS

-Donatella Galella, Lynn Hodeib, Joceyln Buckner, and James Wilson for walking me through this process with such generosity and care

-Maya Roth, Book Review Editor

- Megan Monaghan Rivas, Katherine M. Carter, Jessica Bashline, Lindsey R. Barr, Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder, Mohamadreza Babaee, Anna Morton for their thoughtful guidance Katherine M Carter Elyzabeth Wilder Jessica Bashline Lindsey Barr Megan Monaghan Rivas

-Grad Assistants Juhyun Woo and Zhixuan Zhu for handling all of the online formatting, this issue would never have been released with you

-American Theater and Drama Society

-CUNY Academic Commons

(Pictures from the articles: “An Interview with Sarah Gancher & Jared Mezzocchi: How Collaboration is Dramaturgy Between Playwright & Multimedia Creator,” “The Heart/Roots Project and a Pandemic Pivot,” and “How to Make a Site-Specific Theatrical Homage to a Film Icon Without Drowning in Your Ocean of Consciousness; or, The Saga of Red Lodge, Montana”)