Plays

Plays & Licensing — Jeanmarie Simpson

Plays

The plays of Jeanmarie Simpson explore memory, political history, ritual, mythology, survival, gender, and the aftermath of power. Written for actors, educators, directors, universities, and community theatres, the work combines literary language with flexible theatrical production.

When Churchyards Yawn and Other Plays

Four plays about memory, ritual, collapse, and survival.

The collection includes four plays available as individual productions. Designed for universities, actors, educators, staged readings, independent theatres, and classroom use, the collection combines literary language, flexible staging, and psychologically driven performance.

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All Plays

Browse by cast size to find the right fit for your company.

Solo works — one performer

On Track

Brian, whose life has always run on the rhythms and systems of railways, traces the tracks through childhood, work, family, and connection. A solo play about the ways a singular passion becomes map, refuge, language, and lifeline.

1 performer TBD
Lifeboat Six

Margaret Tobin Brown tells the story of Lifeboat Six without the legend that later swallowed her — fear, class, cold, and the disciplined communal work that kept a half-filled boat alive.

1 performer 20 minutes
Heretic: The Mary Dyer Story

A powerful solo drama about faith, persecution, conscience, and resistance in Puritan New England.

1 performer 80 minutes
Ghosts of the Gilded Stage

A veteran actor sorts through costumes, props, and ghosts from a lifetime in the theatre — queer survival, artistic wounds, and the grace of learning how to leave the stage.

1 performer 50 minutes Collection
Lear: A Solo Adaptation

One actor and one tattered cloak hold the whole world of Shakespeare’s tragedy in the final flickering moments of Lear’s life.

1 performer 60 minutes Collection

Two to four performers

Great Divide: A Clara Barton Story

A poetic and deeply human portrait of Clara Barton — memory, war, service, and the emotional cost of humanitarian work.

2 performers 60 minutes
Flight of the Dove

Jeannette Rankin — the first woman elected to Congress — looks back on two historic votes against war. A portrait of a woman who kept choosing peace.

3 performers 90 minutes
Bambino Mio: Bright Little Flame

A historical drama centred on Maria Montessori — exile, education, memory, and the radical idea that peace begins with how adults treat children.

3 performers 90 minutes
The Jewish Question

A contemporary kitchen-table drama confronting political identity, history, grief, and moral inheritance over a Shabbat dinner in Venice, California.

3 performers 90 minutes
Pineapple and Other Options

A full-length play about survival, memory, and unexpected connection — in which a dream encounter with a historical figure becomes an argument for staying alive and continuing the work.

3 to 4 performers 2 hours, including one intermission

Ensemble — six or more performers

Even Unto Death

In the aftermath of Joan of Arc’s execution, her family lives with what the public legend leaves out — grief, rage, faith, shame, and the terrible work of remembering.

6 performers Approximately 65 minutes Collection
When Churchyards Yawn

A divine comedy. Shakespeare’s Hamlet company must climb through the seven deadly sins in Purgatory, building their own staircase toward Heaven while reckoning with the damage they did in life.

10 performers 90 minutes; optional intermission Collection
Mackers

Shakespeare’s Macbeth as backstage catastrophe. Superstition, ego, and the brutal tenderness of theatre people collide in a preview performance that goes gloriously, increasingly wrong.

12 performers 2 hours, including one intermission

Excerpts & Educational Use

Selected excerpts, study materials, and production resources are available by request for educators, actors, directors, theatres, and university programs.

For classroom use, staged readings, workshops, production consideration, or licensing questions, please contact: