Maya Macdonald’s plays include brunch (Honorable Mention for The Relentless Award, Finalist for O’Neill Playwrights Conference, and a Semi-Finalist for Theatre503’s Playwriting Award in London) Three and a Half Anne Franks (Finalist, Rattlestick Playwrights Commission), Raw Pasta (Semi-Finalist, The O’Neill and Seven Devils Playwrights Conference), Leave the Balcony Open (Finalist, Princess Grace Award.) Her work has been developed and performed at Lincoln Center, The Bushwick Starr, Echo, 3LD, Jack, The New Ohio, Dixon Place, The Rogue Players, Skylight Theatre, and The Playwrights Realm where she was a Playwriting Fellow.
Maya’s TV and Film projects include an original animated series currently in development with FishLadder Productions.
Maya teaches both Screenwriting and Playwriting. She has taught at Molloy University and The Beacon School where she was also a playwright in residence.
She received her BA from Bennington College and her MFA from Hunter College where she studied with Annie Baker, Brighde Mullins, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and received the Irv Zarkowr Award. www.mayamacdonald.net
Free
Playwrights’ Center, 710 Raymond Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55114
In-person December 7 & 8 at 7:00 p.m. CDT
About the play
Sarah is a playwright. Sarah’s brother is diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor that is slowly eroding his capacity with language. Sarah’s mom is too stressed to remember the name of that hanukkah doughnut and Sarah’s dad insists the brain tumor is actually a parasite. Apparently he listened to a podcast. And the mourners for hire are the siblings in Schitt’s Creek and all the words are getting mixed up. This isn’t one of those “plays” about loss where the dead come back to answer all the unanswerable questions. This is a “play” where we speak to our dead because they say hearing is the last sense to go. Fingers crossed.
In 2020 as NYC was going into lockdown My little brother was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and he began to lose the ability to communicate verbally. In my plays I explore what is not said – the moments where language fails us or when a feeling or experience cannot be expressed in words. But this was different. This was the ability to use language being stripped away and mixed around. We began learning a new language built by the words still in my brother’s vocabulary: When he said Gas Mileage he meant Gatorade. 6 out of 12 was a roll of bread from the box of half a dozen. I became fascinated by what words stayed and what words became lost. It was the 4th night of Hanukkah when everyone was trying to remember the name of that jelly filled doughnut you’re supposed to eat on Hanukkah. Sofiya? Soofvonoget? Schadenfreude? My brother, who had been quiet for days due to his rapidly fading speech suddenly said “Sufganiyot.” What can we learn about a person by investigating the last words and memories they can remember?
Making your reservation
This is an free, in-person, ticketed event at Playwrights’ Center on December 7 & 8.
Please use the sign up link below to reserve your spot in advance.
If you have any questions about making your reservation, please email us at rsvp@pwcenter.org.
When to arrive
All seating is general admission. We recommend arriving 10-15 minutes prior to the reading to check in and find your seat. Please note, free parking is limited around the Center.
Visit our About page to learn more about parking and accessibility.
Large groups
If you are making a reservation for more than eight people, please email rsvp@pwcenter.org to arrange. If you make a reservation for more than eight, a member of our team may be in touch closer to the reading date to confirm final numbers for your group.
Maya Macdonald
