
An award-winning monologist and poet, Drew Pisarra has toured his one-man shows Singularly Grotesque, Queer Notions, and The Gospel According to Saint Genet to such venerable institutions as Bumbershoot and On the Boards in Seattle, The Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca, Maryland Art Place in Baltimore, and Highways in Los Angeles. He has been the recipient of grants and commissions from the likes of the Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX), Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), Portland Art Museum, the Regional Arts and Culture Council, and the Cafe Royal Cultural Foundation. His short plays "Burst," "Misery & Good Fortune" and "Serves Three" have been seen off-off-Broadway. Currently, he is at work on a trilogy of tragicomedies inspired by mid-century movie stars.
Plays
Inspired by the late film auteur Jean-Luc Godard's breakthrough movie Breathless, playwright Drew Pisarra’s whirlwind noir concerns two wayward kids who find themselves in over their heads while negotiating the drop-off of a mysterious package to a middle-management menace—in a universe where telephone booths still exist. This co-production of The Tank is directed by James Dean Palmer. Commissioned by Imago Theatre with additional support from Atelier 86 and The Drawing Board.
This dance-theater piece uses inner monologues in an extremist fashion, as co-playwrights Drew Pisarra and Jerry Mouawad expose the muddled minds of a choreographer and his company of dancers struggling to find a sense of purpose (with a nod to Pirandello).
The title character suffers from a rare but crippling illness which leaves him with a memory that lasts mere seconds. The Strange Case of Nick M. -- Imago's trippy audio journey into his fragmentary world -- is hosted by a cocky podcaster who has unearthed a box of long-forgotten reel-to-reel tapes once belonging to Nick's lead psychotherapist (the famous if controversial Dr. Polina K). Listening secretly to these taped conversations, we witness the ambitious doctor's dangerous tinkering with Nick’s mind as Dr. Polina K. struggles to reactivate his frozen memory. Along the way, we also hear from Nick himself (the amnesiac pianist), Betty (his wife and primary caretaker), and Liz (their resentful daughter). Yet while their collective shoot-from-the-hip, '70s-idealistic approach leads to a temporary improvement in Nick's condition, the patient ultimately unravels when one risky experiment backfires disastrously. Suddenly, the promising therapy results in a tragedy worse than the one which Nick had been experiencing before he fell under Dr. Polina's care.
Successes
Drew Pisarra was part of the inaugural session of the writers summer residency program c/o Foundlings Press for ArtPark (2023).
Drew Pisarra was awarded a Creative Engagement Grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) for the staged radio play Price in Purgatory (2023).
VOICEOVER, a new dancetheater piece co-written by Drew Pisarra and Jerry Mouawad. will premiere at Imago Theater's Summer 2022 season. See the link for more details: https://www.imagotheatre.com/voice.html
Drew Pisarra was the first prize grant winner in the Words category for Curious Elixirs: Curious Creators (2021).
Drew Pisarra's radio play The Strange Case of Nick M. will premiere on KBOO-FM as part of Imago Theater's Spring 2021 season. See the link for more details: https://www.imagotheatre.com/nick-m.html