Julie Zaffarano is a Philadelphia area playwright who believes everyone’s lives are made of a myriad of stories. While her work spans multiple genres and forms, as well as varied characters, her passions are exploring personal truths and creating strong roles for women. She is the founder of the Media Arts Council Play Reading Series.
Upcoming: Above the Fold (Filigree Theatre, ATC Theatre), Finneas Flunks Fish School (PCS Theatre). Recent: Tapping at the Window (Media Arts Council, reading); Destiny is a Careless Waiter (American Stage, Ritz Theatre, Village Playbox) Kentucky Lemonade (Everybody’s Theatre Company); Gamma Girls to the Rescue (Village Playbox, Off Page Productions, Everybody’s Theatre Company, Colonial Playhouse); Above the Fold (The Foundry/PlayPenn, Media Arts Council. Allen Lane Arts Center, readings); Tapping at the Window (Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival, excerpt reading); The Sign (Central PA Theatre Festival and Eden Prairie Players); Sweet Revenge (Rover Dramawerks); The PlayMakers (Rover Dramawerks and What If? Productions).
Recent recognitions: Finalist, Terrence McNally Award; Two times Semi Finalist, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference; Finalist, Veterans Repertory Theatre; Best Production, Pittsburgh New Work Festival; Winner, Best New Work, What if Productions, Finalist, Villanova University Sue Winge Playwriting Competition.
Addition productions/readings with: PlayPenn Foundry, Allens Lane Theatre, Dramatist Guild Philadelphia, R-Act Productions, ReVamp Collective, Maryland Ensemble Theatre, A Work in Progress Theatre, Philadelphia Dramatists Center, Ritz Theatre, Cloverdale Playhouse, Town and Country Players, Rose Valley Chorus and Orchestra, Media Arts Council, Colonial Theatre, RL Productions, South Street Players, Plays & Players, Tempest Productions, Players Club of Swarthmore, and Everyone’s Theatre Company.
Julie is a member of: PlayPenn Foundry (alum), Dramatist Guild, Ghost Light Dramatists, Witherspoon Circle, Honor Roll, Indiana Playwrights Center, Minneapolis Playwrights Center, Director’s Gathering, and Philadelphia Dramatists Center. She holds two Masters’ Degrees from Villanova University. Find her on her webpage: www.juliezaffarano.com or new play exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/12137/julie-zaffarano.
Plays
Sunny, a perpetual hippie, and her sister, Joni, own “Sweet Revenge,” a quaint bakery in Spring Lake, NJ. Joni’s boyfriend, Brian, convinces them to take an extensive loan using the family home as collateral to renovate the bakery and enter a contest with the Treats and Tweets reality show in order to increase sales. The host of the show, Maurice Bailee, and his assistant, Charlie, show up for live-streaming a week early in the midst of the renovations. Expected and unexpected chaos ensues.
Kentucky Lemonade is the story of two sisters, their mother and their aunt, brought together by the death of their father. In the midst of their grief and practical needs to move on, a family secret is revealed that changes how they define themselves. Funerals often bring out both the best and wors
Lisa and Sebastian were a successful romantic comedy playwriting team and lovers whose professional and personal relationships unraveled, crashed, and burned. After several years apart, they are thrown together by a producer to create a revival play. As they try to recapture their signature spark,
Olivia, a college freshman, is “super excited” to find her birthmother, Darlene, who is significantly less enthralled. When Olivia pushes Darlene for information about her birthfather, Darlene reluctantly reveals far more than Olivia expects. Darlene is suspicious of Olivia – whose tales don’t quite add up. Can these two find their way to acceptance?
Above the Fold is set during the 1935 grand jury investigation of the death of rising musical theater star Evelyn Hoey in Glenmoore Pennsylvania. A group of reporters are covering the grand jury whose job it is to determine if there is sufficient evidence to conduct a trial for the murder of singer Evelyn Hoey by her lover Henry Huddleston Rogers III, the son of one of the richest men in the world. Reporter Dorothy Walton finds Evelyn’s story especially compelling. “A couple months ago, Evelyn Hoey was a living, breathing person with hopes and dreams and fears. Family that loved her. Toast of the town. How does a woman like that end up with a bullet in her brain?” Dorothy fights convention to be considered an equal partner with her male colleagues. She has to convince her editor to believe in her and in the importance of telling a truthful story. In addition, Dorothy needs to face her own feelings about her colleague and former lover, Carl, who is also assigned to cover the grand jury. This is a story of victimization, of truth vs. sensationalism, of justice vs. power, and coping with personal demons.
In April 1918, Mary confronts her sister Anna about their mother’s unexpected death. Marry had been told that her mother died when Mary was a child. As Mary enters adulthood, she is required to attend her mother's funeral and discovers that her mother had not passed on but had been institutionalized. The worst betrayal for Mary is that Anna knew and kept the secret. This is a play about mental health, the associated secrets, fears, and stigmas-- and their effects on families.
Successes
Above the Fold:
Productions: Filigree Theatre, TX 2024 and ACT Theatre, KS 2024
Finalist, Terrence McNally Award and Veterans Repertory Theatre Contest
Semifinalist, Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference
Other readings/awards: PlayPenn Conference (Foundry Graduation), Allens Lane Theatre, Artemisia Theatre Series, Indiana Playwrights Center, Dramatists Guild, New Works of Merit
The PlayMakers
Productions: Rover Dramawerks and What If? Productions, Best New Work
Other readings/awards: PlayPenn, Theatre on the Go, A Work in Progress Theatre, Villanova Sue Winge Competition, Cloverdale Playhouse, Ohio State University, Strange Sun Theatre Greenhouse, Actors Theatre of Charlotte
Kentucky Lemonade
Developmental Production: Everybody’s Theatre, PA, 2022
Semifinalist, Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conf
Other readings/awards: Everybody’s Theatre, Town and Country Players, Maryland Ensemble, Players Club Swarthmore, FirstWorks, Dayton Future Fest