Morgan Kinnally
she/her/hers
Alpine, CA
Morgan Trant Kinnally’s full-length plays include God's Necklace, Morning People, Fang , and Wrestling Buffalo.
Biography

Morgan Kinnally is a playwright and educator. Her work has been presented by Moxie Arts NYC, Ion Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse Without Walls Festival, New Village Arts, Scripps Ranch Theatre’s New Works Studio, Theatre for the New City, For a Better Understanding of Mankind, Midwest Dramatists Conference, and Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris. She is a Eugene O’Neill and Princess Grace Award semifinalist and a finalist in Leah Ryan Emerging Women Writers, Bay Area Playwrights Foundation Festival, Pride Films & Plays' LezPlay Contest, among others. Dramatists Guild Member. B.F.A. in Theatre/Acting from NY State University at Buffalo.

Plays

Mahdi, a Somali Bantu refugee and a leader of his community is proud of the advancements the Somali Bantu refugee community made since their first arrival to Southern California. However, it seems more and more problems arise in his community: arrests, intimidation, and prejudice. When the situation turns violent, Mahdi questions his choices. Has he been a force for good as he has claimed to be? Has he made any real difference? But when his organization receives a death threat and a teenage girl disappears, Mahdi must find answers to these pressing questions before losing it all.

Cast:

Two Nuer women flee the 2013-2018 civil war in South Sudan only to face a new journey of resettlement in California. They struggle with culture shock but also how to present their traditional Nuer woman marriage to their American volunteer, Roberta - a chainsaw-wielding arborist who also dabbles in taxidermy. Also at play are two river spirits and hyenas who make moving on with the living a struggle for the Nuer women when the ghosts of the past remain. 

Cast:
by Co-written with Yolanda Franklin

Ten Chain Links from Judge is an episodic show about one African American woman’s run for district attorney. However, she battles her family’s past and also the weight of her people’s history as she is haunted by dreams of historical figures related to Ona Judge, an escaped slave of George Washington. Imani’s story unfolds during Black History Month where we meet modern and historical characters that shape Imani’s decision to run for office or, perhaps, her decision to bow out.

Cast:

MORNING PEOPLE is set in 2011 when the effects of the 2008 housing market crisis was still obliterating the American Dream of homeownership due to predatory lending practices, a time when The 99 Percenters were still painting their protest signs, and a time when the epic tales of Seal Team 6 – the Bin Laden kill squad – were still the dreams of little boys and little men. And it was also a time when a brand new eHarmony couple traversed the booby traps of married life while nesting in their “cookie-cutter” single-family home on Buttercup Lane in Escondido, California. Luther Martinez, a doomsday prepper by hobby and trade, and Brenda Martinez, a kindergarten teacher and closeted Shakespearean actress, struggle with planning and preparing for the unknown and their first child. But when an unanticipated danger comes knocking, they will need to reexamine their life together after the fallout to try to hold on to their American dream and each other.

Cast:
1W, 1M

FANG is a dystopian, satire set in the near future. The global North and global South have made alliances, and the Southern Alliance’s Prime Minister Zi Sanger has been using her power to finally create equality between the sexes. But local militant groups and the Northern Alliance disapprove of this so-called equality. (Equality dependent upon an out-patient procedure known as the Second Set Initiative which “corrects a biological deficiency” in women and girls.) However, it is not until the Prime Minister’s half sister, Paola, from the Northern Alliance, infiltrates her underground bunker in an attempt to make peace that Zi Sanger’s empire may soon fall. Zi’s secrets are revealed as Paola considers the price of the S.A.’s new found livelihood. To Paola’s surprise her own daughter, Abdalla, has joined Aunty Zi’s national army. She has had her “biological deficiency” corrected with Zi’s Second Set Initiative, and she confronts her mother about her country’s politics and their own distant relationship. Meanwhile, war still looms between the Northern and Southern Alliances as Paola and Zi Sanger come face to face to hash out past and present.

Cast:
3W, 1M

WRESTLING BUFFALO is a dark comedy set in present day Buffalo, New York and examines the baffling process of creating and defining family. When Harold Lewinter dies, one emotionally-estranged family comes face to face with decisions about what it means to be part of a family. Harold’s wife, and matriarch of the family, Robin Lewinter, has not been handling Harold’s death too well. She has plastered pictures of Harold all over her house covering nearly every inch of wall space. When her son, RJ, returns home from his honeymoon with his wife Bobbie to help his mother put the pieces back together, strange family dynamics reveal themselves. RJ and Bobbie (a jiu-jitsu fanatic) struggle to keep their careers and marriage together with the ever- present and overbearing Robin who is both head of household and now CEO of Lewinter Sun Tan Lotion Company. Meanwhile, Jonathan Lewinter, Harold’s younger brother and co-founder of the company, is growing more conflicted with Robin’s domination over the family as well as with his relationship with his girlfriend, Lucy, who wants to take their relationship to the next level. Everyone struggles for happiness in their relationships and chaos ensues at the family sun tan lotion business while life at home becomes impossible.

Cast:
4W, 2M

Successes