Selected Plays and Premieres
our class
Brooklyn Academy of Music, WInter 2024
CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY, OFF-BROADWAY, FALL 2024
Stephen Ochsner in Our Class in the Fisher at BAM. Photo by Pavel Antonov.
by Tadeusz Słobodzianek
English Adaptation by Norman Allen
Directed by Igor Golyak
"When Golyak and his creative team first read Our Class together in May 2023, they drew comparisons to the ongoing war in Ukraine. What they couldn’t have expected was how Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, and its aftermath that has included both a war in Gaza and global displays of antisemitism, have recast Słobodzianek’s play in a new light." - NY Jewish Week
“Artistically ambitious! Igor Golyak is among the most inventive directors working in the United States.” - NY Times
Nijinsky's last dance
Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Play
Jeremy Davidson in Nijinsky's Last Dance, The Kennedy Center
Commissioned and produced by Signature Theatre (VA)
Directed by Joe Calarco
"Run, walk, dance, strut - however you do it, get to the Kennedy Center to see Nijnsky's Last Dance." Washingtonian Magazine
"When the last words had been spoken on the evening I saw it, the hall sat utterly silent until Davidson broke character to take his bow. That doesn't happen randomly in the theatre - and it doesn't happen often enough." - Washington City Paper
"Holds such sway and power over the audience that you feel you are basking in the heart and soul of Nijinsky. In less than 90 minutes, you not only forget yourself, you leave yourself." - Washington Times
Subsequent productions across the United States, Europe, and South Africa.
Available from Playscripts, Inc.
Carmen
Carmen, Galaxy Theatre, Tokyo
Book by Norman Allen, Lyrics by Jack Murphy, Music by Frank Wildhorn
Directed by Gabriel Barre
Commissioned by the Karlin Music Theatre in Prague, with an initial run from 2007 to 2011.
Subsequent productions in Seoul (2013), Tokyo (2014), Kaunas, Lithuania (2015-17) and a return to the Karlin Music Theatre (2015-18).
In The Garden
Charles MacArthur Award, Outstanding New Play
In The Garden, Signature Theatre, Arlington, VA.
Commissioned and Produced by Signature Theatre (VA)
"Seduction is as seduction does in Norman Allen's sex-and-crucifixion dramedy In the Garden -- a compelling blend of wit, adultery, and C.S. Lewis-esque philosophizing." - Washington City Paper
"Allen's plays have always included issues of morality but he has never taken on religious spirituality so directly. Here he does so with great skill and great generosity." - Arlington Connection
"In the Garden glows with intelligence." - Washington Blade
Available from Playscripts, Inc.
Alix in Wonderland
Music and Lyrics by Buzz Mauro
Commissioned and Produced by The Theater Lab - July 2019
Directed by Deb Gottesman
A Lump of Coal for Christmas
A Lump of Coal for Christmas at Adventure Theatre MTC.
COMMISSIONED and Produced BY ADVENTURE THEATRE MTC.
November- December, 2015
Directed by Holly Twyford
The Christmas Carol Rag, Signature Theatre, VA
Score by Berlin, Cohan, Fleming, etc.
Commissioned and Produced by Signature Theatre (VA)
Directed by Eric Schaeffer
"A delightfully irreverent take on the Dickens classic... An enormously appealing new musical...just the right touches of sarcasm and gentle humor." - Variety
"A wholly delightful affair with the potential to become a recurring seasonal favorite." - The Washington Post
"The Christmas Carol Rag not only works beautifully, it even improves in several ways upon the original." - Cleveland Plain Dealer
Available from Playscripts, Inc.
(Other works available from Playscripts include plays for young actors: Jenny Saint Joan and Waiting in Tobolsk: The Children of the Last Tsar.)
ONCE WILD: ISADORA IN RUSSIA
Once Wild: Isadora in Russia, a co-production of Word Dance Theatre and Georgetown University
A CO-PRODUCTION OF WORD-DANCE THEATRE AND GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, 2013
DIRECTED BY DEREK GOLDMAN
“Its greatest achievement is as a bold new work of art. This is a collaborative work of the highest order, a labor of love that turns on the same devotion to art and excellence that moved Irma herself.” - Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post, May 2013
The House Haflway, Arena Stage
The House Halfway
FINALIST, O'NEILL THEATRE CENTER, NATIONAL PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE, 2015
DEVELOPED THROUGH PLAYWRIGHTS ARENA AT ARENA STAGE, 2013-14
Source theatre festival, 2012
The Christmas Foundling. Woodford Theatre, Kentucky
Commissioned and Produced by Sierra Repertory Theatre
"A captivating and heartwarming drama." - Seattle Times
"The Christmas Foundling seems to have all the ingredients that Sierra Repertory Theatre could have wanted when it commissioned playwright Norman Allen to write it... A theatrical nugget that's virtually guaranteed to draw throngs year after year." - Modesto Bee.
"The Christmas Foundling is a holiday treat that blends timeless themes of family with the romanticized charm of the Gold Rush." - Union Democrat
Available from Playscripts, Inc.
Coffee with Richelieu
Coffee with Richelieu, Olney Theatre Center
Commissioned and Produced by Olney Theatre Center.
Directed by Jim Petosa
"The play is silver-tongued and dark-hearted; if you like sitting next to people with nothing nice to say, you'll enjoy it... An entertainment of ideas in the playful spirit of Sterne's 'Tristram Shandy'...veering among camp, conversation, diatribe and artifice." - Washington City Paper
A remarkably clever, hilarious, truly funny work, one romantically sexy and full of audience appeal. A showcase for Allen's prodigiously proven talent." - The Journal Newspapers
Available from Playscripts, Inc.
our class
English Adaptation of a play by Tadeusz Słobodzianek
Commissioned and Produced by Georgetown University Theatre Department - November 2018
Directed by Derek Goldman
Baghdad Carpet
Commissioned and produced by The Phillips Collection
Inspired by Jacob Lawrence's "The Migration Series" - October 2016
Directed by Derek Goldman
The Operators
The Operators in workshop at Arena Stage