Full-Length Plays
You can read Sonya's plays
on New Play Exchange:
Herr
Dentist
By Sonya
Hayden
Herr Dentist (in development)
Full-length, drama, 7 actors (4M, 3F)
In 1930s Germany, Hugo Schmidt struggles to make ends meet and dreams of becoming a world-famous dentist to powerful people. When he is given the opportunity to be personal dentist to rising politician Adolf Hitler, he thinks it's his ticket to success. As Hitler’s power increases, Schmidt’s fame as a dentist grows, but how far is he willing to go for his dreams of fame and fortune?
All the Way Home (in development)
Full-length, comedy, 7 actors (4M, 3F)
In a world of conniving mothers, tequila bottles, and Pilates classes, Mary struggles to reconcile society’s expectations for her with the life she wants to have. All the Way Home is a comedic and poignant exploration of relationships, self-discovery, and the childhoods we never leave behind.
Full-Length Musicals
Design by Julia Peiperl
The Luckiest Girl (in development)
Book, music and lyrics by Sonya Hayden
Full-length, drama, 8 actors (2M, 6F)
When her mother dies, Sarah, a young, sheltered woman in 1920s New York City, is expected to be her elderly father's caretaker and marry into a wealthy family, but she longs for the kind of opportunities and freedom her twin brother has. She finds a temporary escape from her life when she becomes secretly involved in an experimental theater troupe in Greenwich Village. As she finds herself falling in love with a female member of the troupe, she finds a new kind of freedom, self-confidence, and independence. Listen here.
Dream a Little Dream
Book, music and lyrics by Sonya Hayden
Full-length, comedy, 8 actors (4M, 4F)
Composer Neil battles financial and career decisions while caught in a love triangle. In a wacky dream sequence involving in-laws, widgets, and a judge that places his music on trial, Neil confronts his dilemmas Freudian-style.
Princeton University Triangle Club
As a member of the Triangle Club Writers' Workshop, Sonya contributed music and lyrics for the shows Tropic Blunder, An Inconvenient Sleuth, and Zero Gravitas. Listen here.
Triangle Writers' Workshop 2015
One-Act Plays
There's Always Tomorrow
By Sonya Hayden
The Mirror Girl
By Sonya
Hayden
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
There's Always Tomorrow
One-act, drama, 2 actors (1M, 1F)
Determined Harper longs to explore the world beyond her small town but obstacles of marriage and motherhood constrain her as the years of her life slip away. There’s Always Tomorrow is a poignant exploration of how our identities, relationships, and worldviews are shaped by our upbringing and the places we call home.
The Mirror Girl
One-act, theater for young audiences, drama,
5-11 actors (1M, 4-8F)
When insecure teenager Snow is transferred to a new high school, she goes to extreme lengths to meet the standards of beauty set by popular classmate Queenie, spiraling into anorexia and risking hospitalization. Inspired by the Snow White fairytale, The Mirror Girl explores body image issues and the cost of our expectations for female beauty.
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
One-act, comedy, 6 actors (3M, 3F)
In an animal-populated film noir-esque world, foxy fox heiress Isabella hires hardboiled Private Eye Zorro Valiente, who must confront a suspicious racoon, armadillo, and his archnemesis El Aterrador to find the thief threatening to steal Isabella’s priceless diamond anklet.
By Sonya Hayden
The Clumps
By Sonya Hayden
What in Creation
Was That All About?
By Sonya Hayden
The Clumps
One-act, drama, 2 actors (1M, 1F)
A plucky American student meets a spry elderly Englishman on a hike in the British countryside, but neither is who they claim to be, and the surrounding hills hold a dark secret which threatens one or both of their lives.
What in Creation Was That All About?
One-act, comedy, 5 actors (4M, 1F)
This zany retelling of the biblical Creation story re-imagines God and his angels as a bunch of bros who decide to create Earth in seven days on a whim – much to the dismay of overworked angel Gabriel, who struggles to implement all of the wacky ideas in the limited time frame.
One-Act Musicals
Taking Off! A New Musical Farce
(in development)
Lyrics by Sonya Hayden
Music by Matthew Lowy
Book by Rachel Sklar
One-act, comedy, 8 actors (3M, 5F)
Enthusiastic but utterly inept flight attendant Cecelia bumbles through her first overseas flight, juggling passengers’ demands and inadvertently thwarting handsome Castilian passenger Francisco’s attempts to execute a diamond heist. When the passengers and pilot get food poisoning, Cecelia must try to land the plane safely with Francisco’s assistance. In this wacky, high-flying musical farce, the sky is the limit and life vests are optional. Listen here.
Crazy But True
Book and lyrics by Sonya Hayden
Music by Jon Hugo Ungar
Crazy But True
Book and lyrics by Sonya Hayden
Music by Jon Hugo Ungar
10-minute, comedy, 2 actors (1M, 1F)
Stuck in unfulfilling jobs and feeling disillusioned with life, two quirky individuals in their 20s meet in a subway station and find an unexpected connection. Listen here.
Wanda Does the Water Cycle
By Sonya Hayden
Wanda Does the Water Cycle
Book, music and lyrics by Sonya Hayden
One-act, theater for young audiences, 8-12 actors (3M, 5F)
Wanda, a precocious young water molecule, secretly visits the forbidden surface of her lake, where she promptly evaporates and must figure out how to return home before the wind blows her off course.
It's a Hard-Rock Life
By Sonya Hayden
It's a Hard-Rock Life
Lyrics by Sonya Hayden
Music by Jon Hugo Ungar
One-act, theater for young audiences, 7-13 actors (any gender)
Three awesome rock bands – Sedimentary, Igneous, and Metamorphic – vie for the title of Rock Star in a Battle of the Bands competition, trying to win over the audience with their moving origin stories and layer upon layer of rock puns.
Short Plays
Death at the Airport:
A Post-Truth Tale
By Sonya Hayden
Death at the Airport:
A Post-Truth Tale
10-minute, dark comedy, 2 actors (1M, 1F)
When straight-laced journalist Jack is detained by an unnervingly upbeat airport security officer, Jack discovers he is the victim of an unusual mix-up: he is officially considered dead, having supposedly perished along with his family in a recent terrorist attack. But the alleged attack never really took place – or did it? Death at the Airport explores the hilarious and bizarre implications of living in an age of fake news and alternative facts and considers who controls the narrative of history.
Just
Like
Magic
By Sonya Hayden
Just Like Magic
10-minute, drama, 2 actors (1M, 1F)
Locked together in a closet by their children, unhappily married couple Marisa and Chris must deal with anger over Chris’ abrupt career shift to magician for children’s parties, forcing a decision about their commitment to their relationship.
Baubles,
Bangles,
and
Bankruptcy
By Sonya Hayden
Baubles, Bangles, and Bankruptcy
10-minute play, comedy, 4 actors (2M, 2F)
A disillusioned married couple clashes over their commitment to each other when forced to close their beloved baubles and bangles shop; simultaneously, their younger selves open the shop for the first time, brimming with hope for their future. Will their glittering dreams of youth stand the test of time or are they as breakable as a bauble?
By Sonya Hayden
Circus Act
Circus Act
5-minute, drama, 2 actors (any gender)
Two people conjoined at the hip struggle to forge their own identities in their relationship; one wants to stick it out and the other feels stuck, leading to a painful choice.
