WELCOME TO LIZ COLEY PLAYS
to open eyes and hearts, to expose truths both shining and dark, to heal whenever possible.
Unpublished plays (please contact Liz for permission to perform)
MOVING IN, MOVING OUT, MOVING ON
With the herding personality of a Border Collie,
Amy might just drive her mother over the edge.
Amy might just drive her mother over the edge.
This comic drama for 2W, 3M runs about 2 hours with intermission. When Amy and her husband movenext door to Amy parent's to help deal with mom's early-stage dementia, a frenzy of Marie Kondo-style organizing empties out more than Nan's closets. Amy battles an elevator with a mind of its own, while Nan battles Amy for agency over her own mind. A 2022 winner for the SE Texas Festival of New Plays. A 2021 Winner in the SWTP "Rising Artists" Competition. 2023 World Premiere at MadLab Theatre. Available at NPX.
CASTAWAYS
Gilligan's Island meets Waiting for Godot in a
memory care unit.
This 60-minute one act play for 2F 1M + 1 other actor is an existential comedy juxtaposing the grim realities of dementia care with the comic isolation of the shipwrecked crew from the long-running series Gilligan’s Island. How do we face the new day when we can’t remember the last one? How do we spend our life while we are waiting to be rescued from it? What hope is there for castaways? Winner of both Audience Choice and Judges' Choice Award at Enter Stage Left Theatre "A Play, A Pint, & A Pie" playwriting festival. Produced for San Diego International Fringe Festival 2022 and Cincinnati Fringe Festival 2024. Available at NPX.
SIX LITTLE LOVE STORIES
Follow love’s course from hello to goodbye,
with occasional detours.
With a run time of 60 minutes, this collection of six 10-min plays may be performed as a whole, with a cast of 2 - 6 MF couples, tracing the life cycle of relationships: where we meet, whether and why we stay together; how we say goodbye. Includes: After You, Looking for Mister Swipe Right, Compound Interest, The Wall, The Compliment, One Perfect Day. Multiple staged readings include Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative. Full productions of After You at Northpark Playwrights Festival, Homebrew VI in Cincinnati, and Camden Palace Theatre in London (paired with Looking for Mister Swipe Right). Available at NPX.
SPROUTS
You never know how they'll turn out.
This 10-minute play for 1M, 1F, + 1 more actor explores the similarities between raising a child and a couple's first attempt at growing sprouts in a jar.
Multiple staged readings. Available at NPX.
PLANTING GRANDMA
Dangerously autobiographical, contains two lies
and a truth.
This 90-minute full-length play requires 1M 2F.
Gathered home to their father’s deathbed vigil, Bran and Roni plan to undertake his last unfinished business, laying Grandma’s long neglected ashes to rest. Taking a shovel to the past creates a deeper hole than they bargained for, unearthing family history and exposing personal fears the siblings and their mother have kept buried.
Public staged readings at University of Cincinnati CCM, with Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative, and at First Run Theatre in St. Louis. Please contact for script and permission to workshop or perform.
THE TASTE TEST
For a single winery owner, finding the perfect
man is a matter of taste.
In this 10-minute rom-com, two women and a man compare wits, words, and wine.
Staged reading at Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative "Fools Fest" 2022. Available at NPX.
THE MONOLOGUE
A budding thespian recounts the audition from heck.
A short monologue for a boy or a man recalling boyhood.
Showcased at University of Cincinnati CCM. Available at NPX.
WE HAVE AN OPENING FOR A FURY
Three aggrieved women receive an invitation
of mythic proportions.
A 10-minute play for 3 women, one of them Black. They are Monica Lewinsky, Anita Hill, and Christine Blasey Ford, summoned to a room to interview to become the new Furies, of Greek legend and literature. Monica is not so sure she belongs in this weird sisterhood.
Produced for MadLab's Theatre Roulette 2022. Staged reading as part of The Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati's Studio Series on Justice. Available at NPX.
ITS OWN PLACE
Time dilation presents a critically injured
spaceship pilot with a Hobson's choice.
A 10-minute science fiction play for 2 actors, any gender. Advances in the neurosciences, cybertech, and virtual reality will eventually create not only ethical questions, but philosophical questions about the nature of consciousness and self. As an introduction to the future, this play dips a toe into those shark-infested waters.
Available at NPX.
IN LINE
A curmudgeon and an optimist walk into a queue.
A 10-minute science fiction play for 2 men on a bare stage. By some, the idea of a universal basic income is offered as a panacea for society's disequilibrium. By others it as seen as an invitation to dependency and laziness. In this exploration, a different dichotomy is explored. Do "handouts" represent economic freedom or enslavement?
Available at NPX.
ONE AT A TIME
A young woman struggling to come out finds an
memory care unit.
This 60-minute one act play for 2F 1M + 1 other actor is an existential comedy juxtaposing the grim realities of dementia care with the comic isolation of the shipwrecked crew from the long-running series Gilligan’s Island. How do we face the new day when we can’t remember the last one? How do we spend our life while we are waiting to be rescued from it? What hope is there for castaways? Winner of both Audience Choice and Judges' Choice Award at Enter Stage Left Theatre "A Play, A Pint, & A Pie" playwriting festival. Produced for San Diego International Fringe Festival 2022 and Cincinnati Fringe Festival 2024. Available at NPX.
SIX LITTLE LOVE STORIES
Follow love’s course from hello to goodbye,
with occasional detours.
With a run time of 60 minutes, this collection of six 10-min plays may be performed as a whole, with a cast of 2 - 6 MF couples, tracing the life cycle of relationships: where we meet, whether and why we stay together; how we say goodbye. Includes: After You, Looking for Mister Swipe Right, Compound Interest, The Wall, The Compliment, One Perfect Day. Multiple staged readings include Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative. Full productions of After You at Northpark Playwrights Festival, Homebrew VI in Cincinnati, and Camden Palace Theatre in London (paired with Looking for Mister Swipe Right). Available at NPX.
SPROUTS
You never know how they'll turn out.
This 10-minute play for 1M, 1F, + 1 more actor explores the similarities between raising a child and a couple's first attempt at growing sprouts in a jar.Multiple staged readings. Available at NPX.
A LEASE ON LIFE
Although love drives the practice of international
surrogacy, more than one family pays the price.
This 10-minute play for 3 men, one of them Black, places the unlikely trio in a maternity waiting room where a gay Israeli couple and a blind truck driver await the birth of their son.
Staged Reading in translation at the BIRD Festival, TOTTORI 15 in Japan. Multiple staged readings. Available at NPX.
Although love drives the practice of international
surrogacy, more than one family pays the price.
This 10-minute play for 3 men, one of them Black, places the unlikely trio in a maternity waiting room where a gay Israeli couple and a blind truck driver await the birth of their son.Staged Reading in translation at the BIRD Festival, TOTTORI 15 in Japan. Multiple staged readings. Available at NPX.
PLANTING GRANDMA
Dangerously autobiographical, contains two lies
and a truth.
This 90-minute full-length play requires 1M 2F.Gathered home to their father’s deathbed vigil, Bran and Roni plan to undertake his last unfinished business, laying Grandma’s long neglected ashes to rest. Taking a shovel to the past creates a deeper hole than they bargained for, unearthing family history and exposing personal fears the siblings and their mother have kept buried.
Public staged readings at University of Cincinnati CCM, with Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative, and at First Run Theatre in St. Louis. Please contact for script and permission to workshop or perform.
THE TASTE TEST
For a single winery owner, finding the perfect
man is a matter of taste.
In this 10-minute rom-com, two women and a man compare wits, words, and wine. Staged reading at Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative "Fools Fest" 2022. Available at NPX.
THE MONOLOGUE
A budding thespian recounts the audition from heck.
A short monologue for a boy or a man recalling boyhood.Showcased at University of Cincinnati CCM. Available at NPX.
WE HAVE AN OPENING FOR A FURY
Three aggrieved women receive an invitation
of mythic proportions.
A 10-minute play for 3 women, one of them Black. They are Monica Lewinsky, Anita Hill, and Christine Blasey Ford, summoned to a room to interview to become the new Furies, of Greek legend and literature. Monica is not so sure she belongs in this weird sisterhood.Produced for MadLab's Theatre Roulette 2022. Staged reading as part of The Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati's Studio Series on Justice. Available at NPX.
ITS OWN PLACE
Time dilation presents a critically injured
spaceship pilot with a Hobson's choice.
A 10-minute science fiction play for 2 actors, any gender. Advances in the neurosciences, cybertech, and virtual reality will eventually create not only ethical questions, but philosophical questions about the nature of consciousness and self. As an introduction to the future, this play dips a toe into those shark-infested waters.Available at NPX.
IN LINE
A curmudgeon and an optimist walk into a queue.
A 10-minute science fiction play for 2 men on a bare stage. By some, the idea of a universal basic income is offered as a panacea for society's disequilibrium. By others it as seen as an invitation to dependency and laziness. In this exploration, a different dichotomy is explored. Do "handouts" represent economic freedom or enslavement?Available at NPX.
ONE AT A TIME
A young woman struggling to come out finds an
unlikely ally.
A 10-minute play for three generations, 2W 2M.
A 10-minute play for three generations, 2W 2M. A college student returns home with an important revelation to share with her parents. But Grampa has a couple of revelations up his sleeve as well.
Published in StageIt!:6. Available at NPX.
Published in StageIt!:6. Available at NPX.