Playwriting Commons^™

William: The Musical, Tyler C. Green

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

William: The Musical is the story of my parents’ struggle, and unfathomable loss while trying to start a family. The work follows the couple through their commitment to start a family together, through a devastating miscarriage, and up to the birth of my older brother, William. The work is still in progress, but is currently structured as a song-cycle including five songs in the style of contemporary musical theater. William: The Musical explores themes of loss and resilience, bringing to light the disturbingly common experience of miscarriage. While the creative goal aims to allow audiences to reflect and mourn their …

Rainbows And Shades Of Gray, Lillian I. Savage

Playwriting (MFA) Theses

Rainbows and Shades of Gray is an original musical that explores the complexities of addiction, memory, and grief through a nonlinear, liminal narrative structure. The story follows Aaron, a deceased veteran, father, and musician forced to confront moments from his life as he grapples with the impact of his addiction on his relationships with his wife, Danielle, and daughter, Natalia. Through a series of fragmented scenes spanning past and present, the musical examines the emotional aftermath of trauma and the ways in which love persists despite harm.

Blending dialogue and original music, the piece uses song as a narrative device …

Shrek: The Musical, David Lindsay-Abaire, Jeanine Tesori

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University's performance of Shrek: The Musical with book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori.

Performed November 20-22, 2025 in the Mitchell Theatre at Taylor University.

Shrek is, on the surface, a whimsical fairy tale full of comedy, color, and charm. But beneath the humor lies a story about seeing and being seen—about belonging, forgiveness, and the quiet courage it takes to live authentically in a world that too easily labels and excludes. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am …

Encanto The Musical: An Exploration Of Translating Media From Film To Stage, Isabel Perez-Flores

Whittier Scholars Program

I’m going to be honest: I did not go into this project with the intent of radically changing Encanto. I had some points I wanted to expand upon, some improvements and edits that I felt the film could have utilized, but overall, I was satisfied with the way the story was told. The real change, I’ve come to realize, lies not in the story and the script itself, but in the way the story is told. The obvious change is that this version of Encanto, in an ideal world, would be performed in front of a live audience, in a …

White Christmas

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University's performance of White Christmas. Book by David Ives & Paul Blake. Music & lyrics by Irving Berlin.

Performed November 11-13, 18, 20 & December 2-4, 2022 at the Mitchell Theatre.

White Christmas is a heartwarming musical based on the 1954 film of the same name, with a book by David Ives and Paul Blake, and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. The story follows two World War II veterans, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, who have become successful song-and-dance performers. They team up with a sister act, Betty and Judy Haynes, and travel to Vermont …

The 2022 Classroom Project: Land Of Ours, Otterbein Theatre And Dance Department

2021-2022 Season Production

LAND OF OURS is a brand-new play devised in rehearsal by an ensemble of Otterbein University actors, designers, stage managers, and directors. The play explores the centrality of travel and journeying to human experience. Drawing on the ensemble's personal experiences, stories of mythical travel from legend and folklore, and travel explorations invented in rehearsal, LAND OF OURS is a theatrical journey that will transport you beyond the theater walls to a destination of the imagination.

A Gentleman's Guide To Love And Murder, Otterbein Theatre And Dance Department

2021-2022 Season Production

Join us as we celebrate a return to live theater with a very special staged concert version of the show that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020. While we are unable to fully realize the elaborate design of this hilarious knock-em-dead musical romp, the script will be performed in full with much of the original cast, and you will not leave without having a hearty laugh. Poor, low-born Monty Navarro is desperate to inherit the dukedom by surpassing no fewer than eight members of the well-to-do D’Ysquith family in line before him. Just wait until …

Making A Musical: The Art Of Adapting A Film Or A Book For The Stage, David Wohl

Winthrop Faculty and Staff Publications

Over the past 100 years, stage musicals have been made from original works as varied as straight plays, novels, magazine articles, movies, short stories, poems, and biographies. This article explores two original works (a film and a novel) created separately by two faculty members at a historically black university in West Virginia and which were turned into staged musicals produced by professional theatre companies in 2019. The article includes information and advice on the adaptation process from composers, playwrights, and other collaborators.

Rained In: An Original Musical, Naomi Krizner

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

This musical confronts the perception of mental illness in an allegorical story that recounts an encounter between Tate, an estranged man inhabiting a cave who is taunted by two demons, and Emsley, a young girl brimming with innocence and curiosity.

The Mixed Reception Of The Hamilton Premiere In Puerto Rico, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Faculty Publications

In this article originally published in The Atlantic, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner wonders about the challenges of premiering the famed Broadway musical, Hamilton, during a time of political discord in the aftermath of 2017's Hurricane Maria, in Puerto Rico.

Disney And Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins: The Broadway Musical

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s performance of Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Marry Poppins: The Broadway Musical.

Performed April 27-29 and May 4-6, 2018 at the Mitchell Theatre.

Young Jane and Michael have sent many a nanny packing before Mary Poppins arrives on their doorstep. Using a combination of magic and common sense, she must teach the family members how to value each other again. Mary Poppins takes the children on many magical and memorable adventures, but Jane and Michael aren't the only ones upon whom she has a profound effect. Even grown-ups can learn a lesson or two from the …

Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s performance of Oklahoma!. Books and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rogers.

Performed on November 11-13, 18-20, 2016 at the Mitchell Theatre.

The high-spirited rivalry between the farmers and cowmen of the Western Indian Territory provides the colorful, turn-of-the-century backdrop for Curley and Laurey’s love story. But with these headstrong romantics holding the reins, the road to love is as bumpy as a surrey ride down a dusty road. Despite many hardships, their rocky romance leads to a new life beginning in a brand new state. Rodgers & Hammerstein's first collaboration remains, …

I Love A Piano

Taylor Theatre Playbills

Taylor University Theatre presents its spring musical, "I Love A Piano", a celebration of the iconic compositions and lyrics of Irving Berlin.

Godspell

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 2013 performance of Godspell by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak.

Gospell is a musical telling the parables and life of Jesus found in the gospel of Matthew.

My Dear Watson: A Musical Interpretation Of Sherlock Holmes’S Friendship With Dr. John Watson, Jami-Leigh C. Bartschi

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The relationship between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson is complicated and certainly untraditional. Some theorize that Holmes is merely using Watson while Watson desperately seeks his affection. Others theorize that they have an unrequited homosexual relationship. However, it is Holmes’ unemotional nature paired with Watson’s fierce loyalty and admiration that creates a new and unique type of relationship. Many would define friendship as an emotional bond, but with Holmes, this is impossible. That does not mean, however, that he is incapable of deeply caring for Watson. It means that the relationship looks different than the traditional friendship. Watson and Holmes’ …

A Christmas Carol: The Musical

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 2011 performance of A Christmas Carol, based on the story by Charles Dickens. Music by Alan Menken, book by Mike Ockrent and Lynn Ahrens, and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens.

A Christmas Carol tells the story of elderly miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner, and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Through the encounters Scrooge is transformed into a kinder man.

Peter Pan

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 2002 performance of Peter Pan based on the play by J. M. Barrie with music by Jule Styne, Mark Charlap, and Trude Rittmann, and lyrics by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Carolyn Leigh.

Peter Pan tells the story of the Darling children, Wendy, John, and Michael, and their adventures with Peter Pan, the boy who never grows older and lives in the fantastical land of Neverland.

Big River

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1994 performance of Big River music and lyrics by Roger Miller, book by William Hauptman.

Quilters

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1992 performance of Quilters by Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek, with music and lyrics by Barbara Damashek.

Quilters is a musical of a mother and her six daughters on the American frontier. Through music and quilts they explore the life of a woman from childhood to death.

The King And I

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1988 performance of The King and I by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.

The King and I is the story of a British schoolteacher named Anna, who is hired by the King of Siam to help modernize his country and the relationship between between them.

Cotton Patch Gospel

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1987 performance of Cotton Patch Gospel book by Tom Key and Russel Treyz, music and lyrics by Harry Chapin.

The Roar Of The Greasepaint ̶ The Smell Of The Crowd

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1975 performance of The Roar of Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.

The Roar of Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd is an allegorical exploration of the status quo between the upper and lower classes in 1960s British society through the lens of characters Sir and Cocky.

Oklahoma!

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1969 performance of Oklahoma!. Books and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rogers.

The high-spirited rivalry between the farmers and cowmen of the Western Indian Territory provides the colorful, turn-of-the-century backdrop for Curley and Laurey’s love story. But with these headstrong romantics holding the reins, the road to love is as bumpy as a surrey ride down a dusty road. Despite many hardships, their rocky romance leads to a new life beginning in a brand new state. Rodgers & Hammerstein's first collaboration remains, in many ways, their most innovative, having set …