Available for Licensing
The Plays
Each of these works is available for production licensing. Contact Sharyn to discuss rights, materials, and how to bring one of these stories to your stage.
Drama · Full-Length
Bad Books
When a troubled teen is given a controversial book, his mother visits the local library to discuss "appropriate" reading material with the librarian. However, their reasonable discussion quickly turns into a heated confrontation, sparking a dramatic chain reaction of unexpected consequences. With both heartbreak and humor, Sharyn Rothstein offers compassion and empathy as an antidote to the deep debates that divide us. Staged in the round, this brilliant world premiere challenges us to see past our political divisions and first impressions, and asks us what it truly means to care for our children.
"In her outstanding new play, Sharyn Rothstein unyieldingly preserves that space for empathy (no matter how turbulent or irrational the situation becomes), ultimately moving, one step at a time, in the direction of progress and understanding."
— Medium
Drama · Full-Length
A Good Farmer
A moving drama, laced with humor and heartache, A Good Farmer is the story of two women — a farm owner and her unlikely best friend, an undocumented Mexican immigrant — fighting to survive in a small town divided by America's immigration battle. With rich, complicated roles for women, A Good Farmer is a play about love, friendship and finding the power to face what divides us.
"An outstanding production that raises awareness of matters that immigrants and family farmers face in our country. See it and talk about it. This is an important piece of theatre."
— BroadwayWorld
Drama · Full-Length · Selma Melvoin Playwriting Award
Landladies
Marti and Christine are both working their way to a better life – one a self-made building owner clawing her way to the top, the other a single mom juggling the care of her daughter with a part-time job and a complicated ex-boyfriend. They have a lot in common, but as landlady and tenant their friendship walks a delicate balance. Faced with dilemmas of fairness versus kindness and honesty versus eviction, both women are determined to build a home, and both know the threat of losing one. Recipient of the Selma Melvoin Playwriting Award.
"A compact, emotionally heated work that deals with the most primal human needs – for shelter, security, a sense of self-worth and love."
— WTTW (PBS) News
Drama · Full-Length · Commissioned by Manhattan Theater Club
Declaration of Conscience
In 1948, Margaret Chase Smith becomes the only woman in the United States Senate, a moderate Republican determined to show she can be just as tough as any of her male colleagues. But as the Cold War reaches into America's communities, Margaret finds herself increasingly wary of a fellow Republican: Joseph McCarthy. As McCarthy grows in power, Margaret is forced to decide whether to take on the star of her own party and sacrifice her political career, or live with her silence and the ramifications to the country she loves. Commissioned by MTC with support from the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation, Declaration of Conscience is an inspiring, thought-provoking new play about courage in the face of conspiracy.
Inquire About LicensingComedy-Drama · Full-Length
The Willows
Set in an assisted living facility after the first hard year of the pandemic, The Willows is a humorous, heart-filled story about mothers and daughters, unexpected friendships, and learning to listen to — and love — the people in our lives we may not agree with.
Inquire About LicensingDrama · Full-Length
The Invested
Catherine Murdoch is the head of wealth management at MetroBank — one of the largest and most powerful banks in the world — where she was just passed over for CEO. When the corruption of the new CEO threatens her world and her values, Murdoch must decide where her alliances will lie: does she follow her ambitions or does she follow her conscience? Drawn from the financial crisis of 2008, The Invested shows the rivalries, betrayals and alliances that could bring the world to the brink of economic disaster.
"A knowing, deliciously mean, and smartly plotted play on the up-to-the-minute subject of high-finance corruption and betrayal."
— TheaterMania
Drama with Music · Full-Length · Adaptation
Hester Street
Based on the classic independent film by Joan Micklin Silver and Abraham Cahan's novella Yekl, Hester Street follows Gitl, a young Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe who arrives with her son to meet her husband Jake on the tumultuous late-19th century Lower East Side. Separated from his wife and the provincial ways of his upbringing, Jake has fully embraced his new American life — one that has little room for Gitl's old-time ways. Faced with the disintegration of her marriage in a world she can barely comprehend, Gitl must find her voice, protect her son, and redefine her identity. An unforgettable show awash in humor, heartbreak, and hope. World Premiere at Theater J, Washington D.C. (2024). Featuring original music by Broadway's Joel Waggoner. 2025 Helen Hayes Nominee for Outstanding New Play Adaptation.
"Goes deeper than the justifiably praised film, with humor, panache and great affection for its characters... It's a story that resonates with millions of Americans."
— The Washington Post
"Gitl's emergence as a woman who takes control of her life is nothing short of a miracle. She stands in for every immigrant who has gone through the terrors of separation and the bruising, bumpy process of making do in a new world."
— DC Theater Arts
"The outstanding cast reveal the conflicts embedded in moving to another country. Hester Street tells the story of how immigrants parse the culture of their new country and figure out how to adapt while also figuring out what elements of their old country they will keep."
— BroadwayWorld
Drama · Full-Length
By the Water
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, a Staten Island family faces an impossible choice: rebuild their flooded home or finally leave the neighborhood that has defined them for three generations. A deeply felt, fiercely funny play about place, identity, and what we owe the dead. First produced by Manhattan Theater Club and Ars Nova. Winner of the American Theater Critics Association Francesca Primus Prize.
"A force of nature… a solid play about a dissolving world."
— Time Out NY
Drama · Full-Length
Right to Be Forgotten
The internet never forgets, and Derril Lark's mistake at 17 haunts him online a decade later. Desperate for a normal life, he goes to extraordinary lengths to erase his indiscretion. But freedom of information is a big business, and the tech companies aren't going down without a fight. Secrets, lies, and political backstabbing abound in this riveting new drama about one man's fierce battle to reclaim his privacy.
"Gutsy, incisive and sharp-toothed... A tense, engrossing legal thriller."
— Chicago Tribune
Comedy-Drama · Full-Length
All the Days
A warm, funny, and achingly recognizable portrait of a Jewish family gathering — the kind where love and exasperation are indistinguishable, where old wounds surface over birthday cake, and where everyone means well and no one can stop talking. A celebration of the messy, beautiful ordinary.
"Gripping… The show brings to the fore the intricacies of tangled and dysfunctional family relationships with both drama and comedy."
— BroadwayWorld
Comedy-Drama · Full-Length
Tell Me I'm Not Crazy
Life can be overwhelming at any stage – kids to raise, in-laws to deal with, work-life to balance. In an age of shifting gender dynamics and rising cost of living, it can be a struggle to feel in control. But for recent retiree Sol Koening, a neighborhood crimewave proves to be the final straw. He buys a gun, joins a shooting range and sends his loving family running for cover.
As barbed jokes fly and tempers flare, the once-close family threatens to break apart in this hilarious comedy about two generations struggling to find common ground in an America at odds with itself.
Inquire About LicensingDrama · Full-Length · World Premiere
Best for Baby
Best for Baby and its devilishly funny emcee takes audiences inside Johnson & Johnson's decades-long and still evolving baby powder scandal. A Big American Play ripped straight from the headlines, this world premiere is equal parts showbiz spectacle and intimate human storytelling.
Inquire About LicensingDrama · Full-Length
March
A moving exploration of the relationships between teens and their parents featuring avatars and other scary monsters, real, imagined, and something in between. First workshopped by the Bay Area Playwrights Festival.
Inquire About Licensing
Musical · Family & Youth · Book & Lyrics by Sharyn Rothstein · Music by Kris Kukul
Camp Monster
A ferociously fun musical for kids and teenagers! For years, the sons and daughters of the world's most famous monsters (Dracula, The Wicked Witch, Wolfman, and more) have spent their summer at Camp Flonster, the only camp in the world where young monsters can be themselves. But this year, Camp Flonster has a new director, the oppressive and diabolical Roseanne Finicula, who harbors a secret desire to rid the world of all monsters! When the young monsters learn of Roseanne's plot, they must put aside their daily squabbles to work together and beat Roseanne at her own game — and keep the world safe for even the strangest among us.
Inquire About LicensingPublications
Published Plays
Dramatists Play Service
- All the Days
- By the Water
- A Good Farmer
- Landladies
Ready to Produce?
Reach out to discuss licensing, materials, and production support.
sharyn_rothstein@hotmail.com
