Thomas Bradshaw – författare

Full Length SatireCharacters: 4 male 3 femaleSimple settingsA man wakes up one morning and decides he must kill himself. He is angry with himself for not hitting his wife every time she has an independent thought (as Abraham and Moses would have done). After she dies and God reveals to him that he is the new Prophet the man takes a new wife dresses her in slave chains and begins to preach his newfound gospel of male domination. Simultaneously humorous and disturbing Bradshaw's Prophet explores controversial issues in startling and unexpected ways. "Fasten your seatbelts. PROPHET Thomas Bradshaw's lacerating satire ...hurtles from rambunctious mockery to real horror. This is situation satire with a vengeance..."-The New York TimesThis play contains scenes of a graphic sexual and violent nature that may not be suitable for all audiences.

Dark Satire Characters: 5 male, 3 female (Some doubling possible) Modular sets In Purity, a refined and prominent African-American English professor's life is turned upside down when a new, 'more black' professor is hired in his department and challenges his authenticity, his marriage to a white woman, and his entire way of life. This way of life consists of literature, booze, cocaine binges, and pedophilia. From realism to fantasy, Purity takes us on a journey from the Ivy League to the ante-bellum South to the fields of Ecuador and back again, ending on a note of shocking violence. "Thomas Bradshaw's "Purity" lures you with a goofy, comic touch, and he and the game, energetic cast can make your laughs catch in your throat." - The New York Times "Authentically hard-hitting and provoking...Thomas Bradshaw wants to use the theatre to poke and prod his audience away from complacency and toward social action...It's work that's designed to make us think and feel after we leave the theatre; that's got to be a good thing." - Nytheatre.com "A whip smart exercise in sublime discomfort...Squarely confronting social taboos, Purity unabashedly raises incredibly relevant questions about race in contemporary America -- but don't expect Bradshaw to offer any answers.Instead he opens a Pandora's box of power, exploitation, and fantasy, handing it over to us to make of it what we will." - Backstage "Purity finally achieves the trifecta of what it had been after all along - it frightens, it provokes and it causes contemplation. For those who have pushed through the more repellent moments of Purity, there is something satisfying here." - American Theatre Web "Vicious and harrowing...a profoundly disturbing play" -New York Sun This play contains scenes of a graphic sexual and violent nature that may not be suitable for all audiences.

Drama / Characters: 2m, 4f, plus 1 male or female character and 1 male voice over / Simple Set / Dawn revolves around Hampton, an abusive alcoholic who has completely alienated his wife and children. Can he stop drinking and make up for the past, even amidst some very dark revelations of incest and pedophilia? Dawn is one father's story of redemption and reconciliation - with a twist. Bradshaw was named Playwright of the year by the theater blog KUL-That Sounds Cool and Dawn was named among the best performances of Stage and Screen for 2008 in The New Yorker. "[Bradshaw's] most daring and mature work to date!" -The New Yorker. "You will enjoy this latest visit to the unsettled world of Thomas Bradshaw, where people misbehave without the cushion of guilt or the filter of psychology. ****4 Stars! Critics' Pick " -Time Out New York. "Bradshaw's best play! It will be a sad statement about the NYC theatergoing public if there is one empty seat in the house for the rest of this show's run." -www.NYTheatre.com.

Drama / Characters: 6m, 2f, with doubling / Simple Set / When the master of the plantation dies, he wills his slaves to be freed, but his wife doesn't think that good property should be squandered. Pandemonium ensues. The play is inspired by the true story of Henry Box Brown who escaped to the north by mailing himself in a box. Southern Promises provides a unique portrait of the old south. Bradshaw was named Playwright of the year by the theater blog KUL-That Sounds Cool and Southern Promises was named among the best performances of Stage and Screen for 2008 in The New Yorker. "Slowly, almost single-handedly, a twenty-eight-year-old black playwright named Thomas Bradshaw has been taking on the idea of race in the theatre. At the same time, he has sliced open the pretensions of the white avant-garde with a wittily glistening axe. In his new play, Southern Promises (at Performance Space 122), one can catch a glimpse of Bradshaw's anarchic gifts." -The New Yorker. "It's a striking, challenging piece that studies the abuse of power and the liquidity of morality." -NYTheatre.com. "Likely to leave you speechless"-The New York Times."Thomas Bradshaw's deeply twisted, coolly brutal period drama Southern Promises" -Village Voice.

"Bradshaw has proved in play after play that he has a confident vision of the theater that is his own. The politically incorrect plots jump merrily from one outrage to another, never pausing to explain motivation or linger on subtext. His dramas ask: What would happen if every dark urge, lingering resentment and unedited ugly insult that popped into your head came spilling out of your mouth? . . . No playwright applies as ruthlessly Hitchcock''s definition of drama as ''life with the boring parts taken out.''"—The New York TimesInterracial couple Jerry and Pat borrow tools from their recently widowed, white evangelical neighbor James, and they even share the same Latino contractor, the mysterious Fred. Everything''s suburban bliss until James, after discovering his neighbors'' daughter Janet is a budding porn star, shuns the family. But what James doesn''t know is that his aspiring-filmmaker son Matthew has other ideas...An outrageous and revealing comedy about race, sex, and familiarity, Intimacy, the newest work by playwright Thomas Bradshaw, premiered Off-Broadway with The New Group in winter 2014. This collection from the fiercely provocative and funny playwright also includes Dawn, Fulfillment, Southern Promises, Job, Strom Thurmond Is Not a Racist, Lecture on the Blues and Purity.Thomas Bradshaw''s other plays include The Bereaved, declared a New York Times Critic''s Pick and one of the Best Plays of 2009 by Time Out New York; Mary; and Burning. He was hailed as the Best Provocative Playwright of 2007 by the Village Voice.