Original Plays
FOR SCRIPT OR TO INQUIRE ABOUT PRODUCTIONS - mccoyactor@gmail.com
NOTE FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT
My plays are about human connection. I am interested in exploring those intangible, elusive things that draw us together and keep us apart. I’ve considered the mystery of human connection through a range of contextual [dramatic] lenses: within families, across friendships, among colleagues, and between lovers. I am interested in how and why human beings overcome -- or don’t overcome -- obstacles to connection, whether those obstacles are external (political, socioeconomic, geographic) or within ourselves (anxiety, self-doubt, prejudice).
My plays have a sense of humor — I believe that in laughter, we are our truest selves. In laughter, we can more easily talk about the things we fear, and the things that divide us. In laughter, we find common ground. Laughter connects us.
And finally, my plays are hopeful. I believe that art should point us toward something better, and I strive to write plays that reveal — even if it’s just the smallest glimpse — the potential for a world of connection.
OTHER LIFE
FORMS
Roommates Ben and Jeff couldn’t be more different. Ben is a struggling journalist who can’t get anything to go his way. Jeff is a successful researcher who glides through life with little resistance. At Jeff’s insistence, they both give online dating a try. Ben meets Molly and the results are volatile, while Jeff meets Leslie and they make a connection. Over the course of the evening, a truth is revealed that sets in motion a series of hysterical and illuminating events. OTHER LIFE FORMS is a dynamic comedy that sets out to prove the existence of love, and how we often get in the way of it.
“Swipe right on the dating comedy, Other Life Forms” - Washington Post
West By God
Aspiring author, Robert, is headed back to his hometown in West Virginia to visit his dying grandmother. Dr. Matheson addresses a lecture hall full of students at Georgetown University, discussing the decline of rural America. Agnes and Martha exist within the decline, and snap beans for canning to put away for leaner times. What unfolds is a funny, heartwarming, and gut-wrenchingly honest series of events that challenges and examines the meaning of home. West By God is a new semi-biographical play by West Virginia native , Brandon McCoy.
“McCoy’s West By God stands tall at the urban-rural divide” - Washington Post
Other Scripts
KAY and RAY: A SHOW BUSINESS COMEDY
Kay, an actor, is struggling, personally, professionally, and in any other way you can imagine. She is reacquainted with Ray, another actor that has somehow mastered the art of not giving a shit. Their paths continually cross in hilarious ways, and Ray offers to free Kay of the burden of being an artist by employing a technique he calls Sexy Indifference. When they both are cast in the same play, Kay must decide whether she must give up her identity for the treasured opportunity to make art. KAY AND RAY is a fast-paced Show Business comedy that satirizes the “serious business” of making art.
TANNER
Meet Tanner, the guy that simply cannot get out of his own way. Give him a problem, he’ll overcomplicate it. Ask him a question, he’ll wander off in to an existential quandary. Face him with a decision, and the world might tip over. When Tanner finally takes a large personal risk, he discovers his penchant for creating elaborate escape plans. Only a chance meeting with an acquaintance from the distant past can save Tanner from himself. Brandon McCoy’s comedy Tanner is a fast, funny, punch to the gut comedy that examines the search for peace and happiness, and whether we actually want it in the first place.
GETTING IN
According to Samantha, the impending death of her mother, Bea, is a really big deal. According to Bea, she wishes everyone would get over it already. While in the hospital, Sam, her brother Ty, and their father Jake discover a list that Bea has been hiding, entitled Getting In. The family embarks on a race to complete the list before it’s too late, but will Bea let it happen? Getting In is a new dark comedy by Brandon McCoy that examines death, family, and the lengths to which we will go to be able to grieve.
A BAND IN SEARCH OF A NAME (MUSICAL)
T Street is a band you’ve never heard of. They play in small venues in front of even smaller crowds, and no one in the group can seem to agree on what they should actually be called. They’re a band of misfits that has found a home in each other and in the music. When a mysterious stranger inserts herself into the fold, tensions rise and the very existence of the band is put in to jeopardy. A Band in Search of a Name is a musical by Brandon McCoy that examines the power of music, the meaning behind the words, and the importance of belonging. This musical includes 12 original songs, also written by Brandon.
