bio

Sean Abley, PlaywrightSEAN ABLEY is a screenwriter, journalist, dramaturg, novelist, and award-winning playwright.

He has over thirty plays published by Playscripts, Brooklyn Publishers, Heuer Publishing, Next Stage Press, Stage Partners, Plays to Order, and Eldridge Plays and Musicals with titles like End of the World (With Prom to Follow), The Adventures of Rose Red (Snow White’s Less-Famous Sister), Horror High: The Musical and Two-Faced: A Tragedy…Sort Of.

His plays have been developed and performed at the Kennedy Center, Goodman Theatre, Antaeus Theater Company, Celebration Theatre, Provincetown Theater, Fuse Theatre Ensemble, St. Louis Actors’ Studio, Write/Act Repertory, Factory Theater, Merry-Go-Round Youth Theatre, SkyPilot Theatre Company, Virginia City Players, and academically at the Playwrights Lab at Hollins University and California State University-Stanislaus. His most recent developmental readings include Kate, Untamed (Goodman Theatre), Tea Party (Antaeus Theater Company) and Popcorn Girl (Provincetown Theater).

His plays for young audiences have been performed in over 300 professional and educational productions in the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Argentina, Belgium, Singapore, and United Arab Emirates.

Most recently his play Unabridged was an official selection of the LaBute New Play Festival 2018 at St. Louis Actors’ Studio. His play Popcorn Girl was the 2nd place winner of the National Partners of the American Theatre Award as part of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival 2017, and his play Absence Makes the Heart… was a national finalist for the John Cauble Short Play Award at KCACTF the same year. His short play Zombie? was a regional finalist for the Gary Garrison National Ten-Minute Play Award as part of KCACTF 2018. Before moving to Los Angeles, he was the co-founder and co-Artistic Director (1992-1997) of Chicago’s prolific Factory Theater (still going strong as of this writing), where his plays Bitches, Attack of the Killer B’s, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians: The Musical and Nuclear Family all enjoyed long runs. His recent Los Angeles theatrical endeavors include the world premieres of Dr. Frankincense and the Christmas Monster (Write/Act Repertory), L.A. Tool & Die: Live! (Celebration Theatre), Larva! (SkyPilot Theatre Company), the L.A. premieres of Bitches! (Magnum Players), Attack of the Killer B’s (Factory Theater West, Backstage West Garland Award winner-Best Adaptation), and Absence Makes the Heart… (SkyPilot Theatre Company.) His television writing includes multiple episodes of So Weird (Disney Channel), Sabrina, the Animated Series (Disney/UPN), Digimon and Mega Babies (both Fox Family), as well as several pilots including Bench Pressly, The World’s Strongest Private Dick with Ahmet Zappa. His produced screenplays include the B-movies Socket, Rope Burn, Witchcraft 15: Blood Rose, Witchcraft 16: Hollywood Coven and Camp Blood 8: Bride of Blood.

In addition to his published plays, his first novel, a new novelization of the horror classic, Night of the Living Dead, is available from most online bookstores.

Sean has an MFA in Playwriting from The Playwrights Lab at Hollins University, and is a member of the Antaeus Theater Company’s Playwrights Lab, Playwrights Union (Los Angeles), the Writers Guild of America, and the Dramatists Guild.