Playwriting
In her essay, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” poet and essayist Adrienne Rich writes that, “If we expand [the Lesbian Continuum] to embrace many more forms of primary intensity between and among women, including the sharing of a rich inner life, the bonding against male tyranny, the giving and receiving of practical and political support, (…) we begin to grasp breadths of female history and psychology which have lain out of reach as a consequence of limited, mostly clinical, definitions of lesbianism.” Inspired by Rich, I write plays about women and people who are experiencing gender marginalization, and the bonds that we form in search of survival, community, and joy.
Full Length Plays
Overgrown
Developed with Jackalope Playwrights Lab, Omer Abbas Salem (Winter 2023)
Witchcraft, Bitchcraft
Part one commissioned and presented as a part of Pocket Theatre’s Pocket Playfest 2022, dir. Ben F. Locke (December 2022) - Virtual streaming tickets available for $5 now through December 22
landscape
Finalist - The Inkwell Theater’s LAB Series (2023)
Finalist - NAP Series at Normal Ave (2023)
Seminalist - Premiere Play Festival (2022)
Reading, Out the Box at Mirrorbox Theatre, dir. Regina Victor (November 2020)
Virtual Workshop, Wrights of Spring at The Theatre School at DePaul University, dir. Regina Victor (May 2020)
Of Our Own
Reading, Wrights of Spring at The Theatre School at DePaul University, dir. Stephanie LeBolt (May 2019)
Inside the Palace Royale
Reading, Wrights of Spring at The Theatre School at DePaul University (May 2018)
Reading of Witchcraft, Bitchcraft at Pocket Theatre VR
Left to Right: Emma Durbin, Laura Rojas, Rita Taylor Wicks, Ben F. Locke, Lifan Deng.
Ten Minute Plays
En Route
Semifinalist - Minnesota Shorts Play Festival (2023)
What we became, almost, and in-between.
Reading, Naked Angels Tuesdays at 9 (November 2022)
Belle and the Wretched Enchantress
Virtual Reading, Spring 48 Hour Play Festival at Chicago Dramatists, dir. Joel Willison (April 2022)
Sisters Passed
Production, Hive Westmont Fringe Festival, dir. Ceili Smaw (April 2020)
>>>The live production of Sisters Passed has been cancelled due to COVID-19. An audio recording of the play will be released shortly!
Town Hall
Reading, First Annual 4:20 New Play Festival, dir. Becca Braun (April 2020)
Listen to an audio recording of the play on sound cloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-932316691/town-hall-by-emma-durbin
A Study
Reading, Wrights of Spring at The Theatre School at DePaul University (May 2017)
Undercover
Reading, Original Works at Mountain Avenue Theatre (Ashland, Oregon, March 2016)
Reading, Western Washington University (Bellingham, Washington, July 2015)
The Theatre School at DePaul University
2020 Playwriting Cohort
Photo by Connor Bradshaw: Matthew Carpenter, Brent Leibowitz, Emma Durbin, Madie Doppelt. Not pictured: Connor Bradshaw.