"McCarthy displays a unique and intellectual writing style; combining a mix of natural, poetic dialogue, wit, and narration." - Phoebe Louise, Lost in Theatreland
"Horror fans know the real deal when we see it, and Riley Elton McCarthy's tightly wound exploration of haunting grief is a refreshing case in point." - Rory Ford, Scotsman
"A playwright to keep an eye on for SURE! Ivories has it all: tears, trauma, sexual tension, ghosts, laughs & the understanding that nothing (and no one) is ever as they appear to me. The script is stunning." - Hailey Green
IVORIES. horror. 2 acts. 2 hours.
Prodigal nonbinary playwright Sloane is summoned back to their ailing grandmother's home with the assistance of their botanist husband Gwyn to settle the estate. When Gwyn's childhood best friend Beckham arrive, they discover there may be more to the house-- and to Sloane-- hidden beneath the floorboards.
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Productions at Edinburgh Fringe (Reviews, Off-Fest Nomination, and Brighton Fringe long-list), 59E59, Literaturhaus Copenhagen, The Brick, Yale School for Drama, Mountview, The Gilbert Theater, and The Tank.
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Developmental residency with Elephant Room Productions.
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Published with Next Stage Press, available now at The Drama Book Shop.
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10 2023 BroadwayWorld Off-Broadway Award nominations, including Best New Play.
i'm going to eat you alive. horror. 1 act. 90 minutes.
When pica-afflicted geologist Roach documents their van life road trip across America, more than their obsession with eating the national landmarks threatens to derail their journey. The anniversary of the death of his mother and their sibling’s insistence of Roach’s attendance coincides with the unfortunate parole release of his ex who put her in the ground. When secrets lie six feet below, what erodes when the continents collide?
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World premiere at CultureLab LIC.
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Workshop at The Tank (extended!)
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Residency with Workshop Theater's TGNB2S+ Affinity Intensive.
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2024 Eugene O'Neill National Playwriting Conference Semi-finalist
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2024 Culture Lab LIC Semi-Finalist
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12 2023 BroadwayWorld Off-Broadway Award nominations, including Best New Play.
kill me softly (make me scream). black comedy, thriller. 2 acts. 2 hours.
Pathological liar with a killer charisma streak Basil Calloway takes social climbing to a new level when he's torn between scaling the man of his dreams or the man of his nightmares during a cataclysmic summer at a shared artists commune in Copenhagen.
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Reading at Ensemble Studio Theatre/Rutgers.
frog dinner. tragicomedy. 1 act. 60 minutes.
Welcome to Amphibi Falls, a little town in South Dakota where tonight's episode of TRUE! CRIME! NOW! will uncover a frog infestation unlike any other. A harrowing episode of a documentary takes a disturbing splash when the subject matter, a froggy religious cult, hops into their own take of the narrative.
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Productions at The Tank, and Edinburgh Horror Festival.
the lesbian play. drama. 1 act. 100 minutes.
On the night of the 2016 presidential election, Boston University's Women Loving Women club gathers to celebrate the birthday of their club secretary. Things go awry when the identity politics within the group suddenly come into question, and all hell breaks loose from surprise revelations amongst the lesbians.
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Off-Broadway production at The Triad Theater.
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SheNYCArts semi-finalist.
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4 2023 BroadwayWorld Award nominations, including Best New Play.
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Published with NextStage Press.
ragweeds. drama. 1 act. 90 minutes.
At the end of the world, a cryptozoologist and a doomsday prepper collide in Point Pleasant, Virginia. Both hunting a mythic beast, they confront the unpleasantry of whether or not their worldly contributions are valid if they are not known by anyone but themselves. A golden stag learns he really enjoys bisexuality. Mothman makes a mean matcha loaf.
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Production at LakeHouseRanchDotPNG (Upcoming)
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Readings at Rutgers, The Tank.
take me down to the levee. horror. 1 act. 100 minutes.
Southern twins Wynona and Waylon have always had it rough. Against the backdrop of the North Carolinian bible belt, Wynona’s inherited their late father’s gun shop after a tragic accident took his life, and Waylon, the town pariah, can’t seem to shake the trauma of a year without their father. When the preacher’s son takes a fancy to Waylon, the town is stricken with more than just a religious reckoning… not when there are multiple inexplicable disappearances and deaths all tracing back to that levee.
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Production at The Tank.
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Residency at Playdate at Pete's.
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SheNYCArts semi-finalist.
sharon & melina. tragicomedy. 2 acts. 2 hours.
The night after Live Aid, Freddie Mercury and Elton John ("Sharon and Melina"), meet for a coke fueled, raunchy game of bingo. Their night of epic debauchery and camaraderie is suddenly interrupted with the arrival of an equally coked out David Bowie, and tension will put all of their friendships to the test.
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2023 Eugene O'Neill National Playwriting Conference Semi-finalist.
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Workshop at The Tank.
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2 2022 BroadwayWorld Award nominations, including Best New Play.
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2023-24 Dramatists Guild Fellowship Semi-finalist
rabbit. horror. 1 act. 80 minutes.
henri is a runaway. but the rabbit pack collects runaways. not like the lost boys. everyone ends up in these woods eventually, and the wolves of the rabbit pack are hungry. what happens when a home is no longer a home, and the lion devours the lamb? what civilization is left when their god abandons them? what happens when god comes back?
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Production at LakeHouseRanchDotPNG (TimeOut Miami Top Show, Reviews)
southern bedfellows. drama. 1 act. 90 minutes.
JoEllen and Haywood are a pair matched by God Himself. Or so Haywood thinks. In a blistering journey following the two from ages 5-21, their genders, sexuality, and the deconstruction of their marriage is out of the frying pan and into the flames under the boiling, unforgiving sun.
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Productions at International World Pride & Bøssehusset (Reviews, Press), and Hudson Guild Theater.
edgar allan shitpoest. comedy. 1 act. 90 minutes.
Who dares knock, knock, knock on the Raven's chamber door? He'll have you know he's a poet, and he's very busy avoiding his romantic life and sobering up for Prospero's party. When his life as a writer and life as a forever-bachelor collide in a time jumping vignette adventure through the bibliography of one Edgar Allan Poe, fate propels the Raven to further dissect the intentions in his own avoidance of romance. This is as if Company and Fleabag had a very demented Hot Topic loving, Paramore stanning Baby.
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Production at The Tank.
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Workshop at The Dramatists Guild Foundation.
movies don't make psychos. drama. 1 act. 60 minutes.
Tag-team killers Tommie and Carter find themselves mixed up at the wrong house, their celebratory victory tour is cut short by the appearance of their Final Boy, Drew. Only... they're not the ones to kill him. Not this time. When their plans are thwarted by the reappearance of the Opening Kill, Arden, can the misfit trio set aside their differences to hide the body? What movie is this supposed to be, anyways?
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Workshop at The Tank.
daxton on the night shift at 7/11. comedy. 1 act. 90 minutes.
It's midnight at the last 7/11 open 24 hours in The United States of America. Well... new hire and criminally inept cashier Daxton's on the night shift and retired Manic Pixie Dream Girl, now part-time Letterbox'd critic Baby in a Corner is looking for her slurpee fix.
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Residency at Art House Productions INKubator 22-23.
a peach grows in brooklyn. drama. 1 act. 30 minutes.
Janine and Phoenix have moved into a new apartment. It has a garden in the back. There is a very ugly tree in the backyard. A maybe cursed tree. Phoenix wants to keep it. Janine wants to cut it down. A short play in ten scenes.
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Productions at Marymount Manhattan College, and The Gilbert Theater.
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Publication with Red Penguin Collection.
the death of a supernova. drama. 1 act. 30 minutes.
Echo, a rock star of epic proportions but of a broken heart, takes a trip around the sun and back to discover who they are. Chronicling the life and death of a superstar in reverse, THE DEATH OF A SUPERNOVA asks what we sacrifice when we betray who we really are, and how we find ourselves again after the fire's burned out
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Development at International World Pride, CPH Hot Meat.
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Productions at Kulturhuset Indre By, The Gilbert Theater, Texas University at Corpus-Cristi and Point Park University.