Queer Youth Plays — Paul William Kruse

Queer Youth Plays
From 2012 to 2017, Paul worked as a teaching artist under the direction of Adil Mansoor with Dreams of Hope, an arts organization serving the LGBTQIA+ youth of the Pittsburgh area. Each year Adil and Paul worked with local artists to facilitate the writing of a new play with the DoH ensemble.

Sun Dried Tomatoes created and performed by theatriQ Youth Ensemble a program of Dreams of Hope March 31 - April 2, 2017 Kelly Strayhorn Theater's Alloy Stud...

Sun Dried Tomatoes (120 minutes)
19 characters (at least 13 actors)
written collaboratively with Adil Mansoor, Judith Avers, and Dreams of Hope's theatriQ Youth Ensemble in 2016–2017.
Sun Dried Tomatoes welcomes you to a feast that celebrates gardens, communities, and, above all, life. A spring rain grows summer crops for the fall harvest. Every space is a living space, and nothing grows alone. One Pittsburgh garden contains a multitude of stories. What if you could hear what it has to say? Two recent high school graduates learn to live with a new roommate. Two families come together to make something new. A group of elders finds that it’s never too late to grow. From seed to flower, life is a messy, challenging tangle.
full script of Sun Dried Tomatoes

Webs (90 minutes)
34 characters (at least 7 actors)
written collaboratively with Adil Mansoor, Judith Avers, and Dreams of Hope's theatriQ Youth Ensemble in 2015–2016.
How do the stories we make make us? Logan and Paris, two queer youths, connect online. Both are reading a book about Greek Mythology. In the myth of Arachne, Athena turns a woman into a spider for defying the gods. In the myth of Pisces, a terrible monster chases a mother and child to the sea. Logan and Paris hear echoes of their own lives in these stories, but neither is content to be defined by stories from the past. Logan has just realized that their gender identity does not fit their dad’s expectations. Paris meets Casey, a queer elder who works at the library. Casey suspects that Paris might not have a consistent place to stay. Both youths struggle to make a narrative that includes their whole selves. Queer identified young people connect with each other online every day, a post, a story, a selfie, a song. Are they writing their own mythology? Webs weaves threads of storytelling from ancient Greece to tumblr to discover how we can grow from passive victims to heroic authors of our own mythology.
Full Script of Webs

The Lavender Spell (80 minutes)
10 characters (at least 10 actors, with room for many more actors as part of the "Fey")
written collaboratively with Adil Mansoor, Judith Avers, and Dreams of Hope's theatriQ Youth Ensemble in 2014–2015.
The Fey, the world of the witches, is a world without bodies or divisions, without race, gender, or class. Powerful magic forces have torn a hole in the fabric of this world, leaving it vulnerable to the mortal realm. A young witch stands trial. Can they explain what led to this disaster, and why they cast the Lavender Spell? In this magical dramedy, a young witch and a high school GSA try to create a better world at the risk of destroying two. Can they learn the true cost of power before it's too late?
Full Script of The Lavender Spell

Before Pride (50 minutes)
29 characters (at least 4 actors)
written collaboratively with Adil Mansoor, Monica Stephenson, Maree ReMalia, and Dreams of Hope's theatriQ Youth Ensemble in 2013–2014.
This important story follows the personal and historical journeys we take as an LGBTQ community to arrive at Pride. Inspired by the ensemble’s interviews with community leaders in Pittsburgh, historical research, and our own experiences, Before Pride asks, “Where have we come from and where are we going?”
Full Script of Before Pride