Writer

What People Say About My Work

"Tom's range and versatility just floors me; these two pieces couldn't be more different from each other!"
- Martin Denton talking about Graceless and Farewell to Sanity on nytheaternow.com

 

"The dialogue is quick, explosive, and laden with a generous amount of humor. This world feels lived in, researched, and is believable because of it."
- Max Kaplow, DC Theatre Scene reviewing 2015 Capitl Fringe production of Graceless

 

"Reading, acting, or seeing a Tom Slot play is always a haunting experience. You're left thinking about it days afterwards. His beautifully flawed characters speak to honest dilemmas, and force the audience and actors to examine their own judgments and prejudices, while instilling hope in some of the darkest places."
- London Griffith, Assistant Producing Artistic Director of Planet Connections Theater Festivity

 

"Tom is the kind of director / writer that actors love. As a director, he finds what he is looking for within the actor's toolset. He helps you mine a character from within and never tries to impose a character onto you. As a writer, he writes characters that are whole, complex, and vulnerable--even if they have the thickest of walls. HIs comedy is as organic and nuanced as his drama. And as a director who is capable of directing his own writing--he is the most rare of talents who is able to separate the hats and still sees the actor as an artist with his or her own creative voice within the play."
- David Stallings, Artistic Director of MTWorks

Performance of Farewell To Sanity

Highlights

+ The Girls of Ward 3 won the Newborn Festival Excellence in Playwriting Award. This awardrecongizedan innovative playwright that boldly take risks in theme, structure, time-period, location and diversity (ethnic, economic, geographic, gender, sexuality or creed).

+ Over a dozen productions and readings of my original works have been performed across the country.

+ Four full length plays have been published online at Indie Theater Now.

+ My one act play Reimagining Oedipus was published in the Freshwater Goes Back To High School Anthology.

+ Featured in the Planet Connections Festivity four years in a row 2012 - 2015 (three full productions and one reading series).

+ Searching For Connection was nominated for six Planet Connections awards in 2015 including Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical or Play with Music, Outstanding Book of a new Musical and/or Play with Music, Outstanding Music & Lyrics, Outstanding Direction of a Musical or a play with music, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical, Play with Music, or Musical Event (Tom Slot for Blaine), and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Musical, Play with Music, or Musical (Josey Miller for Madison).

+ Graceless was nominated for three Planet Connections awards in 2014 including Best Playwright.

+ Farewell to Sanity was nominated for nine Planet Connections awards in 2013 and won for four including Best Actor (David Stallings), Outstanding Costume Design (Victoria Grazioli), Congeniality Award (London Griffith), and Planet Activist Award (Tom Slot).

+ Killing Time was a finalist for the 2012 Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship. Marc Miller of Backstage called the play “the sickest show in town” with “a resolution that is spiritual and hopeful.” The full production was the subject of a New York Times features article by Marc Santora.

+ My Father's Ashes receives a nomination for best supporting actress for Milee Bang From the 2014 New York IT Awards.

 

Full Length Plays

The Constructing Ghosts Cycle

The Constructing Ghosts Cycle is a series of twelve works that illustrate the circular nature of life by exploring the only constants we all experience: death and the pursuit of love. Ironically, death is the easier of these two to achieve as humans consistently create their own obstacles to love and meaningful relationships. These missteps and failed connections are the heart of what the cycle seeks to inspect. The following plays from the cycle have been produced or received public readings:

Ward 3 LogoThe Girls Of Ward 3 (Part 1 - December 2001)

In the week before Christmas, five female teenage patients in a psychiatric ward in Nashville, Tennessee are faced with a series of events that leaves them questioning the core of who they are and what they are capable of doing.

Productions: QSI Theater (Workshop Production / May 2014), MTWork Living Room Series (Reading 2014), MTWorks Newborn Series (Reading 2015). Winner of 2015 Newborn Festival Excellence in Playwriting Award.

 

Killing Time LogoMy Father's Ashes: The Sisters Play (Part 2 - November 2002) - On Sale At Indie Theater Now

On the one-year anniversary of their father's death, three sisters return to their childhood home to scatter his ashes. But a brutal winter snow, their judgmental mother, and years of unresolved baggage threaten to derail the memorial before it even begins. As secrets and insecurities are exposed at every turn, can these three sisters overcome their sibling dynamic long enough to mourn their father? Or will the night leave their relationships so fractured that they can never go home again.

Productions: Theater 54 (Original Binding Productions / Feb - March 2014). Received a nomination for best supporting actress for Milee Bang From the 2014 New York IT Awards.

 

Killing Time LogoGraceless (Part 5 - August 2005) - On Sale At Indie Theater Now

The Mayor of Anderson, South Carolina is in the political fight of his life when a sexual harassment scandal breaks in the middle of his reelection campaign. So why did the state Governor just offer to make him a US Senator?

Productions: The Paradise Factory (Planet Connections Festivity / May - June 2014), The Logan Fringe Arts Space (Capital Fringe Festival July 2015).

 

Waiting Logowaiting for you to notice (Part 8 - May 2008)

High school has never been easy. There have always been cliques, struggles with teachers and classes, and the pain of teenage love. But in the age of digital technology and instant communication, it seems harder then ever to just connect honestly with another person. With graduation looming over the horizon, its time for the students at Flushing High School to decide what they want their future to be. Waiting for You to Notice is a coming of age story about finding love, discovering who you are, and realizing what's really important.

Productions: QSI Theater (Reading 2013).

 

Farewell LogoFarewell to Sanity and Other Irrational Constructs (Part 10, March 2010) - On Sale At Indie Theater Now

Burnt-out Dr. Henley has managed to offend most of his patients, his overly supportive secretary, and his on-leave-from-the-Navy girlfriend. But it's not until Henley is confronted by the ghost of Tom Haskins, a whaling ship captain from the 1800s who claims Henley is his reincarnated spirit, that he starts to question his sanity. Tasked by Haskins to set the cosmic scales right for the mistakes he made in August of 1863, Henley embarks on an insane adventure that could cost him his license to practice, his sanity, and his life.

Productions: The Gene Frankel Theater (Planet Connections Festivity / June 2013), Pearl Studios (Workshop and Reading / April 2012). Nominated for nine Planet Connections awards in 2013 and won for four including Best Actor (David Stallings), Outstanding Costume Design (Victoria Grazioli), Congeniality Award (London Griffith), and Planet Activist Award (Tom Slot).

 

Killing Time LogoKilling Time (Part 11, February 2011) - On Sale At Indie Theater Now

A dark comedy about life, death, and the afterlife. A prostitute, a botanist, and a mute math teacher are stuck in a room they can't escape. An aging cop and a Trekkie form an unlikely bond in the back of a Greyhound bus from Tennessee to New York City. Bodies are piling up on Conner Beach, Long Island, and there's a serial killer on the loose. This is the story of how these threads converge to challenge the audience's beliefs and perceptions in a way that engages them directly in the big questions about life and death.

Productions: Payan Theater (Original Binding Productions / July 2012), The Downstairs Theater (Planet Connections Festivity Reading Series / June 2012), Manhattan Repertory (Workshop Production / May 2011). Finalist for the 2012 Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship

 

Musicals

FOS LogoDream 70 - Book, Music, and Lyrics by Tom Slot. The timeless Shakespearean play A Midsummer Night’s Dream reinterpret as a musical set in Athens, Georgia in the summer of 1970. In this updated version of the classic comedy, we find the teenage Susan Egeus running away from Athens with her boyfriend Moses Lysander in order to avoid marrying Donald Demetruis, the suitor her father has chosen for her. But when Donald follows the happy couple into the woods, trailed by his obsessed ex-girlfriend Deborah, things take an unexpected turn. Confusion and hilarity ensue as the four mortals stumble into the world of the fairies and find their feelings redirected by a magical love flower. Throw in a beatnik poet who gets transformed into a donkey, a group of hippie protestors plotting to crash the mayor’s wedding reception, a deceitful secretary, and a toe-tapping rock-country-blues musical score.

Productions: The Mary Lou Meese Theater (The Fox Lane Players, March 2017)

 

FOS LogoThe Father of Songs - Book, Music, and Lyrics by Tom Slot. Loosely based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, it follows the troubled love story of Blaine, a rock guitarist who longs for a different life, and Elysia, a young ingenue of the stage. Set in a gritty underworld overshadowed with abuse, addiction, and seduction, the couple literally prepares to walk through hell to break free of their past. Set to a raucous Rock 'N Roll score that makes the pit band sound like a punk version of The E Street Band, The Father of Songs continues in the musical vein of shows like Rent, American Idiot, and Spring Awakening, while examining the role of love, faith, and belief in the modern age.

Productions: The Off-Broadway Theater at Roy Arias Studios (Staged Reading / August 2011), Schapiro Theatre (Staged Reading / February 2009)

 

Connected LogoConnected - Book, Music, and Lyrics by Tom Slot. Rock musician Alex Henderson has been paying his dues in the New York City club scene for years with nothing to show for it. But when a prominent record label starts to take notice at the same time that he finds love, he is forced to choose between his heart and his dreams.

Productions: The Overlea Theater (Workshop Production / April 2006)

 

Connected LogoMy Cousin From the Moon - Book, Music, and Lyrics by Tom Slot. It’s summertime on the Moon, and Nat and her friends are bored. When someone suggests they visit Nat’s cousin on Earth, a road trip of intergalactic proportions is launched! Join Nat, her purple haired dog Jessie, and her three best friends: Tobo, Screamer, and Sedate Sally as they hitch a ride with the super-star Mr. Fantastic Adventure on a spaceship headed to Earth. A musical for children with imagination and kids of all ages!

Productions: Grace Day Theater (July 2011)

 

Connected LogoWhere in the World is Whally the Whale? - Book, Music, and Lyrics by Tom Slot. When the aquatic animals living at Marine Land discover that Whally The Whale is missing, they try to crack the case in this musical mystery. Join Sam Shark, Ollie Octopus, Penny Penguin, Professor Turtle, Dr. Dolphin, The Crabs, The Goldfish, and The Seahorses as they search for clues to find their friend! A musical for children with imagination and kids of all ages!

Productions: Grace Day Theater (July 2011)

 

One Act Plays

Reimagining Oedipus - A retelling of the classic Greek myth with a twis. This one act is published in the Freshwater Goes Back To High School Anthology.

Gideon and Evan - Will Evan be able to forgive his drifter-like younger brother, Gideon , for walking out of his life after their mother's death? Premiered at the Manhattan Rep Theater in 2011.

Sticking Up for Pluto - A local man takes the news badly about Pluto no longer being a planet. Premiered at the Playwrights On Parade festival in Charlotte, North Carolina in December of 2014.

Step Up to the Plate - A play about healthy living, written for New York State. Performed in schools and conferences across Long Island in 2012.


Scores / Sound Design

A Mdisummer Night's Dream - Original song (QSI Theatere / December 2014)

Naked Theater 2: The Ladies - Original song (Access Theater / August 2013)

Ms. Martini
- Original Score (Manhattan Repertory Theatre / February 2011)

Suicide Kids - Composed and Performed Original Film Score, 2010

Hypocrites - Composed and Performed Original Film Score, 2010

Take The Parkway North - Original Song (Schapiro Theatre / February 2009)

The Canterbury Tales - Original Music (Riverside Theater / November 2008)

Woyzeck - Original Music (Schapiro Theatre / September 2007)

Collaboration 06 - Original Music (Schapiro Theatre / September 2006)

Richard III - Original Score (McManus Theater / 1997)

 

Royalty Fee's

If you are interested in performing one of Tom Slot's play, please contact tom@tomslot.com. Tom is more interested in sharing his work than making money off of it and as such charges little to no royalty fees for performance.