Stan Richardson

Stan Richardson is a New York-based dramatist and performer. He studied acting at NYU/Tisch and his primary playwriting mentor was Edward Albee. His work has been developed and produced at venues such as Ars Nova, The Brick, Classic Stage Company, Dixon Place, HERE Arts Center, The NY Int'l Fringe Festival, NYMF, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. From 2012-2017, he co-founded and was playwright in residence of The Representatives, a nomadic new play lab and underground theatrical sensation, known for their "radically intimate" stagings in apartments, churches and other less-traditional venues. His plays have been profiled in Time Out New York, The Village Voice and American Theater Magazine. The New York Times called the 2015 racially and ability-diverse production of VERITAS “agonizingly vivid,” and The Guardian said of PRIVATE MANNING GOES TO WASHINGTON, “This intelligent, thoughtful play couldn’t be more urgent.” For collaborations, commissions, or coaching, get in touch.

VERITAS ▞ Tragedy ▞ 150 min ▞ 10m ▞ The true story of a secret gay witch-hunt at Harvard in 1920. After a student's suicide reveals an underground homosexual community, a cadre of deans who call themselves the “Secret Court” assemble to ruthlessly dismember a close-knit circle of friends. Hidden for over 80 years, this hateful campaign poisoned the promising futures of a dozen young men and hounded them for the rest of their lives. Written in 2007 and workshopped at Columbia University and Classic Stage Company, VERITAS premiered at the New York International Fringe Festival in a sold out run in 2010.CURFEW ▞ Dark comedy ▞ 90 min ▞ 2m 2w ▞ Days after the murder of Michael Brown, a white family grappling with the idea of reparations in Ferguson, MO. When Aunt Liv is visited by a representative from one of her charities to discuss the legacy of slavery, she receives a proposal she truly did not expect. Semi-finalist for the O'Neill.

The Representatives' 2015 production of VERITAS.
Photo: Jan Wandrag

The Representatives' 2013 workshop of BAZAROV.
Photo: Gregory Vershbow

BAZAROV ▞ Russian Epic ▞ 150 min ▞ 4m 2w ▞ In this free adaptation of Turgenev’s Fathers & Sons, it’s Summer 1859: the emancipation of the serfs is imminent and Arkady returns home from university buzzing with big ideas and a new best friend. But the radical nihilism of this brilliant young doctor, Bazarov, does not sit well with Arkady’s progressive and aristocratic father and uncle. So the two prodigal sons embark on a cross-country odyssey full of hypocrites, sycophants, flirts and wallflowers, but as they choose between their hearts and their ideals, the young mens’ destinies come into tragic opposition.WHORMONE ▞ Black farce ▞ 120 min ▞ 3m 3w ▞ Elexis, a sinking soap star, hopes a tragic tell-all TV movie will bring closure to the bizarre tragedy that took away her family. This manic queer bi-coastal pre-9/11 telenovela asks: when true love's trampled by unbridled libidos, what kind of heart remains? "Orton on poppers," quipped one Broadway producer. "I would never produce a play where a drunk woman delivers a monologue from a toilet," said another. Finalist for Juilliard & Yale.

THE RAKES TRILOGY ▞ Tragicomedy ▞ 3x 140 min ▞ 4m 3w ▞ The Rakes, inspired by JD Salinger’s Glass family, follows a tight-knit trio of orphaned brothers in Manhattan as they stride and stagger into adulthood. Beginning in May 2007 with the whirlwind wedding of the youngest Paul to the girl he saved in the Virginia Tech massacre, each play is narrated by a different sibling and demonstrates the family-fracturing effects of national crises during the Obama years.PRIVATE MANNING GOES TO WASHINGTON ▞ Political Drama ▞ 75 min ▞ 2m ▞ Months before his mysterious death, Internet pioneer and hacktivist Aaron Swartz filed a FOIA request to learn about the status of army whistleblower Chelsea Manning, a prisoner of indefinite solitary confinement. Through the lens of their entwined legacies, Private Manning is a haunting look at the price of activism. Premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2016.THE MONTAGUES ▞ 10 min ▞ 2m ▞ As Gaza is attacked in 2014, an interracial queer couple try to take in a museum in Italy. A commission for Break the Wall Theatre Project.

The Representatives' 2016 production of PRIVATE MANNING.
Photo: Jan Wandrag

The Representatives' 2014 workshop of DEAD BLACK TEMP.
Photo: Joshua Paul Johnson

DEAD BLACK TEMP ▞ Tragicomedy ▞ 80 min ▞ 2m 1w ▞
Best friends since childhood, Jake, a Sony music exec, and Sully, a guerrilla filmmaker with MS, know they need to talk about the ever-widening gap between them but it takes, of all things, the death of Whitney Houston to reveal what's truly kept them apart.FLOODED WITH LIGHT ▞ Time-Bending Drama ▞ 90 min ▞ 2m 1w ▞ Deanna, an Imago therapist raising her restless gay nephew, has just moved into her dream apartment when Gene, a volatile ex-lover appears, hoping to make amends.TO BE MADE FLESH AGAIN ▞ Metaphysical Comedy ▞ 80 min ▞ 4m 3w ▞ A soul under pressure to reincarnate, scrutinizes the guarded and eccentric guests of a posh Manhattan birthday party to finally select his future self in this riff on Plato’s Myth of Er.

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I'm Stan, a Brooklyn-based world-traveler and esoteric guide. I work with star-based systems to help folks remember and reconnect with their unique genius. I practice astrology and its kindred arts not as religion, but as startlingly effective methods for reeimagining a more harmonious and even magical kind of living.A student of the stars for decades, I began offering consultations in 2020. My primary teachers for Hellenstic Astrology are Austin Coppock & Demetra George, and my practice is heavily informed by my exploration of mythology & psychology (with Jason Holley), Human Design & the Gene Keys (with Fabrice Boulenger), and Animism & Ancestral Healing (with Dr. Daniel Foor). I do not offer therapy or medical advice of any kind, but I do work with some clients on an ongoing basis as these sytems run deep and the healing potential is extraordinary. For more about my offerings, see below.