Plays written by Adin Lenahan:
A THOUSAND SHIPS
THE BARRENS
POOH CHRIST
IMPOSTERS
Synopses:
A Thousand Ships – A model with an extra-terrestrial look receives messages from beyond the stars, leaving their unraveling manager to confront loving something that was never meant to stay here, and the model to interrogate the meaning of a human life.
The Barrens – A portal fantasy about self-worth, where a perpetually single person is transported to a magical version of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. There, they learn they are betrothed to the ruler of The Barrens, but it becomes increasingly clear that remaining single is the safer option.
Pooh Christ – An angry buddy comedy about Mab, a nonbinary bipolar incest survivor whose mania manifests as a giant Winnie-the-Pooh doll possessed by Jesus Christ. Mab decides they need to become a Christian or a Catholic before Christmas, otherwise Santa won’t visit AND they’ll be damned to hell! Enter Winnie-the-Pooh AKA Jesus Christ, who pokes at Mab’s traumatic childhood to inspire bite, revenge, and revelation. Meanwhile, Mab’s flawed mother Joan is attempting to broker a Christmas-time peace between Mab and their brother, who was Mab’s abuser. POOH CHRIST is an acidic tale about the dark roads to healing from trauma, and a rejection of the “perfect” survivor we platform in media, entertainment, and art.
Imposters – IMPOSTERS is a sweeping, old-Hollywood tragicomedy about two Jewish sisters from Berdychiv, Ukraine, set against the Russian Revolution, the Holodomor, and the Holocaust. One becomes a successful Romanov imposter. The other struggles to escape Yiddish theater and become a star. As Europe collapses around them, the sisters reinvent themselves again and again, leveraging or rejecting their Jewish identity to survive or get ahead. Across forty years, childhood jealousies grow into lifelong battles over ambition, authenticity, and survival.
Bio:
Adin Lenahan is a writer and performer. They are the 2026 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow. Their work has been seen at Abrons Art Center, Ars Nova, The Brick, Dixon Place, Culture Lab LIC, Judson Memorial Church, The Kraine, The New Ohio, The Tank, Theater for the New City, Tom Noonan’s Paradise Factory, wild project, diners, drive-ins, and dives. Finalist: Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship. Semifinalist: Terrence McNally New Works Incubator, Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Playwrights’ Center’s Jerome Fellowship, The Frank Moffett Mosier Fellowship. They are a producer for Undiscovered Countries, an incubator of live performance based in Brooklyn.