Laura Shamas’ plays have been produced in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and Australia. Her work has been produced, performed and/or developed at many theaters, including: The Public Theater, Native Voices at the Autry, Native Earth Performing Arts (Toronto), Free Rein Theatre (Australia), The Lark Play Development Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Golden Thread Productions, Walnut Street Theater, Utah Shakespearean Theater Festival, West Coast Ensemble, The Glines, Philadelphia Theater Company, Soho Theatre (London), The Old Globe, The Geva Theater, and the Denver Center Theater Company.
Among her playwriting honors are: the 2008 Garrard Best Play Award from the Five Civilized Tribes Museum, a 2006-2007 Aurand Harris Fellowship from the Children’s Theater Foundation of America, a Fringe First Award for Outstanding New Drama (Edinburgh), and a Drama-Logue Award.
Her published plays include LINCOLN VACATION, MOLIÈRE IN LOVE, RE-SOURCING, UP TO DATE, LADY-LIKE, PORTRAITOF A NUDE, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (adaptation), AMELIA LIVES, and THE OTHER SHAKESPEARE. Her playwriting is published by Dramatic Publishing Company, Smith & Kraus, Playscripts.com, Broadway Play Publishing, & Heinemann. Two monologues from RE-SOURCING are published in 2009: The Best Men's Stage Monologues and Scenes (Smith & Kraus).
Her playwriting is archived at NAWPA, Native American Women Playwrights Archive, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
She has written many full-lengths, one-acts, and ten-minute plays. Twenty-three of Laura Shamas' plays may be found in the Alexander Street Press Women's Drama Database and in the Alexander Street Press North American Indian Drama Database.
Partial List of Plays by Laura Shamas (sometimes listed as "Laura Annawyn Shamas") with some publishing information, and in chronological order of date of creation (followed by the actual publication date where applicable):
THE OTHER SHAKESPEARE (published by Dramatic Publishing Company, 1980)
TALKING LEAVES
AMELIA
AMELIA LIVES (published by Dramatic Publishing Co., 1984)
RUNESTONE HILL
THE LAST SLUMBER PARTY
FITNESS
TELLING TIME
BABYLON REVISITED (adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald)
TRANCE DANCE
LIVING DOLL (published by Dramatic Publishing Co., 1987)
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (adapted from Lady Joan Lindsay's novel, published by Dramatic Publishing Co., 1987)
LADY-LIKE (published by Playscripts.com, 2004)
DELICACIES
THE GREAT DAKOTA TOM
SAUCER CITY
PORTRAIT OF A NUDE (published by Dramatic Publishing Co., 1995)
MAKING SCENES
THE WEIRD SISTERS
UP TO DATE (published by Playscripts.com, 2004)
MOLIÈRE IN LOVE (published by Dramatic Publishing Co., 2009)
RE-SOURCING (published by Broadway Play Publishing Company, 2008)
VENUS IN ORANGE (co-written with Paula Cizmar)
PISTACHIO STORIES (short version published by Smith & Kraus, 2007);
PISTACHIO STORIES (long version published in Living and Writing on America's Left Coast: Contemporary Women's Plays, Murasaki Books, 2010, available on Amazon.com)
CHASING HONEY
MOCK TALK
LINCOLN VACATION (published by Dramatic Publishing Co., 2009)
TRAPPER JOAN
THE RED ROSE GIRLS
Partial List Of Anthologies With Excerpts Or Short Works By Laura Shamas:
"Back In The Day," from UP TO DATE by Laura Shamas published in MOTHER-DAUGHTER MONOLOGUES, VOLUME 4, URGENT MATURITY, International Centre for Women Playwrights, 2009.
2 monologues from RE-SOURCING by Laura Shamas published in 2009: THE BEST MEN'S STAGE MONOLOGUES AND SCENES, edited by Lawrence Harbison, Smith & Kraus, 2009.
PISTACHIO STORIES by Laura Shamas (short version) published in 2005: THE BEST TEN-MINUTE PLAYS FOR THREE OR MORE ACTORS by D. L. Lepidus (Editor), Smith & Kraus, 2007.
"Too Cool" from UP TO DATE by Laura Shamas in NEW MONOLOGUES FOR WOMEN BY WOMEN, Volume II, Eds. Liz Engelman and Tori Haring-Smith. Heinemann, 2005.
LUCK by Laura Shamas in SCENES AND MONOLOGUES FOR YOUNG ACTORS, ed. Kent Brown. Dramatic Publishing Company, 2000.