THE MRS. WHEATLAND PAGEANT
Sitcom nostalgia, small town reality and gender norms collide in a comedy about about one woman’s search for certainty in an ever-changing world .
Productions
No Strings Theatre Company, Las Cruces, NM. 2019
Lulubird Project at Theater 29, Denver, CO. 2019
Awards
Semi-Finalist, New American Voices, Landing Theatre, 2015
Semi-Finalist, PlayPenn, 3013
Development
On Your Feet Reading Series, Edge Theater, 2015
Press
And the winner is - 'The Mrs. Wheatland Pageant'! - By MIKE COOK, Las Cruces Bulletin: “What do you do if you're about to turn 30, you are desperate to have a baby and your husband is suddenly wearing an apron and pumps? You host A beauty pageant, of course!”
Westword: The 21 Best Events in Denver: “While The Mrs. Wheatland Pageant may not have all the pomp and circumstance of the Miss America Pageant, this new play by Lisa Wagner Erickson, opening Thursday February 28, at Theater 29, Promises to run away with the Miss Congeniality award. Presented by the Lulubird Project and Directed by Hart DeRose, the world premiere will mix sitcom nostalgia, small-town reality and gender norms.”
THE CHICKEN FLIES AT NIGHT
*Full-length play in process
Two sisters find into a strange and unfamiliar world in Around Here. Most of their memories have been blown away by an unrelenting wind. The embark on a quest to return to Yonder, struggling to remember each other along the way.
Development
Advanced Playwriting Workshop, Primary Stages, 2023
Short Plays
Step on Me
A woman tries to end an caustic relationship with her scale. The scale has other ideas
Productions
Stickball Productions, Boston, MA. 2014
Saint Mary’s College, Moraga, CA. 2013
Awards
Finalist, Gary Garrison Playwriting Award for 10-Minute Plays, Tusculum Review, 2023
Finalist, 10-Minute Play Award, Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 7, 2013
Readings
Estrogenius Extended, Manhattan Theatre Source, New York City, NY. 2013
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, Sacramento, CA. 2013
Marran Theater, Lesley University, Boston, MA. 2012
Press
Boston Globe review by Terry Byrne: “Don’t miss the curtain riser, “Step On Me,” a hilarious short play by Lisa Wagner Erickson that toys with one woman’s obsession with her bathroom scale.”
Sage Against the Patriarchy
A YouTube influencer shows her followers how to banish toxic masculinity from their sacred spaces, but reminders of a recent breakup keep getting in the way.
Productions
Virtual Production, Primary Stages’ DETENTION 51: WORDS HAVE POWER, 2021
Video Shorts
Dissertation Defenders
Written by Sean Michael Cummings, Lisa Wagner Erickson, and Rebecca Gorman O’Neill
Press
WESTWORD: Theater 29 was in the middle of of planning its next production when the coronavirus pandemic hit. After that, the action moved off the stage and into cyberspace, where creative director Lisa Wagner Erickson and Veronica Straight-Lingo came up with a new concept: Anoitos University, a fictitious online university struggling to remain relevant, where Ph.D. candidates are desperate to secure full-time teaching positions at adjunct wages.”
Sage Against the Patriarchy
A YouTube influencer shows her followers how to banish toxic masculinity from their sacred spaces, but reminders of a recent breakup keep getting in the way.
By Lisa Wagner Erickson
Directed by Catherine Higgins-More
Featuring Emily Cordes
A SHINY QUEST
*Full-length play in process
A gnome embarks on a quest to find the sparkliest stone.
Development
BETC Writers Group, 2023-2024
AUDIO SHORT - featured in Project PlayBox, October 2020
Westword on Project Playbox: “a novel theatrical experience for these stay-at-home, virus-plagued times.”
THE TITLE IX EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM HAS SOME ISSUES
*Full-length play in process
There has been an alleged assault on campus. The newly formed emergency response team is not prepared.
Emergency Garden
Awards
Semi-Finalist, Faces of America Monologue Festival, The PlayGround Experiment, 2022
Production
Video Short, Cypherbird Projects, 2021
Publication
Literature Today, July 2023
No Place Like Gnome
Two hipsters enter into strange negotiations with a recalcitrant gnome.
Productions
HIDDEN WORLDS & STRANGE NEGOTIATIONS, Lulubird Project at Theater 29, Denver, CO. 2019
Press
Denver Westword: About HIDDEN WORLDS & STRANGE NEGOTIATIONS: ” . . .a collection of short plays by local playwrights, observes how we navigate our way through relationships and difficult times in fleeting, funny and sometimes magical ways.”
EMERGENCY GARDEN
Is Julia showing viewers the site for a future community garden? A prototype? . . . Or something altogether different?
By Lisa Wagner Erickson
Directed by Hart DeRose
Featuring Meredith Young