Richard
Byrne
Six monologues, filmed at various moments across 2020, reflect on how COVID-19 rippled through our lives. How did this pandemic change our views of science, history, art, government -- and ourselves?
A wife is confronted by secrets revealed in the first days of the pandemic. A public health official gives a farewell message to colleagues after her dismissal. A Zoom class on ancient history veers into parallels with the present day. A health official in Florida recalls the cataclysm of its lack of preparedness. An actor's web audition reflects on art and commerce. And a fitness instructor imagines the world after the pandemic.
All works filmed in a socially-distanced manner, in collaboration with Pandora Machine and Mind the Gap Theatre.
"[A] series of short monologues for YouTube that have captured a world wide following." -- DC Theatre Scene
Recent Plays
An Evening
with Lola Montez
World premiere:
July 2019 at the Capital Fringe Festival
Three Suitcases
Semifinalist
2019 Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference
New York 1939: A landscape of political refuges, growing fascism, and attempts to rewrite history.
Nero/Pseudo
"[A] bona-fide hit musical, from the pen of Richard Byrne." - Broadway World
"... a fun romp that effortlessly links ancient themes of imperial deification & the 20th century cult of rock and roll." - MD Theatre Guide
Recent Writing
How the Velvet Revolution - and an American grad student - sparked a classic book by Bohumil Hrabal.
How did the streets of Hong Kong become a teeming laboratory for protest in a surveillance state?
Ivan Sviták, the Soviet invasion of Prague in 1968 -- and the continuing relevance of his thought in a post-truth age.