GOAT COASTER
by Louise Schwarz
In this comedy, a group of high school students take summer jobs at Golden Olden Adventure Towne, an old-school theme park opening up a highly anticipated new roller coaster. G.O.A.T is having trouble adapting to a changing world where the theme park’s old colonial themes don’t quite work the way they used to. When valuables begin to go missing, the employees quickly suspect the thief is among them. What they don’t suspect is an unlikely show of empathy, a new understanding of democracy, and a chance to reimagine some of the park’s more bizarre policies.
- Cast Size: 1M 9W (Flexible)
- Running Time: 55 minutes
- $50 per performance
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About the Playwright
Louise Schwarz is a New York-based, Virginia-raised playwright and educator. Her award-winning plays have been produced and developed all over the country, including The Fair Hope Memorial (Mark Taper Forum, Stage Left Theatre, Pandora’s Box PlayRites of Spring Festival, Horizon Theatre’s New South for the New Century Festival, Trilogy Theatre), August November (Crescent Line/Pulse Ensemble Theatre), After Wednesday (New York International Fringe Festival/Theatre for the New City, Neo Pack Productions/Trilogy Theatre), This Is Not A Project (Railroad Playhouse, Producer’s Club), Floor Show In The Sweet Life (Cherry Lane Alternative, Oscar Hammerstein Center, New Perspectives Theatre, recipient of the John Golden Award), The Nostalgia Cure (Railroad Playhouse Annual One-Act Festival), Pluses and Minuses (ANDTheatre’s Eclectics Festival, Playwrights’ Round Table Summer Shorts Festival), A Little Bit Vacant(Glass Ceiling Breakers at Theatre Revolution, Playwrights’ Round Table Launch Festival), Like A Glove (RAL Productions/Museum of Sex), Next Time On Spring Valley (ESPA Drills/Primary Stages, Just Write Lakeland), Why Summer Is A Lie (Dramatists Guild Friday Night Footlights), The Tragicomedie of Antony and Cleo (Shakespeare on the Sound Short Play Festival), She’s Got A Nice One (Rainy Day Artistic Collective), among others. Her script Goat Coaster won the Marsha A. Croyle Award in the 2022 Scribe Playwriting competition, the Stage Play category at the 2022 Bull City Festival, and was a finalist in the 2023 Italian International Comedy Festival.
Fellowships and residencies include the Edward Albee Foundation, Blue Mountain Center, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Railroad Playhouse, and the Hambidge Center. She has taught playwriting at Oklahoma State University, Hofstra University, and Hostos Community College, headed the Theatre Department at Appel Farm Arts and Music Center where she taught, wrote, and directed for ten summers, and currently works in the admissions department of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She was an instructor and the coordinator of Project Playwright at Northern Stage in White River Junction, Vermont, and is a member of the Dramatists’ Guild, Playground-NY, and Honor Roll!, an advocacy group of women+ playwrights over 40.
M.F.A. Playwriting, Columbia University.
B.A. Drama, University of Georgia.
Review Goat Coaster.