THE AFFAIR PLAYS: A GODAWFUL SMALL AFFAIR

and

IT’S CONFUSING, THESE DAYS

By Hayley St. James

A Godawful Small Affair: A Play in Two Rooms

Jodie and Nessa, a twentysomething lesbian couple, are put in an unexpected U-haul situation; their neighbor Luca, a touch-starved, non-binary stoner, is visited by the alien angel ghost of David Bowie. A pandemic rages outside. A wall separates them, but they’re all about to be connected, sort of. Can a relationship become routine if there’s nothing else? Can life? And can a change in routine become a blessing? A relatably messy, kind of sad, kind of hopeful, and deeply intimate play exploring touch, longing, time, and routine in the age of Corona, and what the pandemic has done to us. And also David Bowie.

It’s Confusing, These Days: An Election Week Companion

After a summer full of tumult, time passes more normally again for neighbors-turned-throuple Jodie, Nessa, and Luca. When the pandemic hits close to home on the eve of the most important political week of the year, an unexpected road trip to maybe say goodbye is in order. Capturing the messiness of Election Week 2020, this short play functions as a bonus third act to “A Godawful Small Affair” and explores anxiety, hope, fear, and the generation gap between millenials and their boomer parents during a politically-fraught week in a year unlike any other.

• Cast Sizes: 1M 2F 1NB
• Running Time: 120+ minutes (A GODAWFUL SMALL AFFAIR) 30 minutes (IT’S CONFUSING, THESE DAYS)
• $75 per performance, $30 (IT’S CONFUSING, THESE DAYS by itself)

Sample Coming Soon

Order Script Copies

Order Digital Download (Will NOT download to phones, cannot be printed)

APPLY FOR PERFORMANCE RIGHTS

About the Playwright

Hayley St. James (they/them) is a Boston-born, New York-based playwright and dramaturg; and an occasional performer, lyricist, and assistant director. Proudly queer, non-binary, and on the autism spectrum, they are deeply passionate about seeing themselves and their communities represented truthfully in all media, theatre first and foremost. In their theatrical work, they strive to marry authentic representation with hyper-theatrical, surreal, meta, and intimate twists; they also have a thing for imaginary friends, ghosts, aliens, and well-handled pop culture references. 

Recently, their full-length “For Leonora, or, Companions” received a developmental industry reading in the 2020 Pride Plays festival co-sponsored by Playbill and a further virtual reading in 2022’s Women’s Theatre Festival Occupy The Stage virtual festival. Their full-length “A Godawful Small Affair” had a live-streamed developmental reading as Party Claw Productions’ inaugural piece in their Proto-Plays series in 2020 and a further virtual reading with Scantic River Productions in 2021, and will be making its stage debut alongside its companion play “It’s Confusing, These Days” at SUNY Fredonia in autumn 2023. St. James also assistant directed Andy Boyd’s “The Trade Federation: Or, Let’s Explore Globalization Through the Star Wars Prequels” at Interboro Repertory Theatre in the fall of 2019, and dramaturged “The SpongeBob Musical” at Weston Drama Workshop in the summer of 2021. St. James was also a writer in Company One Theatre’s 2021 PlayLab Circuit Volt Lab.

St. James’ heroes and influences include John Cariani, Paula Vogel, Caryl Churchill, Samuel Beckett, William Shakespeare, Neil Gaiman, Neil Hannon, and Chris Martin.

St. James is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College.