Plays:
Wasted! The History / Mystery of Public Education in America and How it Got That Way
By Michael Gabriel Goodfriend
Based on an original idea from Jim Niesen and the Irondale Ensemble Project. A hard-boiled noir fiction that follows detective Sam Slate as he tries to track down missed opportunities and broken promises, while avoiding myths about the good old days.
Theater for the New City, NYC.
“The Irondale Ensemble Project is as close as we come these days to the Elizabethan acting companies that once presented Shakespeare’s plays to the Earl of Leicester, Sir Francis Drake and the Virgin Queen of England. ...What is on offer is the miracle of the word made flesh. I wish you joy in it.”—Lewis Lapham, editor of Lapham’s Quarterly
Read the Newsletter that accompanied "Wasted" here
By Michael Gabriel Goodfriend
Based on an original idea from Jim Niesen and the Irondale Ensemble Project. A hard-boiled noir fiction that follows detective Sam Slate as he tries to track down missed opportunities and broken promises, while avoiding myths about the good old days.
Theater for the New City, NYC.
“The Irondale Ensemble Project is as close as we come these days to the Elizabethan acting companies that once presented Shakespeare’s plays to the Earl of Leicester, Sir Francis Drake and the Virgin Queen of England. ...What is on offer is the miracle of the word made flesh. I wish you joy in it.”—Lewis Lapham, editor of Lapham’s Quarterly
Read the Newsletter that accompanied "Wasted" here
"Dear Father"...A Kafka Cabaret
Presented by Yale Cabaret Hollywood in a workshop production, staged as a concert reading at The Atlantic Theatre in May, 2012, further developed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Black Swan Lab under the direction of Lue Douthit in 2016.
National Semifinalist, Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, 2012
National Semifinalist, Eugene O'Neill National Music Theatre Conference, 2013
"Michael Goodfriend’s quaint ‘klezmer cabaret,’ with music by Paul Libman, vividly re-enacts writer Franz Kafka’s unhappy youth in turn-of-the-century Prague, which was dominated by his love-hate relationship with his overbearing father. The 29 year-old Franz desperately wants to escape the stranglehold of his father Hermann. But every time Franz ventures out of his little room, he encounters the old man’s visage in the authority figures around him. The only ray of hope for Franz, a schlemiel who’s haunted by the critical Hermann’s voice even while writing, lies in a sympathetic fraulein, his girlfriend Felice Bauer, who supports his dream of starting a kibbutz in Palestine. Scenes from the misunderstood artist’s grim life metamorphose into the surreal, then effortlessly return to realism. The dimly lit cavernous space adds a sinister feel, while whimsical tunes with titles like “I’m a Schlub” and “Where the Sun Will Sometimes Shine” keep the mood light."
~Backstage West
Screenplays:
"He, She and It"
Adapted by Michael Gabriel Goodfriend from the novel by bestselling author Marge Piercy
What will the world be like when the oil wars have ended, when global warming has melted the ice caps, when corporations reach the zenith of their power? Marge Piercy wrote “He, She and It” twenty years before these questions were at the forefront of the world’s consciousness. So far, her answers have proven chillingly accurate. This prescient story is as much a warning as it is an affirmation of the strength and resilience of the human spirit.
"Metamorphosis"
Screenplay by Michael Gabriel Goodfriend and Director / Producer Limor Diamant
Based on the play "Dear Father..." A Kafka Cabaret, "Metamorphosis" delves into the life and work of Franz Kafka through the surreal journey of his own roach/man protagonist, Gregor Samsa.
Adapted by Michael Gabriel Goodfriend from the novel by bestselling author Marge Piercy
What will the world be like when the oil wars have ended, when global warming has melted the ice caps, when corporations reach the zenith of their power? Marge Piercy wrote “He, She and It” twenty years before these questions were at the forefront of the world’s consciousness. So far, her answers have proven chillingly accurate. This prescient story is as much a warning as it is an affirmation of the strength and resilience of the human spirit.
"Metamorphosis"
Screenplay by Michael Gabriel Goodfriend and Director / Producer Limor Diamant
Based on the play "Dear Father..." A Kafka Cabaret, "Metamorphosis" delves into the life and work of Franz Kafka through the surreal journey of his own roach/man protagonist, Gregor Samsa.
Radio:
Writer, director and producer of over one-hundred satirical comic sketches performed on Sirius XM Radio's "Left Jab"
(List available upon request)
(List available upon request)