WRITER
Michael has written several plays and is currently developing two screenplays. His work tends to lean into the absurd and darkly comedic.
Sometimes he's "remixing" the classics, sometimes creating unhinged new worlds, sometimes exploring the dark underbelly of Southern NJ.
Almost always using the F word.
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Plays:
FRANKENSTEIN UNLEASHED:
Full Length. 2m, 2f, 1 boy. Flexible Casting & Set.
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Frankenstein Unleashed is a wickedly in-your-face tragicomic riff on Mary Shelley’s classic novel, exploring what happens when Victor Frankenstein actually completes his work on The Creature’s “Bride.” Infusing bold humor, classical allusions, and a fair dose of all-out gore, Michael Gardiner’s new play ponders nothing less than what it means to be “alive.”
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Workshop: The Black Box, 2021.
THE CRAB WIFE:
One-Act. 3m, 1f. Flexible Casting & Set.
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In a dingy seaside village, a suicidal crab-fisherman gets a new lease on life when he catches the love of his life in a net. Hint: she's a crab.
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Workshop: The Black Box, 2021.
ALL HOPE IS LOST:
Full Length, Dark Comedy. 5 Actors.
Flexible Casting & Set.
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Somewhere between a Grimm fairy tale and a bright kid's TV show, the impossibly optimistic and innocent Hope embarks on a bizarre odyssey of self-discovery. As she meets a multitude of freakish characters, she begins to question: can hope truly flourish in an absurd and mean world?
There's more work in development... but for now... shhhhhh....
