Writer - Teacher - Consultant

California born × world inspired

Personalized Play Production Assistance

Now that you've bought one of Bryan's plays, you can hire the playwright to help guide you through your production! Bryan will be available to you every step of the way from auditions to the curtain call, advising you on blocking, sets, costumes, props, special effects, lighting, music, publicity, ticket sales and more. Bryan has directed over 40 shows in the past 12 years and he has produced every play that he has written. Hire him today so that he can help you make the most of your Bryan Starchman production.

Rates start at $500 and include one-on-one guidance, phone conferences, same day e-mail responses, and Zoom check-ins for up to 8 weeks of your production.

Half-day playwriting and theater consulting

Aimed at working with students to teach them how to write their own original stories, plays, and screenplays. An entertaining, energy-packed interactive hour long keynote address customized for your school, organization, or church group followed by two hours of work shopping will get students from elementary through high school writing their first scenes in minutes. The program includes Bryan's original reproducibles for teachers to use in their classrooms.

Rates start at $300 for a half day, plus travel expenses.

Full-day playwriting and theater consulting

Aimed at schools that want to restructure or start a drama program on a shoe string budget. Bryan's full-day event is entitled "No Stage, No Props, No Costumes, No Lights, No Scripts, No Problems: How To Start a Drama Program from Scratch". After an entertaining, energy-packed interactive keynote address, Bryan will go on to teach you how to start a drama class that not only follows the new National Standards, but also gives you the tools to create your own original royalty free productions to produce as low-cost, high-return fundraisers. Included is a full semester worth of lesson plans with reproducibles and free original scenes that will allow you to teach drama anywhere! After just one day of training, you will be ready to create a new class or after school program using materials you already have available at your school site or in your community.

Rates start at $500 for a full day, plus travel expenses.

Senior Personal Statement consulting

Aimed at high school seniors preparing their personal statements for college applications. Bryan has taught personal statement writing for the UC Berkeley College Prep Camp at the Lair of the Bear in Pinecrest, California. Now you can have your own personal writing teacher to help you write an effective personal statement for any college. Working through the writing process online, through Skype or FaceTime, and over the phone, Bryan is accessible to anyone who wants to get an edge on the competition. You will work through the writing process from brainstorming to final draft in as little as a week with one-on-one guidance from Bryan. Bryan's students have gone on to be accepted at Duke, Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, USC, NYU, Princeton, and many other prestigious colleges. Most college applications are due by November, so it's never too early to start working on your personal statement.

Rates start at $250 and include one-on-one one instruction, phone conferences, same day e-mail responses, Zoom meetings, and thorough edits/feedback throughout the writing process.

Teacher and Student Feedback

“This is the third play we have done by this author. They are well-suited for our school and drama class, and they have all been successes. Comments from the audience indicated that this is the funniest play that we have done, and they said the same about the Bryan Starchman play we did last year! I didn't even read this play before I ordered it: I trust the author that much. Never miss an opportunity to present any of his plays. (He even came to one of our productions, to the delight of the cast and audience!!)” J.C., Director, Burney (CA) High School

"We were riding a pretty big high after two consecutive sellouts with "Grease" and "The Wizard of Oz" (we had never had a sellout at our school in 55 years of existence). So we tried to cash in on our recent success and enthusiasm for drama productions and do a contemporary, low-budget show that our whole school and community could relate to. It was a smash hit. We personalized it as you suggested and it made it even funnier. It was a lot of fun to produce and direct. I would thoroughly recommend it to any school any where any time. Thanks, and we will be contacting you again for future shows." S.V., Director, NHS, Fenton, MO

*****

“Our production was a huge success. The kids were able to play the parts to perfection, since most of them were about to enter high school. As a director I feel it is important to allow the kids freedom with the characters and the blocking and they came up with some great ideas to make the show their own. The parents were very excited to see a different play, as they had seen all of the ‘standard’ plays that have been produced over and over again. It was a lot of fun for everyone! You always have plays that are suited to a teenage cast. Keep up the good work!” – C.C., Director, Junior Straw Hat Theatre, Highland Heights, OH

*****

"This was a hysterical play that received rave reviews from the audience! It was awesome that we were able to tailor the play to our school. Unbelievabley, two of the teachers" names in scene seven are actually teachers at our school! So fitting! With a large cast, minimal budget to produce, this was a great fund-raiser as well. This play was also a great way to highlight my seniors and it pulled in some new great talented freshmen. Thank you for having such wonderful material to choose from!" -- J.C., Gardner (MA) High School

"Our tiny little high school (45 students 9-12) did 'High-Schooler's Guide to the Galaxy' and it was awesome! The set is super easy, not really even a set. Costuming is even easier! The play was so funny, we had to take a 'timeout' so the audience could come down from laughing. It was the funniest play I've ever seen. Many audience members said it was the funniest they'd ever seen as well. You must do this play!! FYI - "Harold's" monologue is why we had to wait for the entire auditorium to settle down." --G.F., Director, Bern H.S., Seneca, KS

*****

"With no huge solo parts and absolutely wonderful chorus numbers, this was the perfect pick for our ability level. The dialog is crazy funny and the musical numbers are super easy to add lots of neat dance steps to. 'Just Another High School Musical' is a blast to produce and the kids loved it!!!"--J.P., Director, Osawatomie (KS) H.S.

*****

"Our audiences loved this show, and my students had great fun performing it. We used a cast of 40, but rehearsals were easy to schedule because of the separate scenes. We enjoyed the flexibility of doing as much or as little as needed for set and costumes--we added some elaborate Elizabethan costumes, sock puppets, and a castle with burning torches just to spice things up. We also slipped in a tribute to our seniors by using old set pieces and costumes from every past production they've been in." -- E.O., Director, Le Mars (IA) Community High School

"It was a huge success. Several audience members told me that it was the funniest show they had ever seen. I liked the flexible cast and the fact that there was no set -- that made it an easy production to do." - G.A., Director, Prairie View H.S., Lacygne, KS

The junior class of Arlington High School had a BLAST doing this play. I've had so many compliments and the audience LOVED the humor. I heard things like 'maybe the best play ever' and 'I just loved the message it sent.' We introduced the play as a 'trip through the old photo album'...full of our favorite family memories. We used 'oldies' music as an additional layer while we made scene changes. The audience seemed to enjoy that as well. Again, I just wanted to thank you for such a GREAT play! It couldn't have been better!” – K.S., Director, Arlington (OH) H.S.

*****

The junior class of Arlington High School had a BLAST doing this play. I've had so many compliments and the audience LOVED the humor. I heard things like 'maybe the best play ever' and 'I just loved the message it sent.' We introduced the play as a 'trip through the old photo album'...full of our favorite family memories. We used 'oldies' music as an additional layer while we made scene changes. The audience seemed to enjoy that as well. Again, I just wanted to thank you for such a GREAT play! It couldn't have been better!” – K.S., Director, Arlington (OH) H.S.

*****

Bio and Contact

BIO

BRYAN STARCHMAN grew up in the small foothill town of Mariposa, CA., just outside of Yosemite National Park. He began writing short stories in the first grade and fell in love with screenwriting in high school. Soon he tried his hand at playwriting. At UCLA, he spent four years honing his craft. There, he won the UCLA playwriting award for his satire on fraternity life. He worked as a script reader and production assistant at FOX studios for John Davis (Predator, Courage Under Fire, Grumpy Old Men, Dr. Doolittle), Bender/Spink (The Butterfly Effect, The Ring, A History of Violence) and STARZ (Spartacus, Magic City). He then returned to Mariposa to teach American Literature, American Film, AP Language and Rhetoric, and Theatre for 20 years. He now lives in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.

His 21 published plays have been produced over 3000 times in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, 9 out of 10 Canadian Provinces (come on Prince Edward Island!) and nine more countries including Mexico, England, Italy, Dubai of the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, and Portugal. He has also collaborated with playwright and composer Stephen Murray to create the satirical "Just Another High School Musical" and “Parents Just Don’t Understand: The Musical”·

In 2015 he was an executive producer of TEDxYosemite. The event featured eight speakers including scientists, activists, and performers throughout a full day event that included hands on activities that related to the national park. Participants told their own stories in a StoryCorps booth and those stories went on to be cataloged at the Library of Congress. In 2018 he was the recipient of the NBC RISE grant beating out nearly 1,000 other schools for $20,000 and his drama program was featured coast to coast on The Today Show.

In 2020 he was sponsored by the National Steinbeck Center and planned on traveling to all 50 states in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley but Covid-19 cut his travels short. His non-fiction essays from the road have been featured in the national print magazine ROVA and his latest book, United Scenes of America: Travel Essays in the time of COVID-19 and Other Wanderings, is now available at Amazon.com.

In the past year his short fiction has been featured in The Saturday Evening Post and in the literary journals After Dinner Conversation, In Parentheses, Scribble, Apracity, Avalon Literary Review, The Good Life Review, and Litro.

More information at www.bryanstarchman.com

Contact

We are anxious to hear from you about your productions, inquiries for one-on-one consulting, or if you have any questions about Bryan's work. Contact us at: bryanstarchman@gmail.com