Straton Rushing
Playwright + Other Stuff
Plays
Mutability
(2F, 3M) The small rural town of Craven, Texas, is changing and local gas station owner Frank Hooper is not okay with it. Hoping to scare away the influx of remote-working millennials that see the town as a cute getaway, Frank has begun posing as a "creepy hillbilly" a la 'Texas Chainsaw' to freak people out. Once his daughter Mary visits for spring break and discovers his harebrained scheme, the pair find themselves digging up old grudges and arguing. Matters are further complicated by ghosts and a killer on the loose whose motivations are unclear until it’s too late.
Accolades: Runner Up, Todd McNerney Playwriting Award (2024), Finalist, ATHE Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award (2023), Finalist, Kitchen Dog New Works (2023)
Development: Pegasus Theatre’s Fresh Reads Festival, ASU TheatreLAB, New Deal Creative Arts Center’s Hudson Valley Theatre Festival
Welcome to the Fair!
(3-9 F, 3-10 M) Huzzah and good morrow y’all! In the quirky west Texas oilfield town of Patterson (population 4,134), the residents decide to host their own renaissance fair. Failed former professor Dr. Kit Marvin and social outcast Mollie Baptiste lead the operation, with Mollie's hillbilly cousin Cletus as their main ally. They must scramble, lie, and cut every corner to keep the fair up to county code, as the Sheriff looks for any excuse to shut the magic down. A laugh-out-loud comedy in two acts
Accolades: Co-Winner, The Chameleon Theatre Circle's 25th Annual New Play Contest (2025), Semi-Finalist, Utah Shakespeare Festival’s Words Cubed Play Festival (2025)
Development: Baylor University, Theatre Arlington's Play Readers' Club, Chameleon Theatre Circle
America’s Favorite Gameshow
(1F/NB, 1M, 2A) Welcome to the live taping of 'America's Favorite Gameshow'! The contestants are not quite sure how they got here... actually these games seem - weird? And how much money are we playing for anyways?... You expect us to do what!?!?... What starts out as a normal day on set, slowly morphs into an interactive dystopian nightmare that asks the audience - Are you willing to play along?
Accolades: Semi-Finalist SLU Inkslinger Award (2026)
Development: Second Thought Theatre's Thought Process, Sewanee Writer's Conference
Happy Wright
(1A) Happy Wright is a strange person, this much we can say for certain. They love aviation, poetry, and Saturdays. But Happy's mind is plagued with questions, the kind that makes the world really confusing. Loosely inspired by Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days, the show is a portrait of anxiety, bravery, and the help we can give each other when we are willing to.
Accolades: Bela Kiralyfalvi National Playwriting Award (2022), Honorable Mention, William Faulkner Literary Award for Playwriting (2022)
Development: Workshop Production, Wichita State University (2022), ASU TheatreLAB (2021), Mid-America Theatre Conference Play Symposium (developed with dramaturg Suzi Elnaggar), Finalist, The Sauk’s Plays-In-Progress Series (2021)
Circles & Walls
(3F, 2M) Alex L’Estrange is serving a sentence in Huntsville penitentiary. After an incident with other inmates, he is sentenced to solitary confinement, where he begins to hear a voice in his head that identifies itself only as “the Narrator”. As the days pass by, the Narrator’s intentions slowly come to light. On the outside, his younger sister Kyra is trying to navigate life as a young college student with her only family member newly behind bars. And when a new person comes into her life and challenges her to come out of her shell, she isn’t sure how to proceed. Both siblings must face past ghosts, and try to find a new normal for themselves during Alex’s incarceration.
Accolades: Bela Kiralyfalvi National Playwriting Award (2022), Honorable Mention, William Faulkner Literary Award for Playwriting (2022)
Development: Workshop Production, Wichita State University (2022), ASU TheatreLAB (2021), Mid-America Theatre Conference Play Symposium (developed with dramaturg Suzi Elnaggar), Finalist, The Sauk’s Plays-In-Progress Series (2021)