RYAN BERNSTEN
writer. theatre-maker. teacher. community-builder.
Ryan Bernsten is a writer whose work has been published and performed off-Broadway and internationally. Ryan received his master's degree from the University of Oxford, where he graduated with honors and received a distinction for his narrative non-fiction account of his American travels, 50 States of Mind. Onstage, ATLANTIC––a collaboration with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and his alma mater Northwestern University––won critical acclaim at Edinburgh Fringe and DREAM TICKET (Players Theatre, off-Broadway) won the NY Fringe Excellence Award and was recommended by The Huffington Post and TimeOut. Other credits include WE ARE BLOOD (Kansas City Public Theatre); BAD PRESS (Cherry Lane Theatre); THE NEW ORDER (Corkscrew Theatre Festival, Oxford University Dramatic Society Best Play for Voices); and his one-man show CAMPAIGN/NO GAIN, performed internationally. Ryan has been published in USA Today, The Oxford Political Review, and the Oxymoron, and worked with CONAN and The Onion. The companion podcast 50 States of Mind won the King’s Hall Grant and can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. While traveling to all 50 states, he fell in love with his native Midwest all over again and moved from the coast back to the center of the country.
PRODUCTIONS
DREAM TICKET
Off-Broadway, Players Theatre NYC
directed by Kristin Skye Hoffmann
"Dream Ticket brings satirical Republican politics through Ryan Bernsten’s highly focused Democratic lens to shed light on our corrupt love of candidacy drama, instead of where the focus should really be—on the American people." - Theatre is Easy
"With comedy like "Veep", drama like "Scandal" and Sorkin-esque wisdom and sensibility, Dream Ticket by Ryan Bernsten is an aptly timed political play." - Theatre in the Now
ATLANTIC: AMERICA & THE GREAT WAR
Edinburgh Fringe Mainstage, Assembly Hall
directed by David H. Bell
"... a moving and dramatic piece of theatre." - British Theatre Guide
"tackl[es] what it means to be American. The themes and dialogue allow us to look back in glorious hindsight to the faults of the time, while the emphasis on the dangers of the media draws relevant parallels with present times... and is undoubtedly an excellent theatre piece." - EdfestMagazine
BAD PRESS
First Amendment Project, Cherry Lane Theatre
directed by Andrés López-Alicea
Fundraiser for the ACLU by Wide-Eyed Productions
In this political satire, a former U.S. president recruits a national joke to run in the Democratic primary, hoping to sabotage her bland husband's competition and ensure victory. However, the media's hunger for drama has unintended consequences as the power couple attempts to harness the bad press for their own ends.
THE NEW ORDER
Best New Play for Voices, Oxford University
directed by Morag Campbell and Alice Taylor
directed by Kristin Skye Hoffmann
In this post-apocalyptic thriller, a widowed mother and daughter on a rural farm take in survivors as an act of goodness in a desolate world. All is well until the arrival of an other-worldly order of nomadic nuns. When rations run scare, the nuns begin imposing their strange doctrine on the house and when the tenants fight back, they find that their dogma is much deadlier than anticipated.
Listen to the radio play produced in partnership with Oxide radio.
PRESS & MEDIA
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