PLAYWRITING
"In aiming for a space between an August: Osage County and an A24 horror film, Bernsten’s production successfully nails the tone where, whatever the third act brings, it’s well-earned... A folk horror for the folks at home, We Are Blood earns its inheritance."
DREAM TICKET
"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
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"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
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WE ARE BLOOD
see gallery/sizzle
"In aiming for a space between an August: Osage County and an A24 horror film, Bernsten’s production successfully nails the tone where, whatever the third act brings, it’s well-earned... A folk horror for the folks at home, We Are Blood earns its inheritance." - The Pitch
"Thought-provoking, humorous, suspenseful... menacing... downright demonic." - Broadway World
Is family forever? In this horror/thriller, a recently widowed New Yorker and her son return to rural Missouri to evict her estranged sister from their childhood home. Discovering the house in disrepair and the inhabitants experimenting with occult magic, the family is forced to exorcise demons from their past.
Photo Credit Ryan Bruce
Photo Credit Ryan Bruce
Photo Credit Ryan Bruce
"Development/Award History:
William Jewell College, Production 2024
ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition, Finalist 2024
Olathe Civic Theatre Association (Production, 2023)
Angels Theatre Company (Reading Series, 2023)
Kansas City Public Theatre (Theatre Lab, 2021)
Northwestern University (Zoom Reading, 2020 password: Frances)
Ashland New Play Festival (Semifinalist, 2022)
NOVEL
Two ambitious writers mine their trauma to create a masterpiece in a writing program helmed by a horror novelist, only to find themselves trapped in a twisted experiment.
Development:
The Arts Asylum (2025)
Kansas City Public Theatre (TheatreLab 2024)
Charlotte Street Foundation, 2022*
Kansas City Scratch Night, 2022
“Bernsten’s plays always have a twist. NOVEL possesses the most shocking one... it’s damn good theatre.” - The Pitch
"What seems like an intense writer’s retreat and an opportunity for career advancement, turns into a psychological house of mirrors in NOVEL. The leads—a neurotic gay man and a self-assured woman—compete for an acclaimed horror author’s approval. Even though this novelist’s teaching methods include lacing food with psychedelics and torturing his students close to death, his validation is still sought after." - The Pitch
ATLANTIC: AMERICA & THE GREAT WAR
"... 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
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THE NEW ORDER
In this post-apocalyptic thriller, a widowed mother and daughter take in survivors to help rebuild their farm. All is well until an other-worldly order of nomadic nuns arrives seeking shelter—as the Sisters start imposing their strange doctrine on the household, the tenants fight back against a dogma that is far deadlier than expected.
"THE NEW ORDER is almost as if The Beguiled happened in Ethel Cain’s house in Nebraska, but somehow even bloodier. Haunted with visions of three chilling nuns, Anna possesses a certain rage only capable of a teenage girl. After a trigger-happy president left the world in a nuclear fallout, Anna’s hopelessly submissive mother opened their home to a displaced couple expecting a baby." - The Pitch
Development:
William Jewell College, Production 2024
Kansas City Horror Play Festival, 2022
Oxford Best New Play for Voices, 2018
Corkscrew Theatre Festival, 2017
Listen to the radio play produced in partnership with Oxide radio.
BAD PRESS
Fundraiser for the ACLU by Wide-Eyed Productions
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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.
Is America as divided as it seems? Oxford University graduate student Ryan Bernsten takes a 23,000-mile journey through all 50 states of his home country to answer that question. 50 States of Mind: A Journey to Rediscover American Democracy is a work of travel nonfiction in the style of Alexis de Tocqueville that takes readers on a long and winding journey through all 50 states to explore the complexities of today’s America. Leading with the desire to listen and overcome preconceived notions, Bernsten ultimately offers a hopeful vision for the future of America as he embarks on a search for meaning and reflects on what it means to be American. The companion podcast “50 States of Mind,” featured in Condé Nast Traveler, showcases live interviews from the journey and is available on all podcast platforms. 50 States of Mind has been featured on Kansas City NPR, Two Broads Talking Politics, Sanity, Chicago Indivisible, Northwestern Intersections, Travel For a Loop, and in The Pitch and Condé Nast Traveler.
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LISTEN TO THE PODCAST:
For press inquiries, contact julian.costley@bite-sizedbooks.com.
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PUBLICATIONS
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- "America Gets the President It Deserves" - Newsweek
- "The Best Restaurants In Kansas City, Missouri" - The Infatuation
- "The Best Restaurants in Bentonville" - The Infatuation
- "Kansas City’s theater artists are second to none. They need local opportunities to thrive" - The Kansas City Star
- 50 States of Mind a Journey to Rediscover American Democracy - Bite-Sized Books
- "How to Support LGBTQ Young People Ahead of the Election" - The Trevor Project
- "I traveled to all 50 states to find solutions to America’s political division: Here’s what I learned on the ground" - The Fulcrum
- "Our Resolution: Defeat Anti-LGBTQ Bills in 2023" - The Trevor Project
- "How to Talk About Suicide Safely" - The Trevor Project
- "50 States of Mind – What Americans could learn from a visit to all 50 states" - Oxford Political Review
- "Enough of the Social Media OUTRAGE" - USA Today
- GradeSaver (TM) ClassicNotes: All the President's Men - Amazon
Restaurant Reviews by Ryan
"BBQ is a lifestyle in KC. A religion, even. So to publicly declare your BBQ allegiance (let alone rank places) is a gamble. In a perfect world, you’d have the time (or an extra stomach) to try all the BBQ spots on this list and their unique spins on KC’s famously thick, rich sauces."
