Mum Bett
The true story of a late 18th-century enslaved woman who sues her owner for her freedom — a lawsuit that became a landmark case in the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts.
About
The reporter's eye, on stage.
Melanie Payne is an investigative reporter, author, and playwright. Over her journalism career she has won numerous awards, including six regional Emmys and a national Edward R. Murrow Award for her work in Florida television news, along with print journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, and the Florida Society of News Editors.
Her play Color Blind was a finalist for the Obsidian Theatre Festival in 2023. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and was featured in The Dramatist magazine's Summer 2024 “New Works” edition.
Her plays — comedies, dramas, and docudramas rooted in real history — have been developed and produced on stages across the country, and are available for licensing.
The Plays
Available for production
Every play below is finished and ready for the stage. Synopses tell you if it fits your season; get in touch to read a script or talk licensing.
Color Blind
Two best friends, one Black and one White, discover they are distantly related through enslavement. Rather than bringing them closer, the discovery opens a rift — and when their teenage children get involved, it exposes biases neither woman can deny, putting their decades-long friendship in peril.
Finalist, Obsidian Theatre Festival, 2023
True Colors
In 1924, Leonard Kip Rhinelander — heir to a family fortune and ancient legacy — married Alice Beatrice Jones, a former lady's maid. Rich men had married beneath their station before; had that been all, the marriage might have survived. But it was Alice's race that doomed the marriage and turned it into a front-page story.
Final Arrangements
Jackie and Evelyn's father has died, and the two must agree on his final arrangements. They have never agreed on anything. When the argument stalls, they turn to “Uncle” Reuben — an attorney and lifelong friend of their father's — to mediate. He sides with Evelyn. But why?
Improper Nouns
When best friends fall out over a Scrabble game, their husbands explain why they shouldn't be friends anymore — and how maybe, they never were.
Routine
Dan Brown is in a rut: a new job, a new baby, a teenage daughter, and a new wife just over half his age. Then, as his life finally looks to be turning around, he forgets his infant in the back seat of his car. A reminder of how technology and our fast-paced, deadline-driven world can make us lose sight of what matters.
Shorted
Santa's elves plot revolt when Santa decides to hire from outside the elf community. A Shakespeare-quoting elf helps them see the error of their ways — and reclaim their elf-manity.
Angels Unawares: A Christmas Play
A contemporary retelling of the Nativity: Jose and Maria, Mexican immigrants, find shelter in a storage unit in Florida on Christmas Eve.
Inviting Marie
Charlotte and her brother Chris are planning a birthday party for their elderly dad — until he asks to invite a former neighbor with whom he carried on a decades-old affair. Things get complicated when Charlotte learns the two had a child more than fifty years ago: Chris's high-school sweetheart, Vivian.
Eternal Flame
A sister fights with her brother's wife over who will control his life — and his death.
Staged reading — Fade To Black Play Festival, Houston, 2019
Party Planning
An older woman and her elderly father spar over her plans to throw him a 90th birthday party.
Unhoused
A police officer encounters a homeless woman camping behind a convenience store — a violation of Florida law.
Puppy Love
A child comes home with a stray dog.
On God's Earth
The true story, told first-person, of Elizabeth Freeman — a formerly enslaved woman who sued for her freedom in 18th-century Massachusetts.
Bad Taste
A woman recounts her first brush with racism as a child in the 1960s.
The playwright, June 1963
On stage & in print
Produced. Published. Performed.
Melanie's engaging and informative storytelling.
Beyond the stage
Also available for
Plays on Consignment
Need a piece written for your theater, community group, your cast or special occasion? Melanie writes plays on commission — anything from ten-minute pieces to full-length plays.
Storytelling
Engaging and stimulating storytelling. Available topics include fraud and scams, consumer protection, print and TV journalism, Black history, and women's history.
Freelance Writing
Investigative features, essays, and reported pieces from an award-winning journalist and six-time Emmy and Edward R. Murrow Award executive producer.
Contact
Let's talk about your production.
Interested in reading a script, licensing a play, or commissioning new work? Every production starts with a conversation. Send me a note.
Or email directly:
melanie@bymelaniepayne.com