Photo by Jane Myers

Writer Teacher Writing Coach

Featured Work

Writer Teacher Writing Coach

Featured Work

A novel for middle grade readers

Rescuing Oricito, The Almost True Story of a South American Street Dog A novel for middle grade readers.

Illustrations by Tatiana Messina, 2016

An eight-week puppy, Oricito, is abandoned on the streets of Valdivia, Chile, where he falls in with veteran strays, Rico and Valiente. Together they survive the daily onslaughts of threats, but disagree on their dreams for the future.

“. . . indigenous mythology of animal shape-shifting. Chilean culture and canine heroics intertwine as author Marty Kingsbury takes us beyond fleas and ticks into the heart of stray mutt whose story is the story of abandoned dogs everywhere.” 

–Bark Magazine, Jecenia Figueroa, Fall 2014

The Scent of Tulips:

One Act, 20 minutes. Two women, 80s.

Set Design by Daryl Marzyck for Minority Voices Theatre, 2020

“A bittersweet duet about love that has endured time and societal disapproval.”

–Marianne Evett Cleveland Plain Dealer 1994

Tough Acts to Follow: One Acts Plays of the Lesbian and Gay Experience, edited by Noreen Barnes and Nicholas Deutsch, Alamo Square Press, San Francisco, 1992

Brandeis University, 1993
Cleveland Theater Company, 1994
Little Apple Theatre, Eugene, Oregon, 1994
Minority Voices Theater, Eugene, Oregon, 2020

Lucille:

One act, 40 minutes. Two women, 30s.

Two sisters grapple with a history of incest, mental illness, and their memories of childhood.

Image:  Pam Karlin as Lucille, Brandeis University, photo by Ariel Goldberger

Monologues for Women by Women, edited by Tori Haring-Smith and Liz Engleman, Heinemann Drama, 2004 

Women’s Theatre Group: Young Vic, London, England, 1988
Brandeis University, Waltham, MA: 1993
Women on Top Festival, Boston, MA: 1994

Reviews

“This harrowing tale of rape and reverberation is told by her sister in powerfully poetic language. . . .  affirmation of life and recovery”

–The Theatre Mirror Beverly Creasy 1994

“. . . the kind of production that warrants an audience because of its deep and thought-provoking message.”

–Brandeis Justice, Andrew Douglass, 1993

Cousins:

Two acts, 90 minutes, six women, one men, 15-35 years

Photo: Marty Kingsbury with Kathryn Price in developmental rehearsal, 1990, photo by Susie Chancey

A fire brings two families, one straight and one lesbian, together in a small apartment, challenging every notion of love, family, and loyalty.

Brandeis University, 1993, winner Harold and Mimi Steinberg Award for Best New Play

Triangle Theatre, Boston, MA 1995

Review

“A moving portrayal of relationships.”

–Brandeis Justice, Mchelle Saar, 1993

Sister of Fire:

Three Acts, 90 minutes; four women, two men, 20’s.

Photo: Carol Fusco as Jada, Od Cambridge Baptist Church, 1985

A woman accused of witchcraft in Shakespearean England finds solace with a gypsy fortune teller.

Sister of Fire is beautifully written. Marty Kingsbury’s optimistic view of fate as a force that may be altered by individuals who are brave and powerful enough to take their rightful place alongside the forces of nature constitutes a valid refutation of the Greco-Shakespearean view of fate as an inexorable force.”

–Margot Fitzgerald, The Mass Media, 1985

Also by Marty Kingsbury:

And So the Angels Waited

Two acts, 90 minutes, four women, three men, 20s- 40s.

A stable boy in New Mexico is kicked in the head by a horse. Turns out it was a set-up by the angels because they want him to sing in the choir. But when he does not die, the angels are banned from song, and this causes a seven-year drought to parch the earth. Inspired by the short story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez:

finalist, Bay Area Playwrighting Competition, 1995

Lasagna

Ten minute, two women, 40s.

Tiger is making a lasagna while Pauline, an Alzheimer’s patient, makes it clear that she prefers spaghetti.