Forest Malley

Forest Malley

Forest Malley (not O’Malley, he’s significantly less Irish than that) is a Brooklyn-based playwright and performer from a notoriously witchy part of Massachusetts. His work explores memory, migration, queerness, God (or the lack thereof), divas, and his Arab-American heritage. He was one of seven winners of the 2022 Theater Masters short play festival, a finalist for the 2024 Page73 Writing Fellowship, and a...
Forest Malley (not O’Malley, he’s significantly less Irish than that) is a Brooklyn-based playwright and performer from a notoriously witchy part of Massachusetts. His work explores memory, migration, queerness, God (or the lack thereof), divas, and his Arab-American heritage. He was one of seven winners of the 2022 Theater Masters short play festival, a finalist for the 2024 Page73 Writing Fellowship, and a finalist for the 2023 O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference for his play Gidou. He is currently a member of the Page 73 Writer’s Group, Artists Against Apartheid, and a Planet Fitness in Bushwick. M.F.A: NYU Tisch School of the Arts ‘23; B.A: Harvard University ‘20.

Plays

  • French Boy Cigarettes by Forest Malley
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 3 more
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    Keyword: domestic abuse, Arab American + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, horror, melodrama, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: domestic abuse, Arab American, american immigration, queerness, Massachusetts, Kidnapping, Egyptian-American
    French Boy Cigarettes is part dark comedy, part thriller, part family drama about a 17-year-old Egyptian-American, Jawad, who lives with his grandmother Najla in a cramped apartment on the northern coast of Massachusetts. Trapped in an abusive relationship with a white boy from his town, and shamed by his conservative grandmother, Jawad makes the reckless decision to fight back against his abuser, and ends up...
    French Boy Cigarettes is part dark comedy, part thriller, part family drama about a 17-year-old Egyptian-American, Jawad, who lives with his grandmother Najla in a cramped apartment on the northern coast of Massachusetts. Trapped in an abusive relationship with a white boy from his town, and shamed by his conservative grandmother, Jawad makes the reckless decision to fight back against his abuser, and ends up kidnapping him. Now Jawad and Najla must figure out what to do with the badly bruised boy in the basement, with suspicious neighbors, the threat of deportation, and God’s judgment looming over their heads.
  • Gidou by Forest Malley
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: death and grief, A Family drama + 2 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: death and grief, A Family drama, Arab culture, love and pain and domestic abuse
    When Yassmine and her daughter Sami arrive at her childhood home, with its towering spiral staircase and the looming portrait of her departed father, the memories are as alive as the woman– Yassmine’s estranged mother– who still lives there. Gidou, an Arabic nickname for “grandfather,” is an exploration of the lasting legacy that men leave long after they’re gone: the good, the bad, the ugly, and the much uglier.
  • For You, The Same by Forest Malley
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: american immigration, bad marriage + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, melodrama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: american immigration, bad marriage, queerness, Egyptian-American, Jewish-American, green card marriage, green card, government bureacracy
    A full-length play about two twentysomethings, Yusef and Evelyn, who come together the night before their interview with USCIS to get on the same page about their fraudulent marriage, and try to cover up all the cracks that are already showing before the night begins.