In Detroit, 1967, a Jewish housewife and an aspiring Motown singer forge an unlikely friendship in a city about to explode. Can two women from different backgrounds find common language? Inspired by a true story.

Developed with Leigh Silverman, Lisa Timmel and Stacey Mindich Productions.

Originally workshopped as 1300 LAFAYETTE EAST with the Jewish Plays Project and in Detroit with Performance Network, Plowshares and JET.

Finalist for the Trish Vradenburg Prize, Theater J, Washington DC.

A three-character coming-of-age comedy set in the East Village when it was still the East Village in New York when it was still New York. A valentine to the unique friendship between mostly-straight women and definitely-queer men. Full of acerbic wit and Gen X references, this play speaks to the moment when the generation whose friends were family must face the inevitable — growing up.

Developed with Michael Barakiva and Lisa Timmel under the title QUEER THEORY. The play has received support from The Hangar Theater’s AIRS Residency and has been developed at the Lark and New Dramatists.

James Waterston and Annie MacNamara in the 2008 Women’s Expressive Theater production of A Perfect Couple at DR2 Theater.

Amy and Isaac are the perfect couple. Amy and Emma are the perfect friends. If everyone is so perfect, why are they so unhappy? A dark comedy about love, growing up and letting each other go.

“Enjoyable comedy-drama…Ms. Berman has a breezy, accessible voice.”
—Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

Relationships and the City, and a Little Band of Gold New York Times – June 20, 2008

Produced by WET. Developed by The Royal National Theatre, London; Naked Angels, MCC, New Dramatists and New River Dramatists, North Carolina. Commissioned by Arielle Tepper Productions.

Keira Naughton in the 2008 Primary Stages production of Hunting and Gathering at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by James Leynse.

Four New Yorkers seek shelter, both physical and spiritual, in a variety of temporary abodes and in one another in this dark comedy. Named one of the Ten Best Plays of 2008 by New York Magazine.

“As every young, single New Yorker quickly learns, real estate is destiny in this town, a fact of urban life that Brooke Berman addresses with bracing wit and intelligence…Berman wastes no time exercising the satirical verbal wit that has already opened doors for her with savvy institutional theaters like Second Stage and Steppenwolf…in re-casting the old relationship questions as real-estate issues–who will move in with whom and what will be the price of this commitment? –Berman finds a fresh and funny way of looking at the mortal terrors of being young and on your own in a bewildering existential landscape.
—Marilyn Stasio, Variety

Produced by Primary Stages, NYC.
Developed by MCC, Underwood Theater, New Dramatists.

Betsy Aidem, Ally Sheedy and Mark Blum in the 2004 Second Stage Theater production of The Triple Happiness at the McGinn Cazale Theater. Photos by Trip Happ.

On the verge of the Millennium, a strange teenaged prophetess obsessed with New Wave music invites a suburban family and a raunchy movie star to join her in welcoming The New World.

Produced by Second Stage Theater.
Developed by MCC, The Hourglass Group, The Playwrights Center, The Royal Court Theatre (London), ASK Theater Projects (LA).

Lucy, clad in vintage Gucci, struggles with Saturn Return, ghosts, and family legends while lunching with her mother’s lover.

“Brooke Berman’s script is one of the most promising ever at the Next Stage Series of readings…. At times elegiac and at times hilarious, it uses a sextet of actors to tell, in musical, contrapuntal interplay, the story of a young woman who begins to find her adult identity with the return of her long-missing father, meetings with her mother’s long-ago lover and (spoiler alert!) the death of her mother. ”
—Tony Brown, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Unproduced.
Developed by SPF, Cleveland Playhouse, Rattlestick, MCC.

Katharine Powell and Merritt Wever in the 2003 Play Company production of Smashing. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

21-year-old It Girl Abby and her plucky best friend Clea embark on a spur-of-the-moment revenge trip to London — Abby, pursuing of the young novelist who has cannibalized her in his literary debut and Clea desperately seeking Madonna.

“Berman brings layered points of view, clever dialogue, and breezy jump-cut plotting…. Berman has a sharp satiric ear.”
— The Village Voice

Produced by The Play Company.
Developed by The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, MCC, Rising Phoenix Rep and The Play Company.

Claire and Sevrin, newly minted best friends, take a thrilling walk in each other’s shoes when they swap apartments for the summer. But all turns sour when Claire begins to suspect that her captivating new friend may be a grifter.

Unproduced.
Developed: Bay Area Playwrights Foundation’s Rough Reading Series, Primary Stages, Playwrights Rep at Brown University and MCC Theater.