Griselda Steiner
Playwright & Screenwriter
Griselda Steiner is a playwright, poet, feature article and screenplay writer. Currently a member of the Dramatist Guild and K/Q Theatre, NYC, she has been a member of The Actors Studio Playwrights and Directors Unit NYC, Polaris North Theatre NYC and The Episcopal Actors Guild NYC.
Her short play “KATTIE IN WONDERLAND” was performed in Westbeth in September 2025. Her play “SHAKESPEARE ON THE ROCKS” was read at K/Q Theatre in November 2024. In the summer of 2018 scenes from her play “SHAKESPEARE ON THE ROCKS” were featured in the Small Plates Productions at the Episcopal Actors Guild and in October 2020 were read at Polaris North Theatre.
In 2019 her drama with poetry “MARY M and THE MAD PROPHET” was presented at Angelica’s Salon, NYC. In 2017 her short play “MACTRUMP” was performed in the Village Playwrights Halloween Festival.
Her musical “HYPATIA” was presented at the Actors Studio. Songs from “HYPATIA” were performed in concert at St. Peter’s Church, NYC and with dance at The Open Center, NYC.
Scenes from her screenplays “DAVINCI’S NEW WORLD ORDER” and “THE GODDESS IN EXILE” have been published in Scene4 Arts Magazine online.
Her poetry compilation “The Silent Power of Words” was the book of the month where she was interviewed on Whimsy’s’ YouTube channel. Her poems have been published in numerous literary journals and online magazines. Griselda poetry videos are featured on her YouTube channel.
Her feature articles have been published in THE MAILER REVIEW, AMERICAN THEATRE MAGAZINE, PARABOLA and FILMMAKERS NEWSLETTER and many more.
For readings please reach out through email: griseldasteiner@gmail.com
Hypatia ©
Musical Drama
Book/Lyric Griselda Steiner
Composer Aurora Northland
At the turn of the century the Old Diva wanders the grand opera stage where she performed during her career. The theatre is slated to be torn down the next day. When she trips on a trap door she dreams of the tragic deaths of the great opera heroines she played – The Queen of the Night, Carmen, Azucena, Salome and Violetta. These heroines try to change their destiny that always ends in in their death by confronting their composers. They are led through trials set for them by Hypatia, Crown Priestess of Destiny. “Souls born from man’s imagination, challenge the premise of your creation. Stop you can be free – You can change your destiny.” The original music is in lyric style mixed with arias from the heroine’s operas.
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MAIN CHARACTERS
THE OLD DIVA
HYPATIA
CARMEN (from “Carmen” by Georges Bizet)
AZUCENA (from “Il Trovatore” by Giuseppe Verdi)
VIOLETTA (from “La Traviatta” by Giuseppe Verdi)
SALOME (from “Salome” by Richard Strauss)
THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT (from “The Magic Flute” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
COMPOSERS
(can be played by one actor)
GEORGES BIZET, WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, GIUSEPPE VERDI, RICHARD STRAUSS
Seven main women characters and four male composers who can be performed by one actor.
This musical offers wonderful roles for women with a mix of humor and drama. The songs composed can be read as poetry.
HISTORY
“HYPATIA” was presented at the Actors Studio. Songs from “HYPATIA” were performed in concert at St. Peter’s Church, NYC and with dance at The Open Center, NYC.
“My Daughters” is a lyric poem from my musical “Hypatia” in which opera heroines try to change their destiny. The Queen of the Night from Mozart’s “Magic Flute” wants her daughter who has been abducted to be returned. Instead, she receives all young girls in the world.
“They call me Queen of the Night
Give me back my light”
MY DAUGHTERS
MY DAUGHTERS
NAKED ANGELS
LED TO SLAUGHTER
MY SWEET GIRLS
FLOWERING
IN A CRUEL, CRUEL WORLD
OH COME TO ME
YOU STARVING SOULS
I KISS YOUR FACE
YOUR EYES SO OLD
WHO HOLDS YOUR HANDS
UNTIL YOU WEAR A WEDDING BAND
IN THE DESERTS
I SEE YOU TOIL
IN THE JUNGLES
YOUR SMALL HANDS BLEED
IN THE MOUNTAINS
BURDENS SHAPE YOUR BACK
IN THE RIVERS
YOUR FEET ARE SOILED
MY DAUGHTERS
NAKED ANGELS
LED TO SLAUGHTER
MY SWEET GIRLS
FLOWERING
IN A CRUEL, CRUEL WORLD
WHEN YOU BEGIN TO BLEED
THEY WILL COVER YOUR FACE – DISGRACE
WHILE YOUR FAMILY SLEEPS
WOMAN – ALONE YOU WEEP
THEY WILL CUT THE PLEASURE
FROM YOUR LOINS THE CORD
YOU WON’T INHERIT THE WORLD
WHILE YOUR BROTHER GROWS TO RULE
YOUR POOR STRICT WORLD
YOUR LIFE BEQUEATHS THE DUST
WHEN YOU MARRY
WILL YOU BE HIS ONLY WIFE
A LONELY WIFE
YOUR CHILDREN
WILL YOU HOLD THEM SAFELY IN YOUR ARMS
I WILL HOLD YOUR HANDS
TEAR OFF THE WEDDING BAND
I GIVE YOU MY VOICE AND
THE WIND TO DRY YOUR TEARS
WILL YOU NOW FOLLOW
THE BURNT OUT GODS IN THE RAIN
OR MY LOVE ON A
RAINBOW TO THE SUN
I WILL HOLD YOUR HANDS
TEAR OFF THE WEDDING BAND
SHAKESPEARE ON THE ROCKS ©
Three-Character Play
By Griselda Steiner
“Shakespeare On The Rocks” is a three-character play set in the London dressing room flat of aging Shakespearian actor, Alex DonBaron. He has escaped his brownstone in the West Village in New York City in the aftermath of flooding from Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
He finds his old scrapbook and reminisces on his life and career using original and raunchy interpretations of Shakespeare’s dialogue. When he remembers his ex-wife Alissa she appears from behind a red curtain and interacts with him. As he has been sober for five years he hopes to resurrect his acting career on the London stage. From phone calls with his New York roommate Billy, we surmise that he is being betrayed by him and his son, Edward.
In the last scene his acting rival Sully comes to visit and betrays him by lying to the Royal’s Director that Alex is still drinking. At the end, feeling deceived by everyone, Alex fills a glass with ice and takes bottles of water and scotch to the end table. When the stage is dark we hear liquid being poured. The audience wonders whether it is scotch or water, thus “Shakespeare on the Rocks”.
In “King Lear” disastrous storms become a metaphor for Lear’s downfall. In “Shakespeare on the Rocks” Hurricane Sandy is a catalyst for Alex to confront his past and unforeseen changes to his fate.
“Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, Blow!”
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MAIN CHARACTERS
ALEX DON BARON
SULLY GILFERD
ALISSA
VOICE OVERS
Voices on phone:
BILLY – Alex’s roommate
ED – his son
MORT – his agent and LAWYER
HISTORY
In November 2024 the revised play was presented as a reading at KQ Theatre NYC. In October 2020 the play was read at Polaris North Theatre, NYC. In the summer of 2018 scenes were featured in the Small Plates Production at the Episcopal Actors Guild.
FROM THE PLAY
ALISSA interprets Titania’s (the Queen of the Fairies) monologue in Midsummer’s Night Dream”.
ALLISA as TITANIA
These are the forgeries of jealousy
And with your brawls thou has disturbed our sport
The play of male and female
Rituals that keep the earth in orbit
Therefore, the winds in revenge have sucked up from the sea
Contagious fogs which falling on land have pelted rivers made so
proud that they have overcome the continents,
“Through this distemperature we see
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Far in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,
And on old winters’ thin and icy crown
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Is, as in mockery, set: the spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world,
By their increase, now knows not which is which:
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original.
Shakespeare was prophetic.
(Shakespeare ”Midsummer’s Night Dream” – Titania)
MARY M AND THE MAD PROPHET ©
Original Full-Length Drama with Poetry
By: Griselda Steiner
The play moves across millennia: from the ancient world – to the biblical time of Jesus – to the Now narrated by The MAD PROPHET, jazz drummer and philosopher.
The premise of the play is that Christianity has betrayed the divine feminine by denying that Mary Magdalene was the bride and disciple of Jesus and cast her as a sinner. I have re-interpreted the New Testament and made Mary Magdalene two characters who are sacred sisters – Mary Magdalene (Mary M – The Hor), who is portrayed as a repentant prostitute and Mary Magdalene (Mary B – The Bride). The two Marys journey through the Bible story and enter the modern church. When the Preacher is challenged by the belief that Christian patriarchy rejects sacred aspects of the natural woman, he cracks the keystone of the church’s center arch with an axe.
The play reveals a new vision of Mary Magdalene that allows women to explore their spiritual identity.
THE MAD PROPHET
I am the Mad Prophet
From an ancient generation
Of philosophers and poets
I, the hidden Shaman
The silent power of words
Bridging the worlds
From the earth to the stars
From century to century
The eternal drum I beat
As I beat the drum’s skin
Cycles of history Repeat – Repeat
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MAIN CHARACTERS
THE MAD PROPHET – is a jazz drummer, poet philosopher and narrator.
MARY B (Mary the Bride – (MIRIAM) – is Jesus’ bride, disciple, and mother of his child (Sarah). She becomes a preacher/healer.
MARY M (Mary the ‘Hor’) – is Mary Magdalene as traditionally interpreted from the standard Bible. She is a whore is baptized and becomes a disciple. MARTHA – MARY B’s real sister as depicted in the Bible.
SIMON THE PHARISEE – is MARY M’s cruel pimp. He wears a long beard, black robe and white head shawl.
PREACHER – is a contemporary preacher.
JESUS (or YESHUA) – When Christ speaks he is Yeshua (his biblical name). When the Bible is quoted directly, he is Jesus.
JOSEPH OF ARMIATHIA – is a wealthy landowner who takes Jesus’ body from the tomb and accompanies Mary The Bride to the South of France.
PAUL – is the biblical Paul who has converted from being a Zealot to becoming an Apostle.
BARNABAS – is Paul’s companion who travels with him.
THE CHORUS – Four or more men and women are on stage. Throughout the play they play many roles.
HISTORY
The play was given readings at Angelica’s Salon and Polaris North Theatre, NYC.
Lyric Poem for MARY THE BRIDE
After the crucifixion Mary the Bride who is pregnant with Jesus’ child, travels to Alexandria, Egypt where she awaits escape to France. After the birth of her daughter Sarah she becomes a preacher.
MARK THE WINDS
Would that my mind could reach the sky
And mark the winds like the clouds
And my body span the sea
Touching the shores with the tides
And my pregnant shadow sift the sands of time
Where my child and I are one
If I could leave behind my human form
Filled with cycles of seasons and sorrow
I would return a healer of light
And lift the pain of life from all believers
But now
The sky has set winds to my sail
And the sea has entered my womb
And the sands into the hourglass of time
Where
My form will become a vessel
The grail where spirit echoes
For those that hear
The Truth will thunder in the Sky
KATTIE IN WONDERLAND
TRASHING THRONES©
Short Play
By: Griselda Steiner
KATTIE IN WONDERLAND is a short comic play loosely based on Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” that mocks contemporary royal scandals and British history. It predicts the end of the British monarchy and allows Kattie’s to change her fate from becoming a princess, then a queen to a future living a quiet country life.
Dozing under a tree Kattie spots the White Rabbit running into a rabbit hole and follows him down. As he runs he says, “I’m late – I’m late for a very important date. It’s time, it’s time for the Annual Royal Dumpster Dive. This Dive will make history that ends the British Monarchy. Come Kattie we’ll go together.”
During her journey in the Magic Forest, she meets absurd characters – the Caterpillar, the Swimming Rat, the Cheshire Cat, the Mock Turtle, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Singing Flowers and at the Mad Tea Party – the Mad Hatter, the Door Mouse and the Donkey.
When the White Rabbit blasts his trumpet. “Hear Yee! – Hear Yee! – Welcome to Trashing Thrones 2026” royal thrones, icons and ghosts, come crashing down from the palace’s balcony into a large dumpster.
At the end Kattie wakes up at home under her tree by a babbling brook where she will spend many years living a happy country life.
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MAIN CHARACTERS
THE NARRATOR
KATTIE (a 12-year-old girl)
THE WHITE RABBIT
THE CATERPILLAR
THE MAD HATTER
THE DOOR MOUSE
DONKEY HEE HAW
VOICE OVERS
THE NARRATOR
CAMMY
CHESHIRE CAT
THE MOCK TURTLE
MUSKRAT
SINGING FLOWERS
HISTORY
The play was given a reading sponsored by Westbeth’s Literary Committee on September 16, 2025.
DIALOGUE FROM THE PLAY
MAD HATTER
I was put on trial by a pack of cards for stealing my own hat.
KATTIE
Why?
MAD HATTER
It was made for a man whose head got too big.
KATTIE
Why?
MAD HATTER
He started studying Greek philosophy and quoted Sophocles. “It is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
DOOR MOUSE
That’s mind blowing.
MAD HATTER
That’s what I said.
DONKEY
Were you convicted?
MAD HATTER
No, I sneezed and the court cards blew away.
However, the signature act of an autocrat is hypocrisy.
DONKEY
Do you know who you are quoting?
MAD HATTER
Me. A conclusion made from keen observation of politics.
DOOR MOUSE
Well now your head may shrink and your hat fall off.
NARRATOR
To prove his hat still fits the Mad Hatter takes it off – tips it and bows.
…
THE GODDESS IN EXILE©
Original Screenplay by Griselda Steiner
THE GODDESS IN EXILE, is a fictionalized account of the brief career of artist Ana Mendieta and her alleged murder by her husband, artist Carl Andre. My screenplay only interprets Ana’s story yet captures the essence of her character and art. Ana’s death at age 36 became a scandal that rocked the art world at its zenith making headlines [“Sculptor in Village Reindicted in the 1985 Death of His Wife”, New York Times; “A death in Art”, cover feature New York Magazine].
The script tells a story of alleged wife murder, acquittal and explores the premise ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’. It takes place in the vivid milieu of the New York City art scene of the 1970’s-80’s, capturing the excitement of the avant-garde intelligentsia with character vignettes of American artists and art world doyennes who frequently hung out in Max’s Kansas City.
In the summer 2004 a retrospective at the Whitney Museum, NYC, “Ana Mendieta: Earth Body Sculpture and Performance 1972-1985”, showed Ana’s art portraying the mythic feminine in photographs, films, objects, sculpture and drawings..
In the screenplay, an intellectual battle of competitive egos escalates between Elvira Olmos (Ana) Peruvian sculptress, and her famous husband, minimalist Hans Whit (Carl). Her life is seen through the eyes of her friend, journalist Joanne after she discovers Elvira’s secret diary. Through a series of flashbacks, we trace Elvira’s life from her childhood as a physician’s daughter in the foothills of the Andes Mountains, her exodus to New York City, her affair with Hans, to the failure of their marriage. Hans’ character is revealed in his relationships with his peers, art dealer and collectors.
When Elvira’s goddess and earth-oriented sculpture begins to gain popularity at the same time interest in Hans’ work wanes, it leads to a fateful summer night when her body is flung onto a roof beneath her loft window. When Hans is acquitted of murder, Joanne courageously battles a conspiracy of silence in the powerful art establishment and is shunned by Hans’ clique of friends who cover up evidence that might convict him.
The story holds fast to Elvira’s artistic premise that the Goddess within is in exile in modern western civilization. Her work evolves from terra cotta sculptures of female figures to a portrayal of the divine feminine in on-site natural settings. Her work is the antithesis of Hans’ art that fills empty space with geometric configurations. Elvira’s sexual encounters are told from her point of view; illustrating how one woman’s fulfillment presents a threat to her man.
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MAIN CHARACTERS
ELVIRA OLMOS – is a petite, olive skinned South American (Spanish and Indian) beauty from Huancayo, Peru. (Character based on Ana Mendietta)
HANS WHIT – is a handsome man in his 40’s with sandy hair and Anglo features that contrast with his heavy build. He is a well-known minimalist artist who fills spaces with wood blocks or bricks.
JOANNE HARRIS – is an attractive journalist who befriends ELVIRA on their mutual journey through the labyrinth of 70’s NYC art scene.
DR. LOUIS OLMOS – ELVIRA’S widowed father (of Spanish descent).
MIKE – is a good-looking, dark-haired Hells Angel biker.
SISSY – is a tall black Drag Queen.
ANDY WARHOLS ENTOURAGE
MICKEY RUSKIN – is the owner of the famous artist hangout Max’s Kansas City.
VASSELI – is HANS’ dealer who is the foremost art dealer in the world and owns the Vasseli Gallery. (Castelli)
MR. SCHMIT – the prosecuting attorney at HANS’s trial.
MR. ALVAREZ – is HANS’s Hispanic defense attorney.
HISTORY
THE GODDESS IN EXILE© was given a reading at Women Make Movies, NYC.
MAX’S KANSAS CITY was a famous bar restaurant located on 231 Park Avenue South and 18th Street in NYC considered to be the ultimate hang out for New York’s creative elite in the 1970s. The authentic decor created just the right atmosphere for intellectual discussion and casual pick-ups.
DIALOGUE FROM THE SCRIPT
66 – INT. ELVIRA’S TENEMENT APT. – EARLY MORNING
The next morning as ELVIRA sleeps, HANS studies the sculptures that line her shelves. He admires the nude forms and interpretive statues of Mary. Later ELVIRA and HANS sit on two chairs near her wooden telephone spool table. She serves him coffee.
HANS
Your work shows promise, but collectors today are buying ‘big’ ideas, not art. I will have to think of a gimmick for you.
ELVIRA
What gimmick? Art should seek the truth. When I find a “bigger” truth within me, I’ll express it in my work. Then I will become a star.
HANS
There are hundreds of true starving artists in this city. When I came here from Kansas, Babe, I lived off my friends for years. I was a believer like you.
(HANS gets up and studies one nude on a stand near the window. He touches it sexually.)
ELVIRA
And what made you the phony you are now?
HANS
It started gradually. I felt there was a change In the tides in the art world and began to work more abstractly with wood until I reduced it to the most fundamental block form. When I started to make money, I became a firm believer in the art of living.
(HANS moves closer to ELVIRA, caresses her face, leans down and they kiss.)
“daVINCI’S NEW WORLD ORDER”©
Original Screenplay by Griselda Steiner
In A Vortex Of Political Fiction Visionary Mafia Don Becomes U.S. President
At a time when the news is dominated by political scandal and authoritarianism, this film offers a welcome dose of irony and wish fulfillment. My original screenplay written as a full-length feature can be adapted for a TV series.
“daVINCI’S NEW WORLD ORDER” is a based on the unprecedented premise that a real Mafia Don, charismatic MARIO DONNATO daVINCI and his Gang, who operate from Little Italy and New Jersey, can rise above their petty gangster status, sever their connections with, but not the tactics of the underworld and become revered politicians.
MARIO, who inherits his empire from his dying cousin, rests comfortably in the glow of being a local “Bigga Boss” – a man popular with both his gang and ordinary people. His political career, catapulted by a series of accidents, takes him from the governorship of New Jersey to the White House as Vice President and then as President. When his gang of colorful characters – the KING, the DOC, LUCKY, the DUKE, CARMINE, CAPPY and Chinese techie LONG WANG – try to clean up their acts, they proclaim, “Let’s go Legit, Let’s Get Out of It”. They implement MARIO’s independent ‘Big Pure Pie’ ticket resulting in “daVinci’s New World Order”.
During MARIO’s ascension, he confides to the ghost of his first wife MARIA, who died in childbirth, when she appears with their son in his bedroom mirror. His grief has made him indifferent to power as he uses his karate skills and lethal stare against enemies. For political convenience when he runs for governor he marries ESTELLE, who later leaves him for her hometown boyfriend.
Using fantastic solutions PRESIDENT MARIO resorts to executive orders to fulfill his agenda. He has his techie WANG invent the Bug Free Bee that rubs out all hacking and cure the AllOver virus. His Hopi Indian EPA chief stops all natural disasters with Native American drumming. When Russian PRESIDENT PUSHKIN visits Camp Mario he is killed when he wrestles with a bear over vodka.
MARIO’s complex relationship with the KING, a decadent member of the illuminati, who funds his gang with laundered money and controls them ends when the KING tries to sell a secret weapon to Iran. MARIO has him arrested by exposing his stash of art stolen from the Doc’s family in Nazi occupied Italy. MARIO abandons a run for a second term when a Blue Laser representing the Illuminati threatens him in the Oval Office as they plan to establish the ‘Most High World Order’. Following the Pope’s advice, MARIO sheds his worldly power hoping to reclaim his conscience. At the end, he leaves Washington and returns to his old neighborhood in Little Italy.
MARIO’s soulful journey resonates with the film’s signature music “Ridi Paliaccio” from the opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo when the clown sobs that he must keep smiling even though his heart is broken. This introduces a deeper theme of betrayal within the film’s comedy. When Margo sees a beautiful woman on a balcony in Little Italy singing his cherished aria to the moon, he proclaims – “I am Pagliaccio no more. I am a man again with anguish deep and human.”
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MAIN CHARACTERS
MARIO DONNATO daVINCI – is a large charismatic, lumbering man with a strong build and dark hair that rests elegantly on his pale face. His appearance captures the disparate nuances of a baby face, sophisticated opera star and street-wise gangster.
MARIA – is the ghost of MARIO’s wife, who died in childbirth. She is a lovely, slender young woman with long dark hair who appears with his son, FILIO, growing in age in his bedroom mirror.
ESTELLE – MARIO’s stunning second wife.
LONG WANG – is a computer whiz earned in an exchange of favors with a rival Chinese gang who is also a Karate expert. He is thin with long dark hair.
JIMMIE – MARIO’s dedicated driver and butler, who is also a jazz pianist, is a tall black man with a wry smile.
ROSIE – is MARIO’s elegant looking aunt who raised him in Little Italy. She plays poker with her girlfriends, ALMA, CONCHITA and VIOLETTE.
NINA – is MARIO’s niece who inherits her father’s casino in Atlantic City and turns it into a gambling health spa, ‘The Phoenix Rising’. Her boyfriend VINNY is a local cop.
MISTRESS – is MARIO’S big, white, shaggy pet dog.
MARIO’S GANG
HISTORY
Many scenes from the screenplay appear in Scene4 Arts Magazine online.
MARIO’S STARE
Your stare could melt the devil’s tail
Turn his horns to salt
That rip out his eyes
A sudden laser siren
Singing sax – riffing
Scrolling secrets in the air
To stop the arbitrary rudeness of malefic stars
Your stare could cast a shadow on the darkest soul.