Shows About Sisters

“Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters,” sing the Haynes Sisters in Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. The relationship between sisters can be one of dedication and unconditional love or an opportunity for repair and restoration. Whether supportive, competitive, annoying, endearing or even strained, the bond of sisterhood is fascinating and full of depth for actors to examine when bringing their stories to life. From estranged to close, explore the relationship between sisters with the characters and shows available from Concord Theatricals with the list below.

Plays

A Lifetime Burning by Cusi Cram (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3w, 1m)
The sisters: Emma, a trust fund darling, 30s; and her older sister, Tess.
Synopsis: Two sisters struggle over the moralities of truth in storytelling when one writes a memoir full of lies. Exploring lived experience, mental illness and artistic license, Cram’s play is a fiery indictment of reality-obsessed culture.

All the Happy Things by Naomi Denny (UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 2w, 1m)
The sisters: Sienna, late twenties, still living; and Emily, a year older, her dead sister.
Synopsis: Sienna is trying to survive her grief by clinging tightly to what she knows: Seeing her dead sister Emily everywhere she goes. Emily’s always been Sienna’s favourite person to talk to, and she’s not going to let a small thing like being dead get in the way. As the illusion deepens, still-living relationships begin to fracture. What starts as comfort becomes destabilising in this dark comedy about sisterhood, love and letting go of someone when you expected they’d be there forever.

anthropology by Lauren Gunderson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w)
The sisters: Merril, queer, brilliant and hopeful older sister, brainy coder and AI expert, driven, nothing in her life is tidy except her immaculate home office, battling tremendous grief and channeling it into tech; and Angie, her sunshine-until-she-storms younger sister who is cheeky, brash, always a handful, sometimes a disaster – but people forgive her because when she is fun, she is the most fun.
Synopsis: Wracked with grief, coder Merril creates an A.I. chatbot that can perfectly recreate her deceased sister Angie. But as the virtual Angie begins to demand more presence in Merril and her mother’s lives, reality and consciousness blur, and new moral questions arise about the right, safe and acceptable ways to grieve.

Christmas Belles by Jones Hope Wooten (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 7w, 4m)
The sisters: The Futrelle sisters of Fayro, Texas – including Frankie, the youngest; Twink, the middle sister; and Honey Raye, the oldest. They’re known to feud.
Synopsis: It’s Christmas time in the small town of Fayro, Texas, and the Futrelle Sisters are not exactly in a festive mood. A cranky Frankie is weeks overdue with her second set of twins. Twink, recently jilted and bitter about it, is in jail for inadvertently burning down half the town. And hot-flash-suffering Honey Raye is desperately trying to keep the Tabernacle of the Lamb’s Christmas Program from spiraling into chaos. A hilarious holiday journey through a misadventure-filled Christmas Eve.

For more adventures with the Futrelle sisters, check out Dearly Beloved (US) or Southern Hospitality (US).

Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 4w, 2m)
The sisters: The Magrath sisters – including Lenny Magrath, 30, unmarried, the oldest; Meg Magrath, 27, the middle sister who outgrew Hazlehurst and returns after a failed singing career; and Babe Botrelle, 24, the youngest, recently out on bail after having shot her husband in the stomach.
Synopsis: In Hazlehurst, Mississippi, the three Magrath sisters gather to await news of their ailing grandfather. Their troubles, grave yet somehow hilarious, are highlighted by their priggish cousin, Chick, and by an awkward young lawyer who has clearly fallen in love with Babe. Honest, touching and consistently hilarious, Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play teems with humanity and humor as it examines the plight of three young sisters betrayed by their passions.

Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 3m)
The sisters: The five unmarried Mundy sisters, including Kate, 40, schoolteacher; Maggie, 38, housekeeper; Agnes, 35, knitter; Rose, 32, also a knitter; and Chris, 26, mother to the 7-year-old Michael.
Synopsis: Brian Friel’s Tony and Olivier Award-winning play is a haunting and celebratory portrait of five unmarried sisters eking out their lives in a small Irish village in 1936. Widely regarded as his masterpiece, this haunting and evocative memory play is the playwright’s tribute to the spirit and valor of the past. From small events spring the cracks that destroy the foundation of the family forever.

Dream Hou$e by Eliana Pipes (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3w, 2 any gender)
The sisters: Patricia, late 30s, Latina or Afrolatina, accountant by day, practical to the core, a natural caretaker, and an older sister with a distinct Older Sister Complex; and Julia, late 20s, Latina or Afrolatina, a social studies teacher by day and Patricia’s very sentimental younger sister who is currently six months pregnant and is recently reclaiming her heritage in preparation for motherhood.
Synopsis: Two Latinx sisters prepare to sell their home on a reality TV show, hoping to capitalize on neighborhood gentrification. But once the cameras are rolling, the family’s turbulent past and uncertain future begin to collide, and the sisters are forced to reckon with the secrets held between the house’s walls.

Elemeno Pea by Molly Smith Metzler (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 2m)
The sisters: Devon, a social worker from blue-collar Buffalo and the older sister who takes care of their aging father, a bit of a mess; and Simone, a natural beauty and dressed from head to toe in Lilly Pulitzer and the younger sister who now works as an assistant to the trophy wife of an absurdly rich (and often absent) New York ad man in Nantucket,
Synopsis: When Devon visits her sister Simone for the end of summer on Martha’s Vineyard, she finds her little sister changed beyond recognition. As personal assistant to wealthy and demanding Michaela Kell, Simone enjoys a lavish beachfront lifestyle that these girls never could have imagined growing up… but is all this luxury free of cost? Sisters square off in this keenly-observed comedy about ambition, regret and the choices that shape us – now adapted for TV as the Netflix show Sirens.

Familiar by Danai Gurira (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5w, 3m)
The sisters: Nyasha, American-Zimbabwean young woman, late 20s, Marvelous and Donald’s youngest daughter and Tendikayi, Marvelous and Donald’s oldest daughter, who is marrying a Caucasian man.
Synopsis: Two Zimbabwean emigrants in Minnesota are preparing for the marriage of their eldest daughter, Tendi. They have gracefully blended Zimbabwean culture alongside their American culture, but their house is turned upside down when Marvelous’ sister comes from Zimbabwe to perform a very traditional wedding ceremony in which the groom barters for the bride. Tensions flare and identities clash as the family’s fabric slowly unravels in this comedy that asks a family to take a hard look at who they truly are.

Flyin’ West by Pearl Cleage (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 4w, 2m)
The sisters: Sophie Washington, 36, a fiercely protective Black woman born into slavery who now leads a household of women in the all-Black settlement of Nicodemus, Kansas; Fannie Dove, the adoptive sister of Sophie, 32, a born-free Black women and the gentle and romantic peacemaker of the house; and Minnie Dove Charles, 21, the homesick, eager to please younger sister to Fannie and adoptive sister to Sophie, married an older man after a two-week courtship and conceals his abuse toward her from the family.
Synopsis: Facing problems ranging from the inevitability of long, cold winters to the possibility of domestic violence to the continuing spectre of racial conflict, these Kansas women have their sisterhood tested in unexpected ways in this historical fiction about the lesser-known African American pioneers who moved West after the passage of the Homestead Act in the late 19th century.

Golden Shield by Anchuli Felicia King (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w, 4m)
The sisters: Julie Chen, managing partner of Chen & Warren PLLC, Chinese-American; and Eva Chen, Julie’s younger sister and translator, Chinese-American.
Synopsis: A riveting work about loyalties, intrigue and the delicate art of translation. In this tense drama, two Chinese American sisters lead a class action lawsuit to expose an American tech giant’s involvement with the Chinese government’s firewall, Golden Shield. A whirlwind tour of social and political locales ranging from American courtrooms to Chinese boardrooms to Beijing dive bars with a narrator who bridges the gap between Mandarin, English and everything in between.

Having Our Say, The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years by Emily Mann (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w)
The sisters: Miss Sadie Delany, a Black woman, shown from youth to age 103; and Dr. Bessie Delany, a Black woman, shown from youth to age 101.
Synopsis: Based on the acclaimed book of the same title, this drama is a remarkable journey through the last hundred years of our nation’s history through the eyes of two sisters: 103-year-old Sadie Delany and 101-year-old Bessie Delany. As these women journey back through the generations, they recount a fascinating series of events and anecdotes drawn from their rich family history and careers as pioneering African-American professionals. Their story is not simply Black history or women’s history; it is our history.

How Black Mothers Say I Love You by Trey Anthony (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 4w)
The sisters: Claudette, the eldest daughter, 37, a social worker and social activist who is a pretty tomboy type that occasionally wears red lipstick; Valerie, the middle daughter, 35, married into money but “works” at her husband’s office, pretty and tends to be a bit stiff and proper, the peacemaker of the family but with a bit of nervous energy; and Cloe, the youngest daughter who died at age 10 from sickle-cell anemia and is “dead,” yet her spirit is constantly present as seen mainly by Daphne and felt by everyone.
Synopsis: A powerful and touching tale of immigration, family and sacrifice. Hard-working Daphne left her two young daughters in Jamaica for six years to create a better life for them in America. Now, 30 years later, proud and private, Daphne is relying on church and her nearby dutiful daughter to face a health crisis. But the arrival of feisty activist Claudette stirs up family ghosts and the burning desire for unconditional love.

2018 Soho Rep Production of Is God Is (Julieta Cervantes)

Is God Is by Aleshea Harris (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 4w, 4m)
The sisters: Twenty-one-year old identical twins Racine, who has burn scars on her arms, back and neck but a face of considerable beauty, and Anaia, who has burn scars on her arms, face and neck, is hard to look at and wears a wig.
Synopsis: A modern myth about twin sisters who sojourn from the Dirty South to the California desert to exact righteous revenge. Winner of the 2016 Relentless Award, Aleshea Harris collides the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, and Afropunk in this darkly funny and unapologetic play – which you can now see on-screen in the 2026 film adaptation starring Kara Young and Mallori Johnson as the twins alongside Sterling K. Brown, Janelle Monáe and Vivica A. Fox.

Kin by Max Dickins (US/UK)
(Short Play, Dark Comedy / 2w)
The sisters: Sarah, the eldest sister, mid-to-late 40s, city girl with a power haircut; and Lilly, the younger sister, mid-40s, a mother with the air of an art teacher.
Synopsis: Two estranged sisters meet after twenty years. Over a single night in a remote cottage, they bury the hatchet. As their dying father lies in the room next door they’re forced to confront who they were and who they’ve become. When the only person they have left in common disappears, is their relationship worth saving?

Last Night and the Night Before by Donnetta Lavinia Grays (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 1m, 1 girl)
The sisters: Rachel, mid-30s, warm-hearted and loving, guilt-ridden, steely but with cracks, aunt to Sam and sister to Monique; and Monique, early to mid-20s, a poet and lost soul, loving, mother to 10-year-old Sam.
Synopsis: When Monique and her 10-year-old daughter Samantha show up unexpectedly on her sister’s Brooklyn doorstep, it’s the beginning of the end for Rachel and her partner Nadima’s orderly lifestyle. Monique is on the run from deep trouble, her husband Reggie is nowhere to be seen and Samantha becomes ever haunted by the life in southern Georgia she was forced to leave behind. Poetic, dark and often deeply funny, this play explores the power, necessity and beauty of loss.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, adapted by various playwrights
(Full-Length Play, Drama / Various Versions below)
The sisters: The four March sisters, including Meg, the romantic; Jo, the headstrong writer; Beth, the kind-hearted pianist; and Amy, the youngest who loves the finer things.
Synopsis: Louisa May Alcott’s classic coming-of-age novel about the four March sisters details their passage from childhood to womanhood. Each sister has her own distinct personality and relationship to each other sister, and each role is a delight for actors to explore.

Multiple adaptations of the novel are available for theatrical licensing from Concord Theatricals:

• For a version well-suited for schools: Little Women (Full-Length) by Marisha Chamberlain (US) – also available in a One-Act Version (US)
• For an adaptation that’s most faithful to the novel: Little Women by Sheila Corbett (US/UK)
• For an affecting, delightful adaptation accompanied by music from the period: Little Women by Jacqueline Goldfinger (US)
• For a refreshed, feminist-friendly spin with Jo at the center: Little Women by Kate Hamill (US)
• For a show-within-a-show version with hijinks galore: Magic Valley Community Theatre’s Little Women by Liza Birkenmeier and Trish Harnetiaux (US/UK)

Love You More by Nikhil Mahapatra (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3 any gender)
The sisters: Two of the three daughters of King Lear, including Cordelia, 20s, just returned home from college, mostly fond memories with her father; and Goneril, later 20s to early 30s, caretaker for the ailing Lear, mostly negative memories with her father.
Synopsis: Do you have siblings? Are you the favorite? No? Are you sure? A play about Shakespeare’s three sisters (but actually only two sisters) being sisterly – and figuring out what that means when you’re all that’s left. When Lear passes away, and Goneril and Cordelia both do not know how to continue having a relationship with each other after the only thing connecting them is gone and attempt to heal their fractured relationship – with mixed results.

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 5w, 3m)
The sisters: The famous Bennet sisters from Pride and Prejudice, including Jane, who is now married to Mr. Bingley and seven months pregnant with her first child, and Elizabeth, who is now married to Mr. Darcy and makes for a fun and surprising lady of the house, but with special focus on the middle Mary, the bookish middle sister.
Synopsis: A sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice set two years after the novel ends, Miss Bennet continues the story, only this time with Mary as its unlikely heroine. Now, Mary is growing tired of her role as dutiful middle sister in the face of her siblings’ romantic escapades. When the family gathers for Christmas at Pemberley, an unexpected guest sparks Mary’s hopes for independence, an intellectual match and possibly even love.

Explore the younger Bennet sisters further in the rest of the Pemberley trilogy, which includes The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley (US) and Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley (US/UK).

Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow by Halley Feiffer (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5w, 7m)
The sisters: The Sergeyevna Prozorova sisters, including Olga, 28, the oldest sister, an ferociously loving, reliably self-pitying, unmarried school teacher plagued by migraines and a martyrdom complex; Masha, 25, the moody, spiky, dreamy middle sister and trained concert pianist who doesn’t do that – or anything – anymore now that she’s married to Kulygin, whom she hates; and Irina, 20, the youngest sister and the only one capable of anything close to optimism but, unfortunately, also capable of deep despair and a wildly childish sense of entitlement.
Synopsis: Ever since their brother Andrey gambled away the family fortune, Olga, Masha and Irina have been doomed to the boredom of the Russian countryside. One day soon, they hope, they’ll return home to Moscow and live the exciting lives they were always meant to have. In this contemporary twist on Chekhov’s Three Sisters, one delightfully dysfunctional family navigates the absurdity of class, culture and love.

Mosquitoes by Lucy Kirkwood (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 6w, 3m)
The sisters: Alice, 41, a scientist who lives in Geneva; and her sister Jenny, 39, a heavily pregnant woman who lives in Luton and spends a lot of time Googling.
Synopsis: As the Large Hadron particle collider starts up in 2008, scientist Alice is on the brink of the most exciting work of her life, searching for the Higgs Boson. When tragedy throws her and her sister Jenny back together, the collision threatens them all with chaos in this sci-fi for the stage.

Mud Row by Dominique Morisseau (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w, 2m)
The sisters: In the first generation, the sisters Elsie, a poised, proper, soft Black woman desperate to find a sense of belonging; and her sister Frances, a tough, persistent, fighter of a Black woman who is not easily contained, especially when she believes in something. In the second generation, Regine, a well-educated, reserved, guarded and worrisome Black woman who is somewhere a vulnerable and fragile soul; and Toshi, her feisty, impulsive, and resistant sister who is rough around the edges and a former drug addict yet somewhere a deep and wise soul.
Synopsis: Two generations of sisters navigate class, race, love and family on “Mud Row,” an area in the East End of West Chester, Pennsylvania. Elsie hopes to move up in the world by marrying into “the talented tenth,” while her sister Frances joins the fight for Civil Rights. Decades later, estranged sisters Regine and Toshi are forced to reckon with their shared heritage – and each other – when Regine inherits granny Elsie’s house.

Peerless by Jiehae Park (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 3w, 2m)
The sisters: M and L, Asian American twin sisters. Competitive, to the extreme degree.
Synopsis: M and L have given up everything to get into The College. So when D, a one-sixteenth Native American classmate, gets “their” spot instead, they figure they’ve got only one option: kill him. A darkly comedic take on Shakespeare’s Macbeth about the dangerously ambitious and the cut-throat world of college admissions.

Plano by Will Eno (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 4w, 3m)
The sisters: Anne, the eldest, a professor; Genevieve, the middle, a sculptor; and Isabel, the youngest, a non-profit worker.
Synopsis: Tonight, and later, and earlier, three sisters (no, not those ones) are stricken with a series of strange plagues. Isabel’s got pains. Anne’s got slugs. And Genevieve doesn’t want to talk about hers. She just wants you to eat the damn hummus (she made it!). Let’s talk about family nightmares or, uh, memories.

Pride and Prejudice originally by Jane Austen, adapted by various playwrights
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / Various Versions below)
The sisters: The five Bennet sisters, including Jane, the romantic eldest; Elizabeth, the headstrong second; Mary, the bookish middle; Kitty, the excitable and easily led second-youngest; and Lydia, the high-spirited and sexually precocious youngest.
Synopsis: Jane Austen’s classic novel about the Bennet family and their five daughters focuses on the romantic prospects of the spirited second-born daughter, Lizzie, but features a plethora of roles for sisters, from elegant and composed to wild and excited.

Multiple adaptations of the novel are available for licensing from Concord Theatricals:

• For a one-act version well-suited for schools: Darcy and Elizabeth by Jon Jory (US)
• For fans of the 1995 BBC version and its vibrant energy: Pride and Prejudice by Andrew Davies (US/UK)
• For a version that’s bold, surprising, boisterous and timely (“not your grandmother’s Austen”): Pride and Prejudice by Kate Hamill (US/UK)
• For an adaptation that’s most true to the book: Pride and Prejudice by Helen Jerome (US/UK)

Proof by David Auburn (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 2m)
The sisters: Catherine, 25, brilliant but depressed; and Claire, 29, her stylish, attractive sister who uses jojoba for her hair.
Synopsis: Catherine has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, Robert. When he dies she has more than grief to deal with: There’s her estranged sister, Claire, and Hal, a former student of her father’s who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that Robert left behind. And a further problem: How much of her father’s madness – or genius – will Catherine inherit? In the Pulitzer and Tony-winning Proof, David Auburn has fashioned an exhilarating and assured play – a subtle and gripping exploration of loss, guilt, discovery, instability and the elusive nature of truth.

Risen from the Dough by France-Luce Benson (US)
(Short Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w)
The sisters: Maryse, 45, a strong-willed Haitian-American woman; and Leonide, her sister, a few years younger.
Synopsis: In a small, rustic bakery located in the heart of “Little Haiti” Miami, FL, two Haitian-American sisters grapple with grief, identity and the complicated realities of immigrant life. Previously hit with several code violations, they prepare for the Miami Dade Health Department’s next inspection and find themselves speeding toward an explosive culture collision.

Sancocho by Christin Eve Cato (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w)
The sisters: The Puerto Rican de Jesús sisters, including Caridad de Jesús, 58, a dark-skinned Boricua,  Afro-Latina woman and matriarch of the family; and her sister Renata, 33, a fair-skinned, white Latina and lawyer.
Synopsis: Simmering between two Puerto Rican sisters is a family tension that finally comes to a boil. Forced to confront the reality of their father’s rapidly declining health, Renata and Caridad clash over cultural divides, unearth old wounds and reveal long-buried secrets. As Caridad’s sancocho bubbles on the stove, will the two sisters reconcile their past resentments to face their uncertain futures – together?

Shakespeare’s Sister by Emma Whipday (US/UK) 
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 7m, 1 girl, 1 boy) 
The sister: Judith Shakespeare, 19, sister to William Shakespeare, a bright, talented, impetuous and intense woman.
Synopsis: Judith Shakespeare has one ambition: to be a playwright. When her debt-ridden father forces her into an engagement, she runs away to join her brother in London. But when Judith arrives in the plague-stricken capital, she finds her brother gone and her play refused. Judith and the players confront poverty in the midst of economic depression, and Judith must choose between succumbing to social pressures and following her dream, no matter the cost.  

She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen (US/UK) – Also available in a Young Adventurers Edition (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6w, 3m)
The sisters: Agnes Evans, the older sister of average disposition, now attempting to get to know her younger sister through Dungeons & Dragons; and Tilly, her now-deceased little sister who struggled to be herself in the real world but flourished in the fantastical world of tabletop roleplay games.
Synopsis: A comedic romp into the world of fantasy role-playing games. Following the death of her teenage sister, Tilly, Agnes Evans prepares to leave her childhood home in Ohio. When Agnes finds Tilly’s Dungeons & Dragons notebook, however, she stumbles into a journey of discovery and action-packed adventure in the imaginary world that was Tilly’s refuge.

2011 Yale Repertory Theatre Production of Three Sisters (Ruhl)  (Joan Marcus)

Sense and Sensibility originally by Jane Austen, adapted by various playwrights
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / Various Versions below)
The sisters: The two Dashwood sisters, including the sensible Elinor and the hypersensitive Marianne.
Synopsis: Jane Austen’s classic novel follows the fortunes (and misfortunes) of the Dashwood sisters after their father’s sudden death leaves them financially destitute and socially vulnerable in gossipy late 18th-century England.

Multiple adaptations of the novel are available for theatrical licensing from Concord Theatricals:

• For a dynamic one-act adaptation that focuses on the captivating men: Sense and Sensibility by Jon Jory (US/UK)
• For a funny and poignant adaptation that retains the period’s decorum: Sense and Sensibility by Brian McMahon and Emma Whipday (US/UK)
• For a playful new adaptation written with an emphasis on humor and bold theatricality: Sense and Sensibility by Kate Hamill (US/UK)
• For a streamlined, fast-moving, easy-to-stage adaptation: Sense and Sensibility by Andy Graham and Roger Parsley (US/UK)
• For a true-to-tradition adaptation written by a woman: Sense and Sensibility by Jessica Swale (US/UK)

Sisters on the Ground by Max Posner (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 9w, 1m)
The sisters: Beth, 21, the stoic realist and oldest living sister; Harriet, 19, the highly sensitive, chronically ill, brilliantly dictatorial revolutionary; Beatrice, 18, the verbally apprehensive, creative introvert; Hannah, 17, the devout and content conformist; Bonnie, 16, low-maintenance and in great dental pain; and Abigail, 15, the constantly, irrationally optimistic romantic.
Synopsis: Massachusetts, 1825. Martha was buried by all six of her sisters. That spring, they started sleeping outdoors and didn’t go back inside, what with Papa. Harriet got cholera. Beth got Married. Hannah began bundling. Abigail got drunk. Lying on the dirt, facing the sky, they started saying sentences to each other.

Sundown, Yellow Moon by Rachel Bonds with music by the Bengsons (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 4m)
The sisters: Twin sisters Ray or Rayleen, mid-20s, and Joey or Josephine, mid-20s.
Synopsis: Ray and Joey, twin sisters, have returned home to their small southern town to help their recently-divorced father in a moment of crisis. Joey is about to head off to Berlin on a Fulbright scholarship, while Ray has just left her job and a romantic relationship with her boss. The family comes together and sees friends from their pasts, but they can’t get over the ennui that is associated with moving on from where they’ve been to where they will be.

The Cat’s Mother by Erica Murray (UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 3w)
The sisters: Irishsisters Ciara, late 20s to early 30s, and Sinead, the younger sister, late twenties.
Synopsis: Ciara’s younger sister, Sinead, arrives at her door on Friday evening all set for what Ciara thinks will be a weekend of respite from caring for their mother, Eileen. From there, the unexpected occurs in this laugh-out-loud dark Irish comedy that asks: How far are you willing to go for your own family, and what happens when you have to care for the person who should be caring for you?

The River Bride by Marisela Treviño Orta (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 3m)
The sisters: Helena, 18, smart and a beauty in her own right, though not as outgoing as her sister Belmira; and Belmira, 16, the beautiful, frivolous and a bit vain bride-to-be with an appetite for adventure yet still charming and adored by the entire village.
Synopsis: Three days before a wedding, a handsome and mysterious man is fished from the Amazon River. Set once upon a time in a small Brazilian fishing village, this drama is a tale of true love, regret and two sisters who struggle to be true to each other and their hearts.

The Mineola Twins by Paula Vogel (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2w, 3m, 2 any gender)
The sisters: Almost identical twins Myrna, the stacked “good” twin, and Myra, the “evil twin,” identical to Myrna except in the chestal area. Both are played by the same actor.
Synopsis: In this play, Myrna and Myra, almost identical twins, battle each other through the Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan/Bush years over virginity, Vietnam and “Family Values.” A comedy in six scenes, four dreams and seven wigs. There are two ways to produce this play: 1) with good wigs or 2) with bad wigs. The second way is preferred.

The Moors by Jen Silverman (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 5w, 1m)
The sisters: Agatha, the spidery, dangerous and cold elder spinster sister; and Huldey, the younger sister who has a diary (she wants to be famous).
Synopsis: Two sisters and a dog live out their lives on the bleak English moors, dreaming of love and power. The arrival of a hapless governess and a moor-hen set all three on a strange and dangerous path. A dark comedy about love, desperation and visibility.

The Sisters Rosensweig by Wendy Wasserstein (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w, 4m)
The sisters: The three extraordinary, Brooklyn-born Jewish sisters Rosensweig, including Sara, 54, a very handsome woman who exudes dignity and authority, mother to Tess; and her sister Pfeni, 40, journalist and world traveler, appears younger than her age and always carrying a few too many things; and their sister Gorgeous, a very attractive, slightly overdone woman of around 46.
Synopsis: Sara lives an ostensibly happy, man-free life in London with her intelligent daughter, Tess. Pfeni is an eccentric travel writer who pursues an unsatisfactory relationship with Geoffrey, a bisexual theatre director. Gorgeous has the perfect husband and family in Massachusetts, where she pursues a “funsy” career as a radio agony aunt. When they meet up at Sara’s home in Holland Park, reawakened familial bonds cause each woman to confront her past and her future.

Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, adapted by various playwrights
(Full-Length Play, Drama / Various Versions below)
The sisters: The Prozorov sisters, including Olga, the eldest and matriarch, a schoolteacher and a spinster; Masha, the middle sister, a concert pianist who married young and interested in others, has a short temper and ironic wit; and Irina, the youngest, still enchanted by life, who desires to go back to Moscow.
Synopsis: Chekhov’s Russian drama about the decay of the priviledged class in Russia and the search for meaning in the modern world is full of yearning and, well, sisters!

Multiple adaptations of the play are available for theatrical licensing from Concord Theatricals. Here’s a short selection:

• For an adaptation that emphasizes the humor and heartbreak through the lyricism of a leading voice in contemporary theatre: Three Sisters by Sarah Ruhl (US/UK)
• For a new adaptation that captures the play’s timeliness with boldness and urgency: Three Sisters by Madeleine George (US/UK)
• For a translation that has speed, sharpness and an edgy heart: Three Sisters by Tracy Letts (US/UK)

Two Sisters and a Piano by Nilo Cruz (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 2m)
The sisters: Maria Celia, 26, the oldest sister, a novelist; and her younger sister Sofia, 24, a pianist.
Synopsis: Set in 1991 during the Pan American Games in Havana and while the Russians are pulling out of Cuba, this play portrays two sisters serving time under house arrest. Passion infiltrates politics when a lieutenant assigned to their case becomes infatuated with Maria Celia, whose literature he has been reading.

Underdog: The Other Other Brontë by Sarah Gordon (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w)
The sisters: The famous literary Brontë sisters – Charlotte, the eldest surviving sister and author of Jane Eyre; Emily, the middle surviving sister and author of Wuthering Heights; and Anne, the often-forgotten youngest sister and author of Agnes Grey.
Synopsis: Charlotte Brontë has a confession about how one sister became an idol, and the other became known as the third sister. You know the one. No, not that one. The other, other one… Anne. An irreverent retelling of the life and legend of the Brontë sisters, and the story of the sibling power dynamics that shaped their uneven rise to fame.

Musicals

2013 Broadway Production of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Broadway Version) (Carol Rosegg)

Dangerous Daughters by Annemarie Lewis Thomas and Nick Stimson (US/UK) 
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 11w, 3m) 
The sisters: The Pankhurst sisters – including Christabel, 20s to 30s, the eldest daughter and Emmeline’s favoured child who appears to be a strong, born leader but hides a fragile and conflicted inner self; Sylvia, 20s to 30s, the true-to-herself-and-her-beliefs second daughter who is an artist, compassionate socialist, and lover of a much older man; and Adela, 20s, the youngest daughter who is a fragile idealist often overlooked by her mother and sisters.
Synopsis: The lives and loves of the three daughters of Emmeline Pankhurst – the figurehead of Britain’s radical Suffragette movement – culminate in victory for suffrage but disintegration for the family in this musical set against the First World War and the Women’s Suffrage movement.

Fly By Night by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick and Kim Rosenstock (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dark Comedy / 2w, 5m)
The sisters: Daphne, an actress, and Miriam, a waitress.
Synopsis: A star-crossed prophecy. A lot of music. Just not a lot of light. In this darkly comic rock-fable, a melancholy sandwich maker’s humdrum life is intersected by two entrancing sisters. A sweeping ode to young love set against the backdrop of the Northeast blackout of 1965, this is a musical tale about making your way and discovering hope in a world beset by darkness.

Goblin Market by Peggy Harmon, Polly Pen and Christina Rossetti (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 2w)
The sisters: Laura, who partakes in the forbidden offerings of the goblins, and Lizzie, the sister who bargains desperately with the fey creatures to save her sister.
Synopsis: Blending music, poetry and entrancing imagery, this brilliantly atmospheric, totally original musical probes into the sexually charged fantasies of two proper Victorian sisters – both now grown women and mothers – who return to their childhood nursery to relive the haunting memories of their youth and end up transported back to their girlhood in an imaginary world peopled by seductive goblins.

Gypsy by Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Gypsy Rose Lee (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 6w, 2m + ensemble)
The sisters: Louise, the older sister, a bit timid onstage (at first), later becomes the burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee; and “Baby” June, the younger sister, eager, energetic and born for the vaudeville stage.
Synopsis: This jewel of Broadway’s Golden Age reveals the world of vaudeville and burlesque with an incomparable score, a brilliantly conceived book and some of the greatest roles in theatre history. Stage mother Rose will do anything to make her girls stars, but when fearless “Baby June” quits the act, Rose sets her sights on shy Louise, who blossoms into Gypsy Rose Lee, the most famous stripper in the world.

Head Over Heels by The Go-Go’s, Sir Philip Sidney, Jeff Whitty and James Magruder (US/UK) – Also available in a High School Edition (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4w, 3m, 1 any gender + ensemble)
The sisters: Pamela, the older sister who is confident and obsessed with her appearance and known to be the most beautiful bachelorette throughout Arcadia; and her shy younger sister Philoclea, a “good girl” who yearns to follow her heart rather than obey her father’s orders.
Synopsis: A hilarious, exuberant celebration of love, this bold musical comedy follows the escapades of a royal family on an outrageous journey to save their beloved kingdom from extinction – only to discover the key to their realm’s survival lies within each of their own hearts.

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas by Irving Berlin, Norman Krasna, Norman Panama, Melvin Frank, David Ives and Paul Blake (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5w, 6m, 1 girl + ensemble)
The sisters: “Sisters, sisters… There were never such devoted sisters!” sing The Haynes Sisters, an up-and-coming song-and-dance team. They are Betty Haynes, mid-to-late 20s, the devoted, sensible, responsible sister, destined to be a star in her own right but hesitant to take the spotlight for herself. She hides her yearning for true love under a protective shell; and Judy Haynes, early 20s, the younger, more ambitious, slightly scheming Haynes sister. While wholesome and adorable, she is sexy and flirty – a winning charmer whom no man can resist.
Synopsis: In this heartwarming and uplifting Irving Berlin classic, veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis have a successful song-and-dance act after World War II. With romance in mind, the two follow the singing Haynes sisters en route to their Christmas show at a Vermont lodge, which just happens to be owned by Bob and Phil’s former army commander. The dazzling score features well-known standards including “Blue Skies,” “I Love A Piano,” “How Deep Is the Ocean,” the perennial title tune, and the ultimate tribute to sisterhood: “Sisters.”

2003 Broadway Production of Wonderful Town (Paul Kolnik)

Jo by William Dyer and Don Parks (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 12w, 10m)
The sisters: The four March sisters, including Meg, the romantic; Jo, the headstrong writer; Beth, the kind-hearted pianist; and Amy, the youngest who loves the finer things.
Synopsis: Based on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, this lively and appealing musical play employs flowing songs, sprightly dancing and bright lyrics to bring new life to a beloved and ever-popular classic about sisters on the brink of womanhood.

Lizzie by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Tim Maner and Alan Stevens Hewitt (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 4w)
The sisters: Lizzie Borden, damaged, twisted, can turn on a dime from fragile, broken, meek and obedient to conniving, sinister, furious and terrifying. She is a wounded animal backed into a corner, terrified but enraged. We find her at the moment she realizes she has nothing to lose; and Emma Borden, the older sister eclipsed by the younger. She must content herself by playing a motherly Lady Macbeth to Lizzie, dripping her own hatreds into Lizzie’s ears over the years, stoking the fires of Lizzie’s rage, disappearing when the deeds must be done, and suffering with guilt afterwards. Emma is a woman who has come to see that every opportunity for happiness has passed her by. She’s furious, but she’s also desperately sad.
Synopsis: Rage! Sex! Betrayal! BLOODY MURDER! A rock-show retelling of the bloody legend of America’s first and favorite axe-wielding double-murderess and hometown girl, Lizzie Borden. This thrilling musical is set to a searing rock score reminiscent of Bikini Kill, the Runaways and Heart.

Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Broadway Version) by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II and Douglas Carter Beane (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 6w, 5m + ensemble)
The sisters: Have there ever been more deliciously despicable siblings than Cinderella’s selfish stepsisters? In this version, we have the older sister Gabrielle, who is encouraged by her mother and sister to value material wealth and social status and unenthusiastically joins them in their abrasive behavior. But the truth is that she is quietly passionate, empathetic, witty, and ironically aware that she doesn’t fit in. There is also the younger Charlotte, who is brash, self-centered, materialistic, snooty, loud, sassy and bratty with a ridiculously high, but unfounded, opinion of herself. She never passes up an opportunity to be the center of attention.
Synopsis: In Rodgers & Hammerstein’s charming and elegant interpretation of the magical fairy tale, sibling rivalry leads to hilarity with the show-stopping “Stepsister’s Lament.” In this recent Broadway adaptation, librettist Douglas Carter Beane adds a new twist: one of the stepsisters repents and earns redemption.

For information on all of the licensable versions of Cinderella, see on “A Guide to Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” on Breaking Character.

Side Show (2014 Broadway Revival) by Henry Krieger and Bill Russell (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 7w, 14m + ensemble)
The sisters: The conjoined Hilton twins, including Violet, the gentler and shyer twins who dreams of marriage and a stable family life; and Daisy, the bolder twin who speaks her mind and isn’t shy about her conjoined state and whose biggest dream is to become a famous and wealthy performer.
Synopsis: Based on the true story of conjoined twins Violet and Daisy Hilton, who became stars during the Depression, this musical is a moving portrait of two women joined at the hip whose extraordinary bondage brings them fame but denies them love. Told almost entirely in song, the show follows Violet and Daisy’s progression from England to America, around the vaudeville circuit, and to Hollywood on the eve of their appearance in the 1932 movie Freaks.

String by Sarah Hammond and Adam Gwon (US/UK) – also available in a Large Cast Edition (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 5w, 2m + ensemble)
The sisters: The mythological Fates, including Atropos, the oldest sister, a caretaker who cuts the string of your life; Lachesis, the sporty, fun, restless middle sister who measures the string of your life; and Clotho, the cheerful and surprisingly wise littlest sister who spins the string of your life.
Synopsis: After angering Zeus, the Fates – the goddess sisters who spin, measure and snip the strings of life – are banished to a modern office building, where they continue their glorious, mysterious work. But when eldest sister Atropos falls for Mickey, the security guard, she begins to disrupt the natural order. An original, uplifting and belty musical about fate, love and the imperfections that make us human.

We Are The Tigers by Preston Max Allen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dark Comedy / 10 any gender)
The sisters: Annleigh, 16, well-intentioned but a little unhinged and extremely religious but often burdened by taking care of her alcoholic step-sister and repressing her sexual urges for her boyfriend, Clark; and Farrah, 15, Annleigh’s step-sister, an excessive drinker, and the team’s resident “hot mess” who’s still hoping to find ways to connect and be taken seriously.
Synopsis: When the Tigers’ high school cheerleading squad – including stepsisters Annleigh and Farrah – meet for their annual sleepover at captain Riley’s house, they bring their teenage troubles with them. Love triangles, a lustful boyfriend and hurt feelings won’t compare to the untimely death of one of their own in the front yard. Will that be the only murder? Who did it? With a pop-driven, belty score and a seriously silly book, this musical will have audiences cheering for the Tigers as the Tigers learn to cheer for themselves.

Wonderful Town by Joseph Fields, Jerome Chodorov, Ruth McKenney, Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5w, 9m + ensemble)
The sisters: Ruth, an aspiring writer, and her sister Eileen, an actress and dancer.
Synopsis: In the summer of 1935, two sisters leave rural Ohio to seek success in the big city. Due to their limited budget, the sisters wind up sharing a less-than ideal basement apartment in NYC. Together and individually, they pursue their dreams, overcome heartbreak, encounter a motley assortment of colorful characters, and – ultimately – find love. The Tony Award-winning Best Musical with a thrilling score by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Comden & Green features the sibling duet “Ohio,” along with “Conga,” “One Hundred Easy Ways” and “Wrong Note Rag.”

Also available: My Sister Eileen (US), the play that inspired the musical.

Other kinds of sisters…

2010 Cherry Lane Theatre Production of Nunsense (Courtesy of Dan Goggin)

Heavenly Sisters

Nunsense by Dan Goggin (US/UK) – also available as Nunsense: The Mega-Musical Version (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5w)
The sisters: Sister Mary Regina, 60s, the Mother Superior and a feisty overweight Sophie Tucker-type who can’t resist the spotlight; Sister Mary Hubert, 50s, the Mistress of Novices and the always-competing second in command; Sister Robert Anne, mid-30s, a streetwise taught character from Brooklyn and constant source of aggravation for the Mother Superior; Sister Mary Amnesia, late 30s, a very sweet nun who lost her memory after a crucifix fell on her head; and Sister Mary Leo, early-to-mid-30s, the novice who has entered the convent with the firm desire to become the first nun ballerina.
Synopsis: A zany, wholesome, hilarious musical revue presented by the Little Sisters of Hoboken – a heavenly delight! The show is a fundraiser the Little Sisters are presenting to raise enough money to bury fellow sisters accidentally poisoned by the convent cook, Sister Julia (Child of God).

For more adventures with the Little Sisters of Hoboken, explore The Nunsense Collection (US/UK).

Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You by Christopher Durang (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 2m, 1 boy)
The sister: Sister Mary Ignatius, anywhere from 45 to a vigorous 65, a strict Catholic teaching nun who is much concerned with sin in all of its various forms.
Synopsis: This biting, irreverent and uproariously funny satire aims its barbs at organized religion and strikes home with hilarious results. In it, Sister Mary’s long lecture on Roman Catholicism starts conventionally to deliver a cautionary lecture to her charges but grows in morbidity and even horror as it proceeds to both uproarious laughter and devastating truths.

The Divine Sister by Charles Busch (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5w, 1m)
The sisters: The various divine sisters, from Mother Superior (aka Susan) to Sister Walburga to Sister Acacius (aka Lil) and young postulant Agnes.
Synopsis: An outrageous comic homage to nearly every Hollywood film involving nuns! Evoking such films from The Song of Bernadette to Agnes of God, this madcap trip through Hollywood religiosity tells the story of St. Veronica’s indomitable Mother Superior, who is determined to build a new school for her Pittsburgh convent. Along the way, she must deal with a young postulant who is experiencing “visions,” sexual hysteria among her nuns, a sensitive schoolboy, a mysterious visit and a former suitor intent on luring her away from her vows.

To continue to explore shows about sisters (and utilize our Advanced Search filters to suit your needs), visit Concord Theatricals in the US or the UK.