Complete List of Plays Written by Alexandra Ares

Full-Length Plays (from most recent)

Haute Couture

Carla Moreau, a former model turned designer, fights for relevance in the ruthless world of high fashion across Paris, New York, and London, sparring with her jaded friend Vivian, a retired Vogue editor, and her devoted but disillusioned sponsor Beatrice. Through daring designs and personal collapse, the play explores ambition, authenticity, and the price of chasing fleeting fame in a spectacle-driven world.

The Weight of the Nation

A dystopian fable in five tableaux (a prologue and four scenes). FINO (Free in Name Only), a weary everyman chained to a stationary bicycle, fuels the voracious State through endless labor. Along the way, he encounters the rebellious Weirdo, the indifferent Clerk, and the seductive Inflation. A biting critique of systemic exploitation, bureaucracy, and oppression, the play questions whether true liberation is ever possible.

Beautiful and Cool

A shortened, updated version of Waking Beauty, with less emphasis on its Brechtian, historical dimension and more on the personal, human story. During a revolution, a young woman gets the chance to start life as a woman  along with her new society. Onda's journey from innocence to desire, sin, and redemption examines both the power and the traps of Beauty.

Bank of Imagination

On planet Reveria stands a great bank owned by Imagination, where people deposit dreams and ideas. When this elegant woman in white is suddenly killed, repercussions spread across the entire planet. God himself, her secret former lover, and a bored detective team up to solve the crime. An allegory on the vital role of imagination in human life.

Hotel Cosmos: Elon Musk Goes to Mars

A satirical verse play lampooning political correctness and global elites. The audience journeys from Sumerian myths to a high-tech future where Mars is colonized. A bold theatrical experiment that provokes and captivates.

Youthtopia

In a world where beauty is globally banned, Ariana, a once-beautiful 60-year-old scientist, trades her soul and identity with Eva, a stunning 20-year-old waitress, in exchange for her fortune. A volatile man is caught between them. The play unfolds in a major city, with the final scene in the Amazon jungle.

Winner of the Romanian Academy Prize for Drama (2022/2024)

Published in 2022 by the Romanian Academy Publishing House. Romanian Academy Award, 2024.

A Priceless Grandma

A favorite grandson plots to get rid of his grandmother to seize her downtown house. But the lively grandma refuses to die… A tragicomedy about mortality and greed, and an ode to a life-loving spirit that defies age.

Weekend at the Beach

Bo, a spoiled teenager, takes a short seaside trip with his father's bodyguard. He meets a runaway girl entangled with the Constanța mafia and is pulled into a perilous overnight adventure while his bodyguard sleeps soundly. A coming-of-age play about the bumpy road from boyhood to manhood.

Waking Beauty

A neo-feminist play inspired by Brecht and David Hare epic plays. During a revolution, a young woman gets the chance to start life over again along with her society. Onda's journey from innocence to desire, sin, and redemption examines both the power and the traps of Beauty.

Short Plays

Who Killed Apollo?

Four strangers are summoned to solve a murder.

The Station

Two former classmates meet after many years and find their old hierarchies reversed.

The Men's Store

Three women enter a store to order the perfect man — but the "models" disappoint.

The Pleasure Memorial

A group of revolutionaries sets out for the land where all desires will be fulfilled.