Lauren Goldman Marshall
playwright, director, teaching artist

Theater of Possibility mounted a professional workshop staged reading of my new musical Fixing Einstein (book & lyrics by Lauren Marshall and music by Ian Williams) at University Heights Center, Seattle, Nov 18-23, 2025.  

See Fixing Einstein trailer (6 min.) on YouTube

What if you could build a better version of yourself?  In Fixing Einstein, a middle-aged scientist (VICTORIA) suffering from early onset dementia creates an adult, living replica of herself (her “clone,” VICKI) to carry on her work and care for her unsuspecting, unemployed artist husband (MICHAEL) and autistic twin boys (XANDER and DREW) after she dies, except she doesn't die . . . When VICTORIA returns, she must face the ethical and personal consequences of the creation she has unleashed.

Fixing Einstein was originally developed as a one-act for the 5th Avenue Theatre new works program, where it was twice workshopped. The authors have since expanded it into a full-length work. It was included in the 2023 Theatre Accelerator lab and had a 2024 reading with director David Grabarkewitz of Borderland Arts Initiative, in El Paso. This developmental workshop was supported by an Artist Project grant from 4Culture and a grant from FAIR in the Arts.  Directed by Lauren Marshall, music directed by Michael Matlock & movement by Montse Garza.  The outstanding cast included Billie Wildrick (Nov 18), Anna Daines (Nov 20-23), Carly Corey, Bob De Dea, Elijah Spreier & Evan Ponyah

Fixing Einstein is currently available for production. Contact Theater of Possibility to obtain a copy of the libretto and audio demos.  

“If you want to  see the kinds of brave stories, unheard perspectives and questions that prompt audiences to think rather than delivering us pat black-or-white answers—the kinds of stories that I firmly believe the theater world should uplift more often—go see this reading before it wraps up ....”  Anna Tatelman, playwright

“[I]ncredibly moving, timely, captivating, beautiful and funny….Go see it, and if you can’t, keep it on your radar, it is outstanding!”  Ann Davis Gloekler, audience member

“GO.  Brilliant lyrics, fabulous music, and performances that will expand your heart forever.  Win Win Win.” Kathryn Keller, playwright

“[P]henomenal…. The actors brought this very moving, enlightening and incredibly humorous musical to vivid life.  This piece … deserves a full mainstage run.”  Kathy Hsieh, theater artist & blogger

TOP Educational Progams for Neurodiverse Youth:

Theater of Possibility, serving neurodiverse youth since 2010, offers fun, affirming theater programs for kids, teens and adults, including weekend classes at Seattle's Univeristy Heights Center and Bellevue Youth Theatre during the school year, and a two-week, half-day summer camp at Northgate Community Center in Seattle. Experienced TOP actors serve as teaching interns.

For more information, check out the Theater of Possibility page.

GIVING VOICE TO AUTISTIC NONSPEAKERS

It premiered at TOP in Seattle; next stop New York City! 

Love Letters--A True-Ly Short Epistolary Romance presented in staged reading by Neurodivergent Plays in NYC, April 19, 2026

If you missed it in NYC, you can watch TOP's acclaimed production any time on video.

Available now for viewing on demand on YouTube @TheaterofPossibility 

Love Letters: A True-Ly Short Epistolary Romance, by Sofia Ghassaei and various songwriters, may be the world's first musical by and about autistic nonspeakers.

 *Nominated in Seattle BroadwayWorld for Best New Play or Musical of 2023*

Two autistic nonspeakers fall in love over email only to struggle with sensory realities when they meet in person. Love Letters is a universal story of first love–found and lost–and of expectations not matching reality.

Use these links: Video only or Video with spellers panel

Playwright Sofia Ghassaei is a Seattle-based, young adult, award-winning poet and autistic minimal speaker. Due to apraxia, she has difficulty controlling her speech and body movements and communicates by pointing to letters on a letter board, one letter at a time. Sofia's powerful, poetic text is augmented with songs from other spellers across the US and Canada.  

Love Letters is directed by Lauren Marshall, with music direction by Ian Williams, choreography by Anna Karpukhina, and videography by Ben Kerns, and performed by a professional cast, featuring Juliette Jones, Drew David Combs, Nathaniel Lee, Cammi Smith & Matthew Reyes.

Top: Mathew Reyes  and Juliette Jones: Bottom: Cammi Smith and Drew David Combs. Photos by Ben Kerns

"More than any other show I've seen this year - this production reminded me of the magic theater possesses to show us the possibility we all have if given a chance."  Kathy Hsieh, audience member and theater artist.

"You knocked my socks off that with that amazing show tonight. I'm moved beyond words for now. You mined deeper issues about "speech" than neurodivergence."...[Its] significance extends to so many ways we express ourselves. Or don't." Lenore Bensinger, playwright

"Such a creative, smart, funny, profound, beautiful play. The performances were remarkable. The music, simply perfect –an outstanding production!!!"  Karen Z, audience member.

"I’m going to be thinking about it for a long, long time. I still have one of the songs running in my head hours later." Cass G. B, audience member

"I would see it again in a heartbeat." Stephen S, audience member and speller (autistic nonspeaker).

"I noticed how so many people saw me." Sam R, audience member and speller.

“Love letters is simply brilliant.  Such a cool story of finding, losing and finding again.  Vulnerability, courage, resilience, hope all came through in heaps.  Ultimately though, this was a celebration of a fundamental human need that was considered unattainable for many of us.  Hopefully all those that saw this have had their minds changed forever….  This is truly pathbreaking and a must watch for everyone.” Swarit Gopalan, 11 years old, from his Facebook page, My Truisms Unfiltered.

“This musical will forever change the world.” Sarah Hernandez, The Deaf.Autistic.OT

"This is the year my dreams come true! My play has a fabulous team of actors, musicians and a director who believe Nonspeakers have a place in the arts."  Sofia Ghassaei, playwright

Matthew Reyes, Nathaniel Lee and Juliette Jones.  Photos by Ben Kerns

Enjoy the digital program from the stage production.

For a peak behind the scenes on the creation of Love Letters, check out this entertaining and informative short podcast in which lyricist Wyatt Dutton (Whispering) interviews the playwright, Sofia Ghassaei, and this playwright's blog that appeared in the newsletter of the International Association for Spelling as Communication (I-ASC).

To support this project, including the making and dissemination of the video, please consider making a tax deductible donation to Theater of Possibility, or purchase a Love Letters T-shirt (limited time only).

Follow Love Letters news on Facebook 

Abraham's Land is again available for public viewing on YouTube. For more info on this 2021 production of an original musical, set in Israel and Palestine, scroll down or go to the show website. 

Abraham's Land, an original musical set in Israel and Palestine, with book and lyrics by Lauren Goldman Marshall, and music and orchestrations by Roger Ames, plus additional music by David Nafissan and Paul Linnes, was produced by Theater of Possibility at the Kirkland Performance Center, July 15–18, 2021. Watch the official trailer.

Directed by David Grabarkewitz, with music direction by Paul Linnes and choreography by Kathryn Van Meter and Waseem Sbait, the gripping production featured an outstanding nationally-recruited cast, including Michael Strauss, François Ben-Saaid, Maria Habeeb, Hassan Nazari-Robati, David Studwell, Bobbi Kotula, Danya El-Kurd, Cammi Smith, and Paul Shapiro, along with a multi-ethnic, multi-generational ensemble.

As the first professional production to open in Washington state following the pandemic, we offered both in-person and livestream viewing, reaching audiences in 37 states and 6 countries. Subsequently, we released a video of the production, edited by Ben Kerns. 

"I watched it and wept and wept. It is unfortunately so very timely, not to mention beautiful."
- Gail von Hahmann, audience member, USA

"The writing, amazingly, did not demonize one side or the other. Rather, it showed the humanity while not shying from hard facts of what needs to be done."
- Bert Sacks, audience member, USA

Palestine Charity Team screened the film to six civic society institutions in Rafah, Gaza on January 18–25, 2022.

"We will be very happy if we see peace happen through this play, which aims in all its events about peace and coexistence."
- Remas, audience member, Gaza, Palestine

Here is Palestine Charity Team's two-minute video presentation on the screenings in Gaza.

For more info on Abraham's Land, please check out the Abraham's Land Website.

The production of Abraham's Land was supported by a grant from 4Culture and other donations.

Abraham's Land explores the human cost of the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine. Theater of Possibility is accepting tax-deductible donations via Fractured Atlas to support the re-release of the edited film version. Donate Now!

Lauren's op-ed pieces on Israel and Palestine were published in the Seattle Times on October 13, 2023 and May 19, 2018.

Recent Projects:

 TOP featured in podcast on Education Evolution.

Dr. Maureen O'Shaughnessy interviews TOP founding director Lauren Marshall and veteran student turned TOP teacher Jackie Moffitt in a 34-minute podcast on Education Evolution, Using Acting To Support Neurodivergency with Theater of Possibility, aired June 21, 2022.

Musical Production During the Pandemic

Lauren directed a virtual film version of Pamela Gerke's original musical Nightingale: Regarding the Life and Passion of Miss Florence Nightingale.  To create this remarkable production during the pandemic, the actors were videotaped one at a time in front of a green screen and then magically edited together by  Ben Kerns. See the official trailer here.

The Monkey King at Belleuve Youth Theatre

Lauren's adaptation of the Chinese tale of the Monkey King (from the epic Journey to the West) was produced by Bellevue Youth Theatre, Nov 8-17, 2019. A spunky monkey aspires to be on equal footing with the gods, and won't let authority stand in his way. Originally commissioned and produced by Seattle Public Theater for its summer youth program in 2015, it's designed for the young and young-at-heart.

Bellevue Youth Theatre cast of The Monkey King:

Theater of Possibility presents at the World Affairs Council
Four advanced students and teaching assistants from the Seattle and Bellevue teen/adult classes joined Lauren on August 1, 2019, in presenting a workshop on Theater of Possibility for a delegation of theater artists from Egypt, participating in the State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program, focusing on the role of independent theater in promoting social change. We had a blast doing theater games and demonstrating techniques from Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed with the highly talented Egyptian theater artists.

Theater of Possibility at Intersections Festival
The TOP advanced youth troupe performed two short pieces, Autism Therapy for Neurotypicals, by Jackie Moffitt, and Kaleidoscope, by Lauren Marshall and Pam Shane Johnson, at the Intersections Festival, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way, SW Seattle, 98106, Sunday March 25, 2018. Intersections is a comedy festival focusing on equity, inclusion and representation.

For more information on Theater of Possibility, click here.

My Beautiful Bow: An Adoption Story is available through bookstores and many online vendors, including Amazon.com. Click here for a description of this picture book for children.

Original Material and Coding Copyright © 2010–24 by Lauren Goldman Marshall. All Rights Reserved.