Writer, Editor, Queer Storyteller
About
My name is Billy McEntee and I'm the Theater Editor at
The Brooklyn Rail and a freelance writer and artist.
At the
Rail, I write essays analyzing new plays, particularly rigorous, nuanced works that have shorter runs and as such many not receive as much coverage. These responses aims to crack open a work and reveal its core to audiences so we can better understand and discuss the intention of a play and place in a dynamic theatrical ecosystem. I also founded Rail Shorts, which commissions playwrights to write short works accompanied by original illustrations. I was the inaugural 2022/23 Terry Helbing Fellow for the American Theatre Critics Association, and I've written for
The Washington Post,
San Francisco Chronicle,
Vanity Fair,
Travel + Leisure,
American Theatre,
them,
Observer, and
Playbill.
My co-created play
The Voices in Your Head sold out its run at St. Lydia's and was, per Helen Shaw, "warm, witty, bonkers." Another piece,
Geraldine Realigned Drives from Gay Place to Gay Place and You're in the Car Too, premiered at The Brick in 2023 and will return there in 2024.
I've also taught with The School of The New York Times and the Kennedy Center and am an alumnus of the O'Neill's National Critics Institute.
The Voices in Your Head
Co-created by Grier Mathiot and Billy McEntee
Directed by Ryan Dobrin
Featuring Christian Caro, Marcia DeBonis*, Patrick Foley*, Vanessa Kai*, Tom Mezger*, Daphne Overbeck, Erin Treadway*, and Jehan O. Young*
These actors appeared courtesy of Actors Equity Association.
Description
A support group for people who share a bizarre bond holds a meeting. An hour-long site-specific experience, The Voices in Your Head sold out its three-week run at St. Lydia's in Brooklyn in January 2024.
Press
“Warm, witty, bonkers. If you need a morsel of sweet weirdness, acted by top-shelf Off-Off megastars, try Grier Mathiot and Billy McEntee’s The Voices in Your Head.” —Helen Shaw, The New Yorker theater critic
“Wonderful. Grier Mathiot and Billy McEntee’s smart, darkly witty new work doles out information carefully; director Ryan Dobrin has many brilliant little touches.” —Joey Sims, No Proscenium
“A one-of-a-kind experience and a hilarious dark comedy. If you are a fan of immersive theatre, do anything you can to get a ticket; it definitely is full of weird joy.” —Nolan Boggess, Theatrely
Geraldine Realigned Drives from Gay Place to Gay Place and You're in the Car Too
Created by Cam Cronin and Billy McEntee
Directed by Ryan Dobrin
Productions
The Brick Theater (2023 and 2024)
Press
A preview in
Brooklyn Magazine and
The Broadway Blog
Description
See America’s great gayborhoods with Geraldine Realigned in 60 minutes flat! Should anything go awry, Geraldine’s alter ego — a consultant named Cam, far less zany — will be on hand to course correct, and maybe chitchat about identity formation. Buckle up for a queer road trip that’s one helluva tour (de force).
Lindsay Lindsey Lyndsey
Written and produced by Billy McEntee
Directed by Claire Mathiot
Featuring Cam Cronin, Daphne Overbeck, and Dan Kuan Peeples
Description
Three childhood friends reunite and are unmoored — and disarmed — by each other's developed sense of identity.
Lindsay Lindsey Lyndsey is a new short film about queer, triangular friendship and how who we are is both individually and communally informed. The film premieres in 2022.
Selections
Chelsea Film Festival
Palm Springs LGBTQ Film Festival
Los Angeles Lift Off Film Festival
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Cory and Smin’s Love Conquers the Earth
Written by Billy McEntee
Directed by Charles Quittner
Productions
Boscoe Barles Backyard Center for the Performing Arts (2020)
Kingsland Flowers (2021)
Smiling Hogshead Ranch (2021)*
*recipient of a grant from the Queens Arts Council
Press
A preview in
Time Out New York
“An incredible queer masterpiece” —Sidewalkkilla
“Lovely, ephemeral, intimate” —
Token Theatre Friends
Description
A few years from now, when cities have banned gas-fueled cars and drag queens host gardening clubs, two enamored teens on opposite sides of the country struggle to meet in the middle: Cory wants a relationship, Smin wants a revolution. Each is difficult to attain when there are college essays and manifestos to write, mom's shopping to do, and maybe a planet to save. Anthemic and bawdy, Cory and Smin's Love Conquers the Earth is a queer "eco-medy" giving Zoomers, Boomers, and everyone in between a future to fear — or believe in.
Cast
Three actors (two teenagers, one in their 30s+ — race and gender flexible)
Murder Mysteries
Have fun with your friends while stabbing them in the back: introducing Kill Your Friends, bespoke murder mysteries for parties, get-togethers, and gatherings of all kinds! Working with individual clients, Billy crafts a three-act evening, guidebooks, and character sheets based on the party's vibe and needs. Previous murder mystery settings have included White Lotus: Thailand, an upstate farmer's market, and a ten-year cast reunion for a failed CW show, amongst others. Where do you want to Kill Your Friends? Murder mysteries cost $25 per head — visit the Contact page to get in touch!
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