Plays

Carbajal's humor alternates between lacerating and indulgent and never slackens.
--The New Yorker

Some Assembly Required

A Place to Rest Your Head

The Gifted Program

Every day is hell for Washington High's smartest and least-popular kids. Their only respite: basement sessions of D&D. When a private crush becomes public, the pursuit of education turns into a fight for survival.

Cover for the critically acclaimed comedy The Gifted Program by playwright Ruben Carbajal.
Cover for the critically acclaimed comedy The Gifted Program by playwright Ruben Carbajal.

Dramatists Play Service

The cover to the published hit play Some Assembly Required by Ruben Carbajal.
The cover to the published hit play Some Assembly Required by Ruben Carbajal.

A wildly entertaining piece...The dialogue is clever, with well-crafted jokes that had audiences howling with laughter.
--Cranberries, Baby! Sketch Group

While attempting to assemble a dresser from a certain Swedish furniture company, a long-married couple inadvertently activate a plot to end the world.

StagePartners

The cover to the terrifying short play A Place to Rest Your Head by playwright Ruben Carbajal.
The cover to the terrifying short play A Place to Rest Your Head by playwright Ruben Carbajal.

The residents of a run-down flophouse are transients, haunted in more ways than one. But a deeper mystery unfolds: who are the ghosts, and who are the haunted?

StagePartners

*10 Minutes
*Sci-Fi Comedy
*Suitable for all ages
*Cast: 1F/1M/1 Flex or 3 Flex

*10 Minutes
*Horror
*High school or older
*Cast: 1F/3F

Cover for the short play for young audiences The Law of the Instrument by Ruben Carbajal.
Cover for the short play for young audiences The Law of the Instrument by Ruben Carbajal.

The Law of the Instrument

A troll warrior, feared throughout the kingdom, pivots to a career as a boy-band singer. This play is part of StagePartner's anthology, Quest! It can be licensed as a stand-alone piece or part of the full-length collection.

*90 Minutes
*80's Period Comedy
*Available in HS Friendly edition
*Cast: 9M/6W or 6M/3W w/ Doubling

StagePartners

*10 Minutes
*Fantasy-Comedy
*Suitable for all ages
*Cast: 5 actors (flexible)

Ruben's writing is fearless and full of heart—
sharp when it needs to be, tender when you least expect it. His plays have a pulse. The pleasure of working with Ruben for the past few years has been a reminder of what theatre can do when it’s simultaneously personal and rooted in the world we live in.

--Milena Mass (Managing Director, The Bluebird Theatre)