Patricia Milton's plays have been performed in New York, Boston, Istanbul, San Francisco, and places in between. Her values are: laughter, candor, artistic excellence, determination, integrity, generosity, and feminism.

Read excerpts from her reviews here.

She is a Resident Playwright at Central Works in Berkeley, CA.

The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective is a “cheeky thriller” that centers women detectives and victims instead of the killer. In 1893, three women who live in London take up the task of foiling a serial killer not unlike Jack the Ripper. But without modern forensics, access to crime scenes, or cooperation from the authorities, how can they succeed? A character-driven mystery that examines the obstacles facing women, then and now.

Bamboozled is an award-winning four-woman comedy about family valuables and the legacy of slavery in the U.S. Stranded in Tennessee, and charged with defrauding a Daughter of the Confederacy out of family Civil War heirlooms worth over $1M, a young black appraiser from L.A. must find a way to win the suit, or face ruin. Inspired by a true story. Outstanding Production, 2018 Theatre Bay Area Awards, and two Outstanding Lead Actor Awards.

Her fast-paced satire, Hearts of Palm, premiered in July 2016 at Central Works, where it played to sold-out houses every weekend. The play follows the personal ethical crises that play out among a group of United States land negotiators intent on expanding a Southeast Asian palm oil plantation. Unrequited love meets unregulated capitalism in Hearts of Palm.

Patricia's darkly comic Enemies: Foreign and Domestic premiered in February 2015 at Central Works in Berkeley, CA.  It was awarded "Outstanding World Premier Play" in the 2015 Theatre Bay Area Awards. A prodigal daughter’s return ignites a culture clash that opens an unexpected window onto intimate and institutional aggression – at home and overseas.

Moments of Truth is a musical comedy about art, truth, and love. A fine arts painter in midlife faces an artistic dry spell and a foundering marriage. When her former art school roommate urges her to collaborate on a project involving a lie detector, she seizes the opportunity. But the cracks in her relationship and her inspiration need healing, and how can she really get at the truth? Written with composer/lyricist Caroline Altman. Finalist, Women in Arts and Media Collaboration Award, 2013, it premiered September, 2015 in San Francisco, by 3Girls Theatre.

Patricia’s comedy Solving Sunflowers was a winner of the 2009 Eudora Welty New Play Series, and was a Finalist in the 2010 Players Guild Theatre New Play Competition. It was the winner of the EMCT New Mexico Centennial Playwriting Contest. Solving Sunflowers is set in Potash, NM, outside Roswell, the site of an alleged UFO crash site.

Her apocalyptic romantic comedy, Believers, premiered in San Francisco in August 2012, and has been produced in Istanbul and in Monterey, CA. Robert Hurwitt of the San Francisco Chronicle praised its "sharp comic writing" and wrote, “'Believers' is the work of a sometimes bracingly original mind with a smart sense of humor, an apocalyptic imagination and a healthy distrust of pharmaceutical solutions and corporate ethics." The play was developed at the 2010 Playwrights Revolution at Capital Stage Theatre in Sacramento, CA, Playwrights Center of San Francisco, and Wily West Productions’ 2011 staged reading series in San Francisco.

Reduction in Force, a Central Works Method play, premiered in Berkeley, CA, July 2011.  It was voted the 2011 SF Broadway World award for "Best Local Play." Critical descriptions included “fascinating characters in new play ‘Reduction in Force’ at Berkeley City Club. Patricia Milton's play is remarkable . . . diabolical and fun.” (Lee Hartgrave, BeyondChron),  “Patricia Milton’s very funny, three-character spoof of our ongoing economic crisis . . . [is a] timely, witty farce” (Jean Schiffman, SF Examiner), and, “a hilarious lampoon of corporate culture, . . . with intrigue and a healthy dose of satire” (Elana McKernan, Theatre Bay Area Magazine). It also was produced by BardsTown Theatre, Louisville, Kentucky.

The Only Virgin in Jubilee County, winner of the 2007 Hill Country Playwriting Festival, premiered at the Hill Country Community Theatre in Texas, and is published by Eldridge Publishers.

She is co-author with Andrew Black of three full-length comedies. It's Murder, Mary! premiered at the New Conservatory Theater Center, San Francisco, in May 2008, and critic Lee Hartgrave raved, "Hilarious, high-spirited fun for everyone. . . Irresistible!"  Strange Bedfellows was described as “a wondrous ride. With its expert plot and engaging characters, this play is a winner"  (Ute Von der Hayden, CityPulse, Lansing, MI, 2011), and "a wacky comedy for the early 21st century" (OC Register).  Porn Yesterday was produced by Curan Rep in New York City, Thorny Theater in Palm Springs, and in San Diego, Phoenix, and elsewhere. MyDesert.com wrote: “[There is] just the right mix of poignancy and laughter in this saucy tale of one man's struggle toward redemption." 

Patricia’s short play Busybody was produced in New York and San Francisco and is published by Original Works Publishing, and available at amazon.com. Pat Craig of the Contra Costa Times called it "a disturbing slice of life . . . designed for maximum emotional discomfort."  One of her monologues is published in the International Centre for Women Playwrights anthology, Mother/Daughter Monologues, v. 4, available here. Her short play Stonehenge was published in Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2014.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, her short plays have been seen at the Exploratorium and PianoFight, and in the One Minute Play Festival,  SF Theater Festival, Woman’s Will PlayFest, SF Fringe Festival, and Sheherezade. She has had more than 100 productions and readings of her short plays.

She is the Northern California Regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild. She is a past President, Playwrights Center of San Francisco, and a member of Theatre Bay Area, Central Works Writing Group, and International Centre for Women Playwrights.  She is a former Resident Playwright with 3Girls Theatre in San Francisco (2012-2015). She has been in residence at Vermont Studio Center, the HBMG National Winter Writer's Retreat in Creede, Colorado, Arts Letters + Numbers Residency Program in Averill Park, NY, The Mud House in Crete, and La Porte Peinte Centre pour les Arts in France.

She is listed on the New Play Exchange.