In 2008, Snyder began writing and studying new verse drama at Emerson College.
The Love and Death Trilogy The Love and Death Trilogy consists of three plays in
blank verse, combining the major
Greek myths of
Cupid,
Aphrodite,
Adonis,
Persephone,
Hades,
Orpheus,
Eurydice, and
Psyche into one story. The plays consist of
Persephone Rises, covering Persephone's abduction into the Underworld;
The Seduction of Adonis, which includes the myth of Adonis and Orpheus and Eurydice as the Loves and Deaths continue to war; and culminating in
Cupid and Psyche, about the marriage of Love to Reason.
The Love and Death Trilogy received a developmental workshop in 2018 through Turn to Flesh Productions for their fifth season celebration, directed by Snyder. In 2009,
Cupid and Psyche received a workshop presentation at Emerson College. Snyder originally wanted to adapt the myth into an opera, but Huggins rejected that idea. Consequently, Snyder decided to write
Cupid and Psyche in blank verse. Snyder deemed that draft of hers as a "
bad quarto". She credits collaborator James Parenti and the workshop Dare Lab for enabling her to develop the official script. Parenti, who played Cupid in the original New York City run in 2014, also went on to develop her early drafts of
Persephone Rises and
The Seduction of Adonis, including performing a scene at the Darkroom Series with Laura Hooper, reprising her role as Aphrodite. Snyder then worked on Parenti's verse play,
May Violets Spring: A New Story for a New Ophelia, first as verse coach for the 2014 premiere with Dare Lab and then as director for the 2016 production through TTF.
Cupid and Psyche was a semi-finalist with the
Princess Grace Awards in 2010 and again in 2019. It was also a semi-finalist with the
American Shakespeare Center in 2018. It received its first Virginia premiere in 2023 at
Mary Baldwin College.
Novels Snyder started writing with the
Twelve Kingdoms novels, including
Niamh and the Hermit and
Charming the Moon. Her debut novel was favorably reviewed with comparisons to
J. R. R. Tolkien,
Lord Dunsany,
C. S. Lewis, and the
Brothers Grimm.
Shakespeare-inspired verse plays Snyder's first Shakespearean role was as Feste the Jester in
Twelfth Night at the university. She has since gone on to direct 11 of Shakespeare's plays, including ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'' twice, and performed in 25 of his plays. From 2006 to 2012, Snyder founded and served as artistic director of Gaudete Academy, a camp for adolescents and young adults to present classical work. Simultaneously, she expanded the drama programs of two high school programs in
Hudson, Massachusetts, serving as adjunct faculty for the conservatory program at
Hudson High School. In 2017, Snyder created new verse plays for the
Shakespeare's New Contemporaries program. Snyder's first Shakespeare play,
A Comedy of Heirors, or The Imposters, was named a finalist with the ASC, as was "The Top 15 NYC Plays of '17" by
A Work Unfinishing. In 2018, Snyder wrote
The Merry Widows of Windsor, a sequel to Shakespeare's
The Merry Wives of Windsor. This received two staged readings through the
Sheen Center in New York City, where Snyder took one of the titular roles as Alice Ford, opposite frequent collaborator
Abby Wilde as Margaret Page. In 2019, Snyder began developing her take on
Romeo and Juliet, originally titled
Romeo and Juliet Combative. Although Snyder did not originally intend to rewrite any of Shakespeare's play, having successfully directed the show in 2008, she eventually became convinced by her collaborators to provide additional scenes and soliloquies. TTF provided a staged reading with Snyder in the titular role of
Juliet opposite Ari Dalbert. TTF decided to give the play, now titled
Juliet and Her Romeo, a full production at the Kraine Theatre as part of their residency with
Frigid NYC for Valentine's 2020, with Snyder reprising her role of Juliet. As of 2022, Snyder is a PhD candidate on writing new verse with the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon.
French farce In 2018, Snyder produced
The Other, Other Woman, a French farce play, written largely in rhyming couplets. She first premiered a sneak peek scene, where she played the prologue and Mother Abbess at the Sheen Center. Reviewer Zelda Knapp wrote that "When the rhyming couplets break apart into simple and honest speech, the audience takes a collective breath and holds it. The ache of love unexpressed and inexpressible." Snyder herself seemed to indicate that the play was largely autobiographical and cathartic to write. == Other works ==