writing for the stage
Textbook
Full Length Satire for Puppets | 7 Puppeteers
Reggie has donned his best swim trunks, slathered his nose with sunscreen, and is ready to throw back a piña colada. After seven years of taking orders from the Macho Honcho, he’s ready for a well-deserved vacation. Just as he’s about to jet-set off to paradise, Reggie learns that he has been called to be the Regent of the realm. But before he can claim the title, he has to finish preparing the land for settlement. He’ll have to write a textbook detailing his colony’s founding, build a platform to house the settlement’s capitol building, and invite the world’s best and brightest to join him in forming a new society. If that weren’t hard enough, he has to placate a ragtag collection of animal scavengers who will stop at nothing to hold Reggie to his word.
Awards & Grants
GuSH Research Grant | Carnegie Mellon University | 2024
Production history
Staged Reading | Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh PA, 2024
Workshop | Self-Produced | Pittsburgh PA, 2024
Eden in Silence
One Act Drama | 7W
Eden is leaving. After surviving five years of violence at the hands of her boyfriend Christopher, she packs up her belongings and steps out the door. But what should be a fresh new beginning is hardly an end to her struggle. Every success she has in building a new life is upended by Christopher’s sudden presence. Defeated, Eden retreats from the world and plunges into a deep depression. Will she rise to overcome her abuse or give into her despair? Using physical theatre and visual spectacle, Eden in Silence challenges the stigma of domestic abuse and champions the transformative power of human connection.
AWARDS & Grants
Certificate of Merit | Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival NPP | 2023
Individual Artists Program Grant | City of Chicago DCASE | 2017
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Workshop Production | Co-produced by Jamie Olah and Links Hall | Chicago IL, 2017
Staged Reading | The New Colony | Chicago IL, 2016
The workshop production of Eden in Silence was accompanied by panel discussions on domestic violence that featured representatives from Apna Ghar, Between Friends, The Center for Advancing Domestic Peace, The Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network, KAN-WIN, and Sarah’s Circle.
Breaker
Full Length Drama | 3W, 2M
Simone Breaker was in control. As a Special Agent and Forensic Scientist with the FBI, she led teams around the world to process countless major crime scenes. Now, at age 57, Simone is retiring to a promising new chapter at home with her husband and daughter. But will the tranquility of her new life be haunted by memories from her past? Will she be strong enough to maintain control? Inspired by true events, Breaker explores the invisible wounds of post-traumatic stress disorder and its effect on the family.
Special thanks to Shahna Richman and the 2018 workshop ensemble: Brian Boller, Jackie Bowes, RjW Mays, Errol McLendon, Priya Mohanty, and Kaileigh JaKirra Robinson.
Awards & Grants
Individual Artists Program Grant | City of Chicago DCASE | 2018
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Workshop Production | Co-produced by Jamie Olah and Links Hall | Chicago, 2018
Workshop | Prop Thtr | Chicago, 2018
Staged Reading | Performing Arts Studio | Chicago, 2019
The workshop production of Breaker was accompanied by panel discussions on PTSD that featured Dr. Damon T. Arnold, Virginia Lawton Boller, Shahna M. Richman, Tracey Riley, and Tawny Spinelli.
clandestine
Full Length Drama | 3W, 2M
In this theatrical thriller, Reya Veil, an Operations Officer with the CIA, must atone for past wrongs. After nearly a decade of serving the needs of her country at the expense of her family, Reya is called to action when her estranged twin sister hastily marries a questionable man. Shortly thereafter, her mother is murdered by an unknown assassin and Reya goes undercover to discover the killer. In the end, she must sacrifice everything to bring justice to her family.
AWARDS & Grants
Finalist | Pittsburgh Public Theater New Play Contest | Pittsburgh, 2023
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Workshop | Hypothetical Productions | Virtual, 2022
georgia & Gertie
10 Minute Comedy | 4W
Georgia is sick of eating bananas and mashed potatoes and oatmeal. Just beyond the kitchen door of the assisted living facility that she calls home lies a cornucopia of delicious delicacies, but first she’s got to get through nurse Janine. With the help of her gal Gertie, a banana peel, and a whole lot of gumption, Georgia might just end the day sinking her teeth into a nice juicy steak.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Production | Clock Productions | Chicago, 2018
Descendants
10 Minute Movement-Based Drama | 3W, 3M
A man and a woman fall in love. A family is formed and torn apart. Life continues. A new family forms while the remnants of the broken family mend and grow. Attempts to reconcile are rejected. Children grow and form new families who wonder: will the light of the future help ease the pain of the past? Using movement and tableaux, Descendants presents a sweeping narrative of love, infidelity, and the lasting effects of divorce.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Production | Union College | Schenectady, 2024
Production | The Arc Theatre | Chicago, 2019
Cowabunga
10 Minute Comedy for Video Call | 3W
On the eve of the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw, two friends frantically prepare for an important anniversary.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Production | Broken Nose Theatre | Chicago, 2021
ANNA TO THE WEST
10 Minute Devised Dance Theatre | 3W, 2M
Twelve-year-old Anna Conway has been called to adventure and she doesn’t want to go. It is 1843, and her family is packing up the only home she has ever known to seek a new life in Oregon Country. Deadly disease, intense heat, roaring rivers and treacherous mountain passes loom on the horizon. It’s every tween’s nightmare. Using physical storytelling and dance, Anna to the West tells one girl’s coming-of-age story against the backdrop of a sweeping American migration.
Devised with Genesee Spridco and the 2015 acting ensemble: Claire Bauman, John Cartwright, Danielle Gennaoui, Cindy Henkin, and Dan Plehal.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Production | Physical Festival Chicago | Chicago, 2015
Production | Adventure Stage Chicago | Chicago, 2015
THE MIRACLE FOOD
10 Minute Play for Red Nose Clown | 1W
The Miracle Food is an intimate, participatory performance piece for small audiences that utilizes red nose clown to shed light and humor on our relationships with "good" and "bad" foods.
Production History
Production | Food & Performance (F&P) | Chicago, 2012
MATE: MALE ATTRACTION TECHNIQUES EXPOSED
Full Length Devised Comedy | 2W, 2M
Four inept zoologists reveal their revolutionary findings connecting the animal mating displays found in nature to the human courtship techniques employed at the local neighborhood bar. Unfortunately, their own romantic interests keep on getting in the way. Using physical comedy, song, dance, and an old-school overhead projector, MATE explores the animal desires within us all.
Devised with the 2010 acting ensemble: Chris Delgado, Danielle Gennaoui, Deanna Myers, and Keland Scher
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Production | Grassroots Theatre Project | Chicago, 2010
FRUGAL LOVE
Full Length Devised Comedy | 7W
Frugal Love: An Evening of Poor Theatre for Poor Dates is a performance of comedic vignettes addressing the combined themes of dating, money, and food.
Devised with the 2009 acting ensemble: Morgan Cohen, Sarah Greywitt, Jill Olson, Cindy Rangel, Meghan Reardon, Helen Young, and Leanne Zahrt
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Production | The Moving Dock Theatre Co. | Chicago, 2009