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

Winner | GuSH Research Grant | Carnegie Mellon University | 2024

Production history

Staged Reading | Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh PA, 2024
Workshop | Self-Produced | Pittsburgh PA, 2024

maybe she’s born with it

One Act Satire for Solo Bouffon | Any Gender

Maxi, a creature from another planet, has been observing women and she thinks they are fascinating. She is mesmerized by their obsession with their bodies: how they mold them into different shapes, paint them assorted colors and put them on display. It all looks like a rollicking good time and she has arrived ready to play. What starts as fun and games soon leads Maxi to unearth something darker: a mysterious force threatening to destroy all of womanhood. Will she manifest this beast and welcome it into her world? Or will she clobber it with her red-bottomed pump?

Awards & Grants

Winner | Frank-Ratchye Further Fund Grant | The STUDIO for Creative Inquiry | 2024

Production History

Workshop Production | Self-Produced | Pittsburgh PA, 2024 (expected)
Workshop | Self-Produced | Pittsburgh PA, 2023

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

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.

Workshop Production Trailer

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

Winner | Individual Artists Program Grant | City of Chicago DCASE | 2018

PRODUCTION HISTORY

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.

A BREAKDOWN OF BREAKER: FOLLOWING THE PATH OF ENSEMBLE‐DEVISED NEW WORK

Featured in Scapi Magazine on August 15, 2018

Read the Article

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 | 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 | 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 dream. 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