After Jane
Jane, Kat, and Mary Grey could be normal teenage girls navigating the world of parties, parents, and cute teenage boys, except for the fact that this is 1553 and one of them is about to become Queen of England at age sixteen. This irreverent take on true historical events highlights the absurdity of the position these sisters found themselves in, while also diving into the aftermath of true loss and tragedy.
After Jane is a play specifically written for teenagers, ideal for high school and college performances. You can read After Jane on New Play Exchange.
Characters:
JANE, nine days queen of England, executed at the age of sixteen
FRANCES, Jane’s mother
KAT, Jane’s younger sister
MARY, Jane’s youngest sister
HENRY, Jane’s father
GUILFORD, Jane’s betrothed
EDWARD, Jane’s former fiancé
HERBERT, Kat’s intended
THOMAS, in love with Mary
JOHN, the Grey family’s chaplain
Also, Lords, Ladies, Mourners & Random Party People
*All the characters in Act I double as a contemporary version of themselves in Act II.
After Jane is a play specifically written for teenagers, ideal for high school and college performances. You can read After Jane on New Play Exchange.
Characters:
JANE, nine days queen of England, executed at the age of sixteen
FRANCES, Jane’s mother
KAT, Jane’s younger sister
MARY, Jane’s youngest sister
HENRY, Jane’s father
GUILFORD, Jane’s betrothed
EDWARD, Jane’s former fiancé
HERBERT, Kat’s intended
THOMAS, in love with Mary
JOHN, the Grey family’s chaplain
Also, Lords, Ladies, Mourners & Random Party People
*All the characters in Act I double as a contemporary version of themselves in Act II.
A Decameron for the Apocalypse
A Decameron for the Apocalypse is scheduled to have its first performance in March and April of 2021!
Seven teenagers find themselves trapped with their creative writing teacher in a library basement during the apocalypse. One by one, they tell stories to pass the time, each one unraveling truths about the wars they're fighting within and, in some cases, the battles they're fighting with each other. But the apocalypse above is about to intrude on their solitary world and the way they respond will change each of them forever.
A Decameron for the Apocalypse is a play specifically written for teenagers, ideal for high school and college performances. You can read A Decameron for the Apocalypse on New Play Exchange.
Characters:
THALIA, female gender (she/her), adult. Loves her students.
COLE, female gender (she/her), age 16-18. Protector of the group.
AMES, female bodied, non-binary gender (they/them), age 16-18. Strong and compassionate. Arvin’s sibling.
ARVIN, male bodied, male gender (he/him), age 13-15. Serious and kind. Ames’s brother.
FIA, female gender (she/her), age 13-14. Smallest of the group, but brave.
DOM, male gender (he/him), age 15-18. Longs for inclusion but refuses to show it.
EMI, female gender (she/her), age 14-18. Empathetic to others, suffers from anxiety.
LIZ, female gender (she/her), age 14-18. Quietly religious but struggling with doubt.
NUKE, female gender (she/her), older teen. Likes being in control of a bad situation.
FLIP, male gender, (he/him), older teen. Likes taking advantage of a bad situation.
The play also includes story characters who may be doubled with the primary characters or cast separately: RONA, SEA CREATURE, CAENIS, POSEIDON, FAIRIES 1-3, GIRL, MALE VOICE, MAN, DOUG, DRAGONS 1-6, CREATURE, SOLDIERS, ZOMBIES, OTHERS, and FIGURES.
A Decameron for the Apocalypse is a play specifically written for teenagers, ideal for high school and college performances. You can read A Decameron for the Apocalypse on New Play Exchange.
Characters:
THALIA, female gender (she/her), adult. Loves her students.
COLE, female gender (she/her), age 16-18. Protector of the group.
AMES, female bodied, non-binary gender (they/them), age 16-18. Strong and compassionate. Arvin’s sibling.
ARVIN, male bodied, male gender (he/him), age 13-15. Serious and kind. Ames’s brother.
FIA, female gender (she/her), age 13-14. Smallest of the group, but brave.
DOM, male gender (he/him), age 15-18. Longs for inclusion but refuses to show it.
EMI, female gender (she/her), age 14-18. Empathetic to others, suffers from anxiety.
LIZ, female gender (she/her), age 14-18. Quietly religious but struggling with doubt.
NUKE, female gender (she/her), older teen. Likes being in control of a bad situation.
FLIP, male gender, (he/him), older teen. Likes taking advantage of a bad situation.
The play also includes story characters who may be doubled with the primary characters or cast separately: RONA, SEA CREATURE, CAENIS, POSEIDON, FAIRIES 1-3, GIRL, MALE VOICE, MAN, DOUG, DRAGONS 1-6, CREATURE, SOLDIERS, ZOMBIES, OTHERS, and FIGURES.
Songbird
Readings:
New York City, NY, 2019
Union, NJ, 2020
New York City, NY, 2019
Union, NJ, 2020
In addition to being selected for The Bechdel Group's New Play Development Reading Series in 2019,
Songbird was one of five finalists chosen out of 939 submissions to receive a private reading with Premiere Stages at Kean University in 2020!
Due to COVID-19, the public staged reading of Songbird with Premiere Stages is scheduled to take place in March 2021.
Songbird was one of five finalists chosen out of 939 submissions to receive a private reading with Premiere Stages at Kean University in 2020!
Due to COVID-19, the public staged reading of Songbird with Premiere Stages is scheduled to take place in March 2021.
Jess is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter who she doesn't want to talk about why she abandoned her career. In fact, she doesn't want to talk about it so badly that she hasn't spoken or sung about anything in months. Jess's sister, Brit, thinks a beach trip to their old family vacation spot is just the trick to get Jess to open up. What Brit doesn't expect is for her sister to stay silent, while also making friends with a young teenager who breaks into their beach house. Jess is haunted by the events that led up to her vow of silence, even as she is battered by her sister's insecurities and troubled by signs of abuse marking her new friend's face. As tensions rise, Jess knows there are words that have to be spoken; she's just hoping she has the right ones.
You can read Songbird on New Play Exchange.
Characters:
JESS, a former singer who has gone silent
BRIT, Jess’s sister, older by 5-10 years
HARRY, a woman about Jess’s age; her best friend and manager
BOY, around the age of 12 or 13
MAN, the boy's father
You can read Songbird on New Play Exchange.
Characters:
JESS, a former singer who has gone silent
BRIT, Jess’s sister, older by 5-10 years
HARRY, a woman about Jess’s age; her best friend and manager
BOY, around the age of 12 or 13
MAN, the boy's father
The Last Daughter
Readings:
New York City, NY, 2018
Scranton, PA, 2018
New York City, NY, 2018
Scranton, PA, 2018
The Last Daughter was a finalist for the 2020 Jane Chambers Award for Excellence in Feminist Playwriting.
What if the last fertile woman on earth didn't want to have children?
When Eve discovers she is the only known woman still able to conceive a child, she has no idea how radically her life is about to change. Immediately, Eve is put into a box - a literal, bulletproof, could-withstand-a-nuclear-blast-box - where she is looked after by a vaguely charming (and terribly un-funny) doctor and spied on by an ever-present Very Important Person. Eve's ecstatic mother is on hand, with a parade of horrid would-be suitors, intent on impregnating the very last of the Last Daughters. In this environment, it's impossible for Eve to figure out if she actually wants to have children, not that anyone cares what she wants. But can Eve really look into the face of her barren sister, Elizabeth, and reject what her sister so desperately desires?
The Last Daughter has had readings by Ensemble Atria and cast members of the Scranton Shakespeare Festival, but it's ready for a full production! You can read it now on New Play Exchange.
Characters:
EVE, the last fertile woman on earth
MOTHER, her mother, fiercely intent on convincing Eve to have children
ELIZABETH, Eve’s barren sister
DOCTOR, Eve’s doctor
VIP, a very important person bent on controlling Eve’s choices; female
When Eve discovers she is the only known woman still able to conceive a child, she has no idea how radically her life is about to change. Immediately, Eve is put into a box - a literal, bulletproof, could-withstand-a-nuclear-blast-box - where she is looked after by a vaguely charming (and terribly un-funny) doctor and spied on by an ever-present Very Important Person. Eve's ecstatic mother is on hand, with a parade of horrid would-be suitors, intent on impregnating the very last of the Last Daughters. In this environment, it's impossible for Eve to figure out if she actually wants to have children, not that anyone cares what she wants. But can Eve really look into the face of her barren sister, Elizabeth, and reject what her sister so desperately desires?
The Last Daughter has had readings by Ensemble Atria and cast members of the Scranton Shakespeare Festival, but it's ready for a full production! You can read it now on New Play Exchange.
Characters:
EVE, the last fertile woman on earth
MOTHER, her mother, fiercely intent on convincing Eve to have children
ELIZABETH, Eve’s barren sister
DOCTOR, Eve’s doctor
VIP, a very important person bent on controlling Eve’s choices; female
Drowning Ophelia
A new production of Drowning Ophelia is coming to the University of Indianapolis in April of 2021!
Productions:
San Francisco, CA, 2013
Scranton, PA, 2016
Philadelphia, PA, 2016
Moscow, ID, 2019
View production photos from Drowning Ophelia here.
You can read Drowning Ophelia on New Play Exchange.
San Francisco, CA, 2013
Scranton, PA, 2016
Philadelphia, PA, 2016
Moscow, ID, 2019
View production photos from Drowning Ophelia here.
You can read Drowning Ophelia on New Play Exchange.
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Jane doesn’t know what to do with the literary character who has taken up residence in her bathtub. She doesn’t want Ophelia interrupting the obsessive order of her life with obnoxious songs about death and valentines. She doesn’t want Ophelia disrupting her relationship with Edmund, the oddly charming actor who might show up for dinner in a suit…or a suit of armor. And she most definitely doesn’t want Ophelia stirring up memories of a brother she would rather forget. But Ophelia doesn’t care about what Jane wants so much as what she needs. As Jane’s past intrudes dangerously on her present, it becomes clear that Ophelia is not simply a character from "Hamlet," but a long-forgotten messenger with a question from Jane’s own troubled mind: How do you move on when reconciliation is not an option?
Drowning Ophelia is a dark comedy performed in one act about the long-term consequences of childhood abuse, and a love letter to those who have suffered. There is always hope. Characters: OPHELIA, straight out of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” child-like, purposeful JANE, early twenties to mid-thirties, a bit obsessive, a tad on edge ADAM, her brother, older by eight or ten years, devastatingly likable EDMUND, an actor, equal parts charm and awkwardness |
The Poe Asylum
Productions:
Scranton, PA, 2016
LaPlume, PA, 2018
View production photos from The Poe Asylum here.
You can read The Poe Asylum on New Play Exchange.
Scranton, PA, 2016
LaPlume, PA, 2018
View production photos from The Poe Asylum here.
You can read The Poe Asylum on New Play Exchange.
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The Poe Asylum is an immersive theatrical adaptation of short stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe. Each audience member moves from room to room in this asylum, watching and listening as stories of horror unfold. One patient recounts their imprisonment and torture. A mother calls out for her lost child, only to be answered by an enigmatic raven. Another patient fights with the uncontrollable and irrational desire to commit murder. The audience will have to ponder if these individuals are really patients in a mental asylum, or if they are simply trapped in their own minds. And then comes the greatest question of all: where is hope?
Re-imagine five of Poe's classics:The Raven, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Premature Burial. Characters: PATIENT 1, a mother who has lost her child FIGURE, the child's father, or else a raven PATIENT 2, a sufferer of PTSD FIGURES, their tormentors PATIENT 3, an alcoholic FIGURE, their wife, or else a black cat PATIENT 4, a sufferer of paranoid schizophrenia FIGURES, their internal demons PATIENT 5, a sufferer of taphophobia DOCTOR, their doctor, or else their tormentor DOUBLE, the patient as they were or could have been |
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Short Plays & Monolgues
Light and Light the Way Back were recently available for streaming as a part of Auburn University's production of Together Apart.
Ghost Story recently received a production at Centerstage Theatre in Federal Way, Washington, as part of their show Theatre Magic.
Ghost Story recently received a production at Centerstage Theatre in Federal Way, Washington, as part of their show Theatre Magic.
In the last eight years I've written almost twenty short plays and monologues, most of which have received live productions or online performances.
You can read all of my short plays and monologues on New Play Exchange.
You can read all of my short plays and monologues on New Play Exchange.
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Twenty-Minute Play:
Perchance to Dream Ten-Minute Plays: A Clean Bathroom Character Points Empathy Ghost Story I'll Be Zooming You In the Dark It's Enough Light the Way Back Matthew Weaver Writes One Million Plays Rona and the End of the World Safe as Houses Sisters The Donation The Next Step Writing a Play for the Quarantine Bake Off One-to-Three Minute Plays: Balconies Light |
Short Monologues:
Ghost in the Wall Itch Photos with my Rapist Quarantine Eating Still Life Tooth Fairy from Hell WIT (Women in Theatre) Monologues: A Trial by Her Peers (Elizabeth Robins) A Woman Like Her (Annette Arkeketa) Final Performance (Ana Maria Campoy) Fragile Beautiful (Isabel Rubio Ricciolini) Happy Birthday, Homa Rousta (Homa Rousta) Her Little Match Girl (Dinara Yuldasheva) Look (Canyon Sam) My Mother, Mr. Brown (Charlotte Charke) Now, Rebirth (Shabnam Tolouei) The Dance Politic (Vida Ognjenovic) To Shape a World (Marcelle Tassencourt) Vaudeville Queen (Dora Dean) |
