I write plays that would make Kafka laugh. I’ve found a home within the philosophy of Nihilism. Its foundational principle on the subjectivity of morals and values often gets misinterpreted. Nihilism is not that life is meaningless but that you control your life’s meaning. Life is chaos – one unpredictable moment to the next. My plays seek to celebrate that chaos with characters who defy destiny.
What I Write
My characters are gritty and flawed. They’re sinners, mothers, daughters, friends, lovers, heroes, and villains all tangled in these knots of words I call my plays. My characters navigate the complexities of their existence while trying to discover who they are when no one is watching.
We’re all walking contradictions. We say one thing, then do another. My plays live and breathe that hypocrisy. I enjoy writing imperfect characters to match our flawed, imperfect world. Life has no inherent meaning, allowing my characters to embrace life's meaninglessness and forge their own paths.
Within my plays, I write to explore what it means to be a woman and how women change their families’ legacies. I am a born and bred middle-class, Chicagoan. I often use my writing to explore the war between class and privilege. Recently, I’ve been fascinated by what the world is and what it will become. I use some of my plays to forecast the role of technology and humanity. At the core of all my plays, my plots navigate the tricky terrain of fate, free will, and the absurdity of life.
We’re all walking contradictions. We say one thing, then do another. My plays live and breathe that hypocrisy. I enjoy writing imperfect characters to match our flawed, imperfect world. Life has no inherent meaning, allowing my characters to embrace life's meaninglessness and forge their own paths.
Within my plays, I write to explore what it means to be a woman and how women change their families’ legacies. I am a born and bred middle-class, Chicagoan. I often use my writing to explore the war between class and privilege. Recently, I’ve been fascinated by what the world is and what it will become. I use some of my plays to forecast the role of technology and humanity. At the core of all my plays, my plots navigate the tricky terrain of fate, free will, and the absurdity of life.
How I Write
My plays have fun in the dark. Sometimes nightmarish. Sometimes violent. Always rusty, sweaty, and covered in dirt. I use humor and satire to delve into the vile and grotesque. But within all the blood and muck is love, hope, determination, and a lot of gallows humor.
I feel the most comfortable writing in post-modern realism and naturalism where I meld multiple mediums to tell the story.
I start with an image (static or dynamic). I don't start writing until I discover my second image. These two images are the opening and closing images of my play. I write to figure out how we got from that opening to the closing.
Once I have both images, I ask myself why is this a play (and not a book, movie, poem, podcast, etc)? I must have a firm understanding as to why this piece of writing can only be performed onstage.
One of the ways I figure out if this is truly meant to be a play is by creating at least one unproducible element featured in the play. Creating something that is thought to be unproducible provides a positive challenge to me (my writing) and my fellow collaborators. It is in the unproducible that theatricality lives.
I feel the most comfortable writing in post-modern realism and naturalism where I meld multiple mediums to tell the story.
I start with an image (static or dynamic). I don't start writing until I discover my second image. These two images are the opening and closing images of my play. I write to figure out how we got from that opening to the closing.
Once I have both images, I ask myself why is this a play (and not a book, movie, poem, podcast, etc)? I must have a firm understanding as to why this piece of writing can only be performed onstage.
One of the ways I figure out if this is truly meant to be a play is by creating at least one unproducible element featured in the play. Creating something that is thought to be unproducible provides a positive challenge to me (my writing) and my fellow collaborators. It is in the unproducible that theatricality lives.
Why I Write
I want to encourage my audiences to question what floods our social media feeds, news headlines, church sermons, and dinner table conversations. With the acceleration of the digital world, we are losing the ability to think critically, lead with empathy, and actively listen to what’s going on around us. I want to contribute to raising our collective analytical and emotional intelligence by creating worlds that embrace the meaninglessness of life. This way, we have the opportunity to decide what values to invest in. My goal is for my audience to feel completely in control of their lives.
BIO
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I was born and raised in Chicago.
My full-length play, The Forgotten Language of the Handshake, was featured in Landing Theatre’s New American Voices play festival in Houston, TX and was a semi-finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. 28 Light Years From Now, was the winner of 2020 Getchell New Play Award, semi-finalist for the Premiere Stages at Kean University, and semi-finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival 2020. My full-length play Tight End has been featured with the National New Play Network (NNPN) for their MFA Playwrights' Festival at the Kennedy Center in July of 2016. Tight End was also a Top 20 Finalist for CulturalDC’s Source Theatre Festival in 2017, and received Honorable Mention for the Jane Chambers 2017 Student Playwriting Award. Tight End received its world premiere production with 20% Theatre Company Chicago and its regional premiere with Majestic Repertory Theatre in Las Vegas, NV in 2019. Relative Theatrics in Laramie, WY produced a virtual, streaming production in 2021. My full-length play, Rev, was the runner-up for the Todd McNerney 2018 Playwriting Award, the winner of the 2019 SETC/Stage Rights Ready to Publish Award and is now available for purchase on Amazon. My other plays have been produced and featured in festivals across the United States. I am a playwriting alumna with NNPN and member of the Dramatists Guild. |
I graduated from the MFA Ohio University Playwriting program where I was the recipient of the Trisolini Graduate School Fellowship for my play The Big Fuckin' Giant.
I received my BFA in Playwriting and minor in Journalism from The Theatre School of DePaul University. After graduating from DePaul, I worked with various theatre companies around Chicago including 20% Theatre Company as their Literary Manager. In addition, I worked with Piccolo Theatre and The Neo-Futurists in marketing, stage management, and different areas of design. |
ANTI-RACISM STATEMENT
I will continue to unlearn the racism that has been ingrained my mind and fight against the system that has been created to my benefit by educating myself, admitting fault, and using my privilege to the best of my abilities to make space for more BIPOC voices, stories, and representation. The day I stop being willing to listen, learn, and change, is the day I stop being an artist.
PERSONAL ANTI-RACISM ACTION STEPS
PERSONAL ANTI-RACISM ACTION STEPS
- I will always start writing from my truth to avoid appropriating stories that are not mine to tell; stealing the microphone from BIPOC playwrights who can tell the stories better. I will instead support and promote these BIPOC stories and artists by recommending them to the theatrical gatekeepers in my network.
- I will use my privilege and ownership of my play as the play's creator to hold the institutions that produce my plays accountable for creating safe spaces on and off stage for any BIPOC artists that are involved.
- I will read, buy, and donate to BIPOC organizations and artists to support their works and missions.