New Play Development

– SCRIPT CLUB (Red theater) –

Script Club is a new play book club, run through Chicago’s Red Theater. Launched by company Artistic Associate Giuliana Marchese in Oct. 2020, I took over as curator and host of the series in Jan. 2025. The series, which focuses on reading unpublished (and often unproduced) plays by living writers, to further discuss the themes present in the text and the ways in which those ideas are expressed through the theatrical medium. The series is virtual and free to attend, and happens every 2nd Wednesday of the month. Sign up at Red Theater’s website (link at the start of this paragraph).

Archive of included plays & playwrights:

Jan. 2025: Julia Izumi’s Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with Live and Active Cultures!)

Feb. 2025: Kanika Asavari Vaish’s Jyoti’s Bridge

Mar. 2025: Eliana Theologides Rodriguez’s Indian Princesses

Apr. 2025: Phanésia Pharel’s The Waterfall

May 2025: Preston Choi’s Happy Birthday Mars Rover

Jun. 2025: Novid Parsi’s The Inkeepers

Jul. 2025: Mak Shealy’s Victorian Psychedelic Sleepover Play

Aug. 2025: Nabra Nelson’s What to Expect

Sept. 2025: Tara Moses’ Billie

Oct. 2025: Keyanna Khatiblou’s The Dirty: Survival Skills of State School Girls with Good Bodies in the Year 2008

Nov. 2025: Anamaria Guerzon’s Blood/Sucker

Dec. 2025: Mae West’s The Drag

Jan. 2026: Andrew Lee Creech’s Last Drive to Dodge

Feb. 2026: Lavina Jadhwani’s Shakuntala

Mar. 2026: SMJ’s Raccoon Play

Apr. 2026: Maggie Kearnan’s Like Flies: A Rage Play

– DRAMATURGY –

Since 2024, I have been serving as Dramaturg for Gaby Labotka’s play Rare Wolves. So far, this project has been developed through two workshops: a 2024 workshop at the University of Chicago Performance Lab, and a 2026 workshop at City Lit Theatre Company. The play – a poetical, movement-based, loving scream about transgender identity and werewolves – is actively seeking additional workshopping or production opportunities, and Labotka’s intention is to retain me as Dramaturg through the play’s world premiere. More information on the work can be found on New Play Exchange.