Playwriting

– Produced Plays –

THE PILON

In Fall 2019, the market for basketball cards has never been more volatile – mint condition samples sell for five figures, and the selling and buying of cards has become a fraternal pursuit like no other. Caught in the center of this market is Corbin, the co-owner of a Seattle card shop, doing his best to keep the business afloat along with his aunt, Rhonda. But when a transgender teenage boy, Griffey, pulls a potentially game-changing card in the shop, the ensuing scramble to buy and sell it reveals the fissures around why men collect cards in the first place – and how they aim to define themselves as masculine by doing so.

Produced by Red Theater, Chicago, IL – Oct/Nov. 2025

Two Acts, 140 min. – 5 actors (3 Cis Male, 1 Trans Male, 1 Trans Female)

QUINLYN CAN PAINT

On the occasion of her first solo museum exhibition, abstract painter Olive Hollyhox is having a documentary made about her life and career. In addition to the featured artist, her older sisters – Quinlyn and Gabby – are also being interviewed. Turns out, Quinlyn is also a painter. Not that anyone cared. Structured as a series of monologues, QUINLYN CAN PAINT gradually reveals the fissures between three sisters, each hardworking but fundamentally at odds with each other. How do you handle a sibling achieving the success you've always dreamed of? How early in life can signs of talent or identity be truly identified? And how wide can anyone hope to push the gap between the "two deaths" we all die?

Produced by Black Cat Theatre, Chicago, IL – Aug. 2025

One Act, 95 min. – 3 Actors (2 Female, 1 Trans Female)

– UNPRODUCED PLAYS –

NEW OLEANNA

College senior Hudson is looking for the perfect play to direct for his senior thesis. His advisor, Nona, recommends the perfect script: David Mamet's "Oleanna." But as Hudson gets closer to rehearsals, Nona – who prides herself on trying to expose students to opinions they may disagree with – finds herself overlooking more and more red flags, about the play and about Hudson himself. A play about the inherent violence of masculinity, what happens when men try to circumvent it, and where the line lies where intention to harm ceases to matter.

Development: Sept. 2023 Reading (Red Theater, Chicago, IL); Mar. 2024 Reading (Fat Theatre Project, Chicago, IL); Jun. 2024 Reading (Valdez Theatre Conference, Valdez, AK); Jun. 2024 Workshop (Bramble Theatre Company, Chicago, IL); Jan. 2025 Reading (Whale Watch Reading Series, New York, NY); Sept. 2025 Reading (Refracted Theatre Company, Chicago, IL)

One Act, 75 min. – 2 Actors (1 Male, 1 Female)

ENDURING JEST

Since 1996, David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" has been heralded by its readers as among the greatest novels ever written. But with a length of 1079 pages and a dense, non-linear structure, not everyone has the time, patience, or interest to read it. Zach Barr decided to figure out what exactly about this book brought out such fervent responses – both for and against the book. But, there's one caveat: they didn't read it. Instead, they interviewed 38 readers, and asked them to explain the plot secondhand. Comprised entirely from the verbatim text of those interviews, ENDURING JEST is half a loose adaptation of Wallace's magnum opus, and half an exploration of how difficult it is to explain why we love the art we love.

Development: 2023/24 Residency, Aug. 2024 Reading (Three Brothers Theatre, Waukegan, IL); Aug. 2025 Reading (The Factory Theatre, Chicago, IL)

Three acts, 180 min. – 5+ actors of any identity

SERENADE

Pip and Mia are friends from college. Mia just got engaged to a man named Jan. Pip and their partner Lou arrive at Mia and Jan’s new apartment to celebrate the engagement and housewarming. But Lou and Pip have a secret plan: they’ve come to break up the engagement, since they believe Mia deserves a better partner than the bland Jan. But as the night goes on, the exact nature of Mia and Jan’s relationship becomes more clear, and at the same time, the true reasons for Lou and Pip’s desire to break them up become less and less aligned. SERENADE is a play about the limits of what we know, what we don’t, and what we want from each other.

Development: N/A

One Act, 80 min. – 4 Actors (1 Male, 2 Female, 1 AFAB Nonbinary)

SOPHIA BRAHE (AND HER BROTHER, TYCHO)

Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe is on the verge of upending the entire study of astronomy, with a revolutionary new way to organize the solar system. Meanwhile, Sophia Brahe, his younger sister, is attempting to do the same – without being able to go to university. Or learn Latin. Or travel without a husband. Over the course of their parallel careers, the relationship between the siblings twists and strains, as they wrestle with financial uncertainty, romantic entanglement, and an orphaned, wandering elk. The bond between siblings is strong, but will it hold as Sophia watches her brother succeed in all the places she's failed?

Development: N/A

Two Acts, 135 Min. – 2 Actors (1 Male, 1 Female)

winnie-the-pooh

Christopher Robin is organizing an expedition to discover the North Pole, and has asked his good friends to come along with him: Rabbit, Eeyore, Piglet, and the "silly old bear" called Winnie-the-Pooh. But when two new friends come to the Forest, Kanga and her baby Roo, Pooh gets embroiled in a Very Reasonable Plan to send the two new animals out of the forest. But why do they have to leave? And why is Christopher Robin so convinced that it will rain soon? And will anyone remember that today is Eeyore's birthday? Adapted from A.A. Milne's literary classic, this new stage adaptation brings the book's messages of community reliance and the necessity of maintaining hope to the forefront.

Development: Jul. 2022 Reading (Littlebrain Theatre, Chicago, IL)

One Act, 100 min. – 7 actors of any identity

[75 min. TYA edit of script also available]

– TEN MINUTE PLAYS –

HOW THE OWL GAINED HER WISDOM

A small owl flies away from her home, and comes upon a field of stones. The person she meets there, and what they tell her, will forever change her life, by robbing her of the simple worldview she once had.

Play debuted as part of PlayGround-Chicago’s “Monday Night PlayGround,” Oct. 2023

One Act, 10 min. – 2 actors (any gender)