KILL SHELTER
Colleen, a disillusioned single mom, struggles to defend her work in an overfull and understaffed "kill shelter" to her teenage daughter, who has recently become entangled with a zealous pastor's son. As Colleen trains the animal shelter's bright-eyed new intern, while constantly haunted by the voices of the animals she euthanizes, Colleen and those around her face mounting and claustrophobic pressures, and struggle to break free from the cages they're trapped in.
WORLD PREMIERE: Theatre of NOTE, Directed by Shaina Rosenthal, August 2023
SEMIFINALIST for the 2023 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference
MCKINLEYFEST READING: Theatre of NOTE, Produced by Alexandra Hellquist, October 2022
PLAYLAB READING: Valdez Theatre Conference, Directed by Kalli Randall, June 2022
WINTERFEST READING: EST/LA, Directed by Shaina Rosenthal, March 2022
LIVING ROOM SERIES READING: The Blank Theatre, Directed by Christopher James Raymond, March 2022
READ “KILL SHELTER” ON NEW PLAY EXCHANGE
HOT TRAGIC DEAD THING
Bekah, a teenage social outcast recovering from a failed suicide attempt, and Miles, a golden boy with a hidden thirst for violence, are thrust into the same house when their parents try to blend their families after disastrous marriages. Bekah and Miles’ budding attraction and increasing obsession with leaving a mark on the world take them to a dark, dangerous place.
WORLD PREMIERE: The Blank Theatre, Directed by Christopher James Raymond, February 2020
LIVING ROOM SERIES + WORKSHOP: The Blank Theatre, Directed by Christopher James Raymond, November 2019
LIVING ROOM SERIES READING: The Blank Theatre, Directed by Christopher James Raymond, May 2019
LAUNCHPAD READING: EST/LA, Directed by Kevin Comartin, November 2018
LAUNCHPAD LONG-TERM DRAMATURGY READING: EST/LA, Directed by Gleason Bauer, April 2018
FINALIST for the 2018 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference
Read “Hot Tragic Dead Thing” on New Play Exchange
THAT LONG DAMN DARK
Purgatory is a storage unit in rural Alabama for Ed and Lorraine, the gunshot-ridden corpses of a murdered married couple. Leah and Todd, their teenage murderers, flee the state to Arkansas, haunted by memories and the unearthly talking dead. When Mara and Ethan, two recent transplants from New York City, take the young adults into their new home, the disturbing unfolding reality of the situation threatens to destroy the lives (and afterlives) of all involved.
UNIVERSITY PRODUCTION: University of Alaska Anchorage, Directed by Kaeli Meno, February 2020
SHOWCASE PRODUCTION: Red Cup Theatre Company, Directed by Laura Steinroeder, February 2017
SEMI-FINALIST for the 2016 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference
READING: TossPot Productions, Directed by Jill Sowerwine, November 2015
READING: Last Frontier Theatre Conference PlayLab, Directed by Ashley Rose Wellman, June 2015
UNIVERSITY PRODUCTION: University of Southern California, Directed by Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx, April 2015
READING: Pasadena Playhouse, Directed by Alison De La Cruz, May 2014
Read "That Long Damn Dark" on New Play Exchange
you are the blood
Shelby Boden is a cynical stand-up comedian trying to survive in the shadow of her father, a convicted serial killer. When she discovers that her father is marrying Sylvia, an eccentric young performance artist that writes to criminals, morbid curiosity leads these two women to develop a strange, charged friendship. With the looming and dangerous presence of the bloodshed in their bloodline, the entire Boden family is left contending with damages that could be irreparable.
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE: Spinning Plates Co., Directed by Peter Blackburn, July 2019
LIVING ROOM SERIES READING: The Blank Theatre, Directed by Christopher James Raymond, May 2018
MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION: Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Directed by Kalli Randall, June 2018
FINALIST for the 2018 Blue Ink Playwriting Award
FINALIST for the 2017 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference
SEMI-FINALIST for the 2017 Princess Grace/New Dramatists Playwriting Award
SECOND-ROUNDER for the 2017 Austin Film Festival
WORKSHOP PRODUCTION: Midnight Summit Ensemble, Directed by Kalli Randall, November 2017
WINTERFEST READING: Ensemble Studio Theatre Los Angeles (EST/LA), Directed by Lauren Campedelli, February 2017
READING: Rogue Machine Theatre, Directed by Elina de Santos, February 2017
PLAYLAB READING: Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Directed by Ashley Rose Wellman, June 2016
THESIS READING: University of Southern California, Directed by Elina de Santos, May 2016
Read "You Are The Blood" on New Play Exchange
SHRINES
A family stuck in a horrifying cycle of perpetual mourning throws a party for a dead teenage girl, on what would have been her 30th birthday. When the girl’s former high school sweetheart arrives and drops a major bombshell, the night descends into chaos and forces them to contend with deeply held trauma and disturbing secrets. SHRINES is a play about blurred boundaries, Facebook, and the way we grieve now.
MAINSTAGE WORKSHOP: Valdez Theatre Conference, Directed by Kalli Randall, June 2022
PLAYLAB READING: Valdez Theatre Conference, Directed by Kalli Randall, June 2021
READING: Great Plains Theatre Conference, Directed by Barry Carman, May 2021
QUARTERFINALIST for the 2020 ScreenCraft Stage Play Writing Competition
VIRTUAL READING: IAMA Theatre Company, Directed by Anna LaMadrid, May 2020
READING: Echo Theater Company at Humanitas PLAY LA Festival, Directed by Anna LaMadrid, September 2019
DEVELOPED in the 2018/2019 Humanitas PLAY LA Prize workshop
READ “SHRINES” ON NEW PLAY EXCHANGE
WILLED BODIES
At a Willed Body ceremony—an event where medical students meet the families of medical cadavers, Lydia, an ambitious first-year med student, meets Harrison, the son of the cadaver she is about to dissect. As Lydia and her lab group cut deeper and deeper into his father’s body, Harrison and Lydia enter into an unconventional relationship that straddles the line between sweet and horrifying. Willed Bodies is a play about strange forms of intimacy and what’s under our skin.
LAB RESULTS READING: Antaeus Theatre Company, Directed by Emily Chase, January 2020
SEMIFINALIST for the 2019 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference
PLAYLAB READING: Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Directed by Kalli Randall, June 2018
WINTERFEST READING: EST/LA, Directed by Doug Oliphant, January 2018
Read “Willed Bodies” on New Play Exchange
living creatures
Two parents’ lives are ripped apart when their 10-year-old son Luke unexpectedly dies from an allergic reaction to shellfish, leaving them alone and overwhelmed by grief. As they try to navigate through the surreal world of their grief, Luke’s mother accidentally stumbles into her son’s afterlife—a strange world called “The Other Place” that looks exactly like their home, only different… stranger. She wants nothing more than to bridge the gap between the world of the living and the strange world of the dead, and will do anything to bring her young son back with her.
READING: Last Frontier Theatre Conference PlayLab, Directed by Ashley Rose Wellman, June 2014
UNIVERSITY PRODUCTION: University of Southern California, Directed by Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx March 2014
Read “Living Creatures” on New Play Exchange
GRAVIDITY
A quartet of individuals in New York City connect in exceedingly life-altering ways— an unplanned pregnancy, a last grasp to achieve something that has been denied, and an unforeseen reconnection combine to create a volatile atmosphere where both men and women are profoundly defined and transformed by the gravity of gravidity.
MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION: Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Directed by Kalli Randall, June 2014
UNIVERSITY PRODUCTION: University of Alaska Anchorage, Directed by Kalli Randall, January 2014
PLAYLAB READING: Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Directed by Ashley Rose Wellman, May 2013
UNIVERSITY PRODUCTION: University of Southern California, Directed by Ashley Rose Wellman and Alexa Schwartz, November 2012