RENATA: At night, I dream of a shrieking angel, who is falling to Earth and cannot control himself. He cannot control where he will land. And he’s headed straight for my petunias. They’ve just bloomed.

GOSZA: An incompetent angel. That is not reassuring.

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Playwriting and theatre affiliations

Here’s everything that made it out of the drawer (full productions, workshops, and festivals):

Pigs and Chickens

Full-length — 2018
Produced by Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA.

At a dysfunctional tech startup, a woman desperate for a job tries to overcome her hellish anger management problem and get along with her buggy coworkers, human and otherwise.

The Assumption

Full-length — 2017
Presented at Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA’s Winterfest program of readings.

A strong-willed, devout woman with a son on life support defies the God she relies on to avoid a lifetime of solitude.

In Search of doG

Serial late-night comedy — 2015
Produced by Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA.
I contributed several episodic and recurring scenes.

A plucky dyslexic astronaut and her engineer/sex pal companion search through the far reaches of space and time to find doG, or God.

Five thousand feet above the sea

Short — 2014
Dark comedy performed at Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA’s Fistful of Plays festival.

A man who has turned his life into a loveless mess, tries to kidnap his ornery Russian aunt from a nursing home to end his guilt and loneliness.

The devil’s sonata

Full-length — 2012, 2003
Psychological/historical drama produced at University of North Texas (Denton, 2012) and Visions and Voices Theatre Company (Chicago, 2003). Winner of the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for Dramatic Writing (2001).

Virtuoso violinist and composer Tartini learns a sonata from another maestro, Satan, that is so beautiful and moving, God will do anything to hear it, even return his dead wife to him.

Utah

Short — 2011, 2001
Dark comedy produced at Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA ‘s Youth in Revolt program (2011) and Turnip Theatre Festival (New York City, 2001). Semifinalist for Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival 2001 Heideman Award.

A teenager steals his abusive dad’s fake leg and has to decide what to do with it–and the rest of his life.

This little piggy

Short — 2010
Dark comedy performed at Elephant Theatre’s Love Bites festival (Los Angeles).

What comes between a young couple on their first wedding anniversary? A missing finger.

Mammoth Gorge

Full-length — 2009

Comedy workshopped by Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA.

A washed-up news anchor in a boring, remote town sees his chance to return to the big time when fugitive undocumented immigrants kidnap the 70-year-old ice fishing champion.

Saint Barbara

Full-length — 2005
Presented at National New Play Network Showcase (Stanford, 2005). Semi-finalist for O’Neill Center’s 2008 Playwrights Conference.

A powerful, devout man declares war on the mysterious Santeria religion in his neighborhood and comes dangerously close to destroying everything he’s trying to protect.

The Graphite Salesman

One-act— 1998
Comedy self-produced at the O-Bar (Chicago).

In an airport Men’s room , a young man, lost in more ways than one, steals the identity of a failed seller of graphite and graphite products. What’s even weirder is that he gets a customer.

The Power Failure

One-act — 1996, 1990
Self-produced at the Organic Theatre (Chicago, 1996) and produced by Synergy Theatre Company (Chicago, 1990).

An unstable government operative brutally interrogates a suspected terrorist, hoping to prevent a massive act of sabotage. But when the lights go out, so do assumptions about authority and reality.

The Spurt of Blood

Short — 1993
Comic adaptation of Antonin Artaud’s short, experimental play produced by the Saratoga Company (Chicago). I co-wrote and performed in the adaptation.

A pretentious, incompetent group of actors make a disastrous attempt at staging Artaud’s unproducable play, but when they stumble on what the play actually means, they make the thing work.

Saints

Short — 1992
Produced by the Saratoga Company (Chicago).

The drug-addicted lover of a bind dealer goes into labor, wondering what kind of life her child will have.

A Tribute to Mark Smith

Comedy review — 1991

A tribute to Chicago’s legendary poet and organizer of poetry slams, produced by the Saratoga Company at the Green Mill (Chicago). I wrote a sketch and performed in the review.

The evolution of a performance poet’s art is portrayed by a performance troupe with a tenuous grip on the facts.

Playwriting and theatre affiliations

Actors Studio-LA
Playwrights and Directors Unit
Member since 2016

Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA (EST-LA)
http://www.ensemblestudiotheatrela.org/
Associate member since 2016

EST-LA Playwrights Unit
Member since 2006

Playwrights Union
http://playwrightsunion.com/
Member since 2007