Playwriting
With everything I write, I seek to explore the boundaries of the human experience. Issues of identity, resilience, sex, and faith. In short, I believe playwriting is a place to conversate about subjects that aren't typically welcome at the dinner table.
As a gay man who is a survivor of domestic violence, I bring a unique voice that specifically centers the queer experience. My desire is to tell real stories about real people, bridging the gap between those who many consider 'other.'
Theatre ought to challenge both performers and audience members. It is an art form intended to confront society head-on, and it is important to me, then, to continually push myself to write fearlessly.
My plays have been performed by Wild Imaginings, OutCry Theatre, Dragon Eggs Productions, and Richmond Triangle Players, BrightSpot Productions, and Resolute Theatre Project. I am currently under commission with the Heart of Texas Children's Theatre to write a series of plays for young audiences and with Hope Rise Thrive, an advocacy organization for survivors of domestic violence, to tell the stories of over 20 survivors through a play script.
Take a look at my plays here, read them in full on New Play Exchange, and let me know if one of them feels like a good fit for you or your organization. The work of the playwright is first in the writing, but mostly it's the finding of homes for all of these written word children now that they exist in the world. So if you might have a theatrical home for one, let's talk!
My Work
Full Length Plays
The Way He Looks At You
(4M)
Love can look like a lot of different things, but one thing is certain: love shouldn’t hurt. In the case of Will and Brandon, the hurt is subtle, lurking just beneath the surface, whereas in the case of Jason and Christian, the hurt is heavy, even tangible. Yet bruises of the heart can hurt just as much as bruises of the flesh, and uniquely queer complexities make untangling relational dynamics even more difficult. A play that extends the much-needed conversation about domestic violence to the LGBTQ community.
Production History and Awards:
Workshop, Wild Imaginings, 2022
Finalist, So.Queer Playwriting Festival, 2023
Finalist, Morgan Wixson New Works Festival, 2023
Staged Reading, Richmond Triangle Players, 2023
Staged Reading, OutCry Theatre, 2023
Gray
(3M, 1F)
Gray is a modern retelling of Oscar Wilde’s A Picture of Dorian Gray. It gives nod to the original story while placing the characters within a contemporary context and bringing issues of power dynamics, consent, and sexual freedom to the forefront. Purposefully raising more questions than it provides answers, Gray forces audiences to consider who is truly at fault within the tragedy that unfolds. With lovers scorned, deaths determined, elicit affairs, blackmail, and unexplained magic, Gray contains all of the palpable tension that has made Oscar Wilde’s novel so beloved, while elevating it to be a new story all its own.
Production History:
Workshop, Wild Imaginings, 2023
Living in Light
(5-21 Actors; minimum 2M, 3F)
Living in Light explores not only the nuances of domestic violence, but the resiliency of those who have survived it. When Beth and Trevor, both abuse survivors themselves, meet Kira in a local coffeeshop, they open up with her in the hopes that she will see the truth of her own relationship. These three main characters, in fact, are composites based on research, in which 25 survivors were interviewed about their experiences. And here, in a local coffeeshop, their stories are told. At once a love letter to survivors and a means of education and prevention, Living in Light celebrates difficult conversations about topics which too often get left in the dark.
Living in Light was commissioned by Hope.Rise.Thrive., a domestic violence advocacy organization.
Hooked Up
(2M)
Hooked Up is an examination of gay life, as Rob and Brendan learn to navigate the beauty and strangeness of casual sex while simultaneously learning the deeper truths of what it means to stay in love and fight for a marriage. Their story starts as a mad romp of a romantic sex comedy, showing both the joy and desperation of what it means to hook up with someone you don’t know. But it ends as an ode to marriage, and gay marriage particularly, with two partners willing to sacrifice, compromise, and care for one another, literally to the end.
Theatre for Young Audiences
Winnie the Pooh: Happy Birthday Eeyore!
(6 Actors)
Winnie the Pooh stumbles upon a set of paw marks that might belong to the most vicious of the Hundred Acre Woods’ creatures... a woozle. The woozle hunt, which is joined by the rest of Pooh’s friends, is derailed however, by an even more important discovery: it’s Eeyore’s birthday today! Eeyore’s friends begin scrambling to prepare a party, and Pooh requests Owl’s help to procure the best gift of all. Honey, of course.
Winnie the Pooh: Happy Birthday Eeyore! was
commissioned by Heart of Texas Children's Theatre.
One Act Plays
TRY
(2M)
10 min
Randall and Grayson are on an uncomfortable first date, during which it is revealed that Randall is not exactly who Grayson thought he would be going on this date with. A quick yet incisive look at whether ‘beauty is skin-deep,’ told through the lens of two gay men, Try is a play that forces us to ask what a healthy start to a relationship even looks like. Is fairness more important than honesty? And how do we know when to give up and when to try?
Production and Award History
Staged Reading, Dragon Egg Productions, 2022
Semifinalist, Pick of the Vine Festival, 2023
Staged Reading, Wild Imaginings, 2023
Worth a Try
(1M, 1F)
10 min
Meredith is getting ready for a first date but is having reservations. Jacob, her supportive gay best friend, is keeping her company. Things go a bit off the rails, however, when she discovers that he has a crush on the same guy she just asked out. Will bestfriendship prevail?
Production History
Staged Reading, Wild Imaginings, 2023
Staged Reading, Community College of Baltimore County, 2023
“To create one’s own world takes courage.”
-Georgia O’Keeffe