Playwright
Why do I write for the theater?
Because I want people to listen to each other. In the theater, people have to stay and hear other people work things out, and by doing so, we get to overhear ourselves thinking about things anew. It’s this opportunity to empathize with strangers that gives us space to rethink our journey, and even imagine a new one. On stage, as in life, there is nowhere to hide from one’s own story.
I have three plays out in the world, existential comedies about storytelling, ritual, and the power of dialogue to keep us alive — culturally, socially, and sometimes even physically. My projects are great conversation starters for independent theaters, conferences, or community events.
Sweet and Sour
A highly interactive experience that investigates how our culture deals with death and dying.
Who gets to tell our story when we die?
In this existential family comedy, the Klein-O’Roarkes constantly surprise each other as food and medicine become the proxy for an Experience for which they have no appropriate language.
Leah and Pree are minding their own business, far away from their difficult father, when he calls them home to tell him he is dying. But is he?
An unexpected guest, a kind of trickster death-doula, reminds the family that in the liminal space between life and death nothing is quite as it seems.
Sweet and Sour was performed as a staged reading at Z Space in San Francisco, as part of the Greenhouse Festival. Directed by Joel Mullennix, it featured Jen Marte, John Flanagan, Howard Swain, and Ryan Tasker.
It was also performed as a full evening of theater, dinner and conversation at the JCC in Berkeley as part of the national Reimagine festival. Dan Wolf directed John Flanagan, Jamie Lee Hart, Keith Pinto, and Howard Swain. After, I talked with Dr. Jessica Zitter, author of Extreme Measures, about our culture’s “script” about death and dying.
“Sweet and Sour” has a series of public readings and community conversations in 2023. Stay tuned for dates and locations.
String Theory
Just before COVID, I did two performances of my one-man-show-in-progress, “String Theory,” at The Marsh in SF.
The performance continues my ongoing obsession with what it means to connect with others in a chaotic world.
Check out this 2019 write up from the J.
Connecting with Martin Buber in ‘String Theory’ at the Marsh
At Rise
Thanks to Molly Benson for her ferocious and heartfelt interpretation of the character of “Zo” in an excerpt from “At Rise,” my play-in-progress about creativity and ritual, as part of the LABA fellowship.
