Plays

Full Length:

Charlie Johnson Reads All of Proust

When an old man dips a Madeleine in his coffee at Starbucks, he gets a lecture on Proust from his snooty daughter-in- law.  Determined to prove he's no dummy, he decides to read it all, and discovers the epic of his own life.   A one-man show.

Produced by Midnight Theatre Co., St. Louis, 2019

Self- Produced at the Den Theatre, Chicago, 2019

On the Continuous Dream podcast

Healer

A young psychiatrist negotiates her new practice and her wedding plans, as she wonders how to cope with an unsympathetic patient. 

Henley Rose Award finalist, 2024

Reading: Playhouse on the Square, 2023

Wells and Welles

A rainy night in 1940, two years after the infamous "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast.  Orson Welles and HG Wells happen to be at the same hotel in San Antonio.  (This really happened.) On a stormy night, Orson comes to HG's room to ask a favor, but HG is still furious over Orson's Halloween prank.

AACT New Plays Fest quarterfinalist, 2020

Reading: Chicago Dramatists, 2019

On the Continuous Dream podcast

We are producing this in summer 2024 at City Lit Theatre, Chicago.


The Arlo File

A young detective must train her new robot partner, and learns the "perfect" computer brain has human flaws. 

Reading: Ubiquitous Players, 2022

Finalist, Todd McNerney Award, 2022

The Hamster

The biggest Trump election-night party in 2016: the one at Vladimir Putin's house.

Reading: Jarvis Square Pottery, 2022

Semifinalist: B Street Comedies, 2023

A Ring in a Fish


Maybe we'd be happier in simpler times.  A family finds out, when their computer assistant is able to manipulate time and space.

Semifinalist: B Street Comedies, 2020


The Death of Captain Hero

When the lead actor of a Saturday morning cartoon show dies a scandalous death, the head writer wants to give him a heroic send-off on the show. But it's against an actual FCC regulation for a character to die on a children's Saturday morning cartoon.  O'Neill semifinalist 2013, Princess Grace Award semifinalist 2017. Ninth Place, 88th Annual Writers Digest Contest 2019.

Readings: 3 Brothers Theatre, Waukegan, 2016

Three Cat Productions, Chicago, 2015

Available Light Theatre, Columbus, 2015

Chameleon Theatre Circle, Minneapolis, 2013

Buddha's Birthday

Pamela's husband would like her to go on anxiety medication.  Her niece becomes enlightened. Raccoons invade the house.

Reading: Ubiquitous Players, 2023

Chicago Dramatists Master Class, 2021

We are producing this in summer 2025.

Metadata

Two psychologists studying human behavior run experiments on social media, but when they're assigned to create a new political action group, things take a dark turn.

Clubbed Thumb said: "It's at once a rivetingly paranoid, gently Kafka-esque fable for the digital age, and a very grounded, lovingly-observed portrait of a fraying relationship."

Co- Produced with DavJasFran Entertainment, Chicago, 2021 (Video)

Neukom Award finalist, 2019

Garry Marshall New Works semifinalist, 2018

Screencraft Stage Play semifinalist, 2018

Reading: Three Cat Productions, 2018

The Last Sane Man

A shy college student meets a young man with a theory: insanity is caused by a virus that is spreading around the globe.

Readings: Piccolo Theatre, Evanston, 2017

Chicago Dramatists, 2016

Spartan Theatre Company, Chicago, 2016


Leda

A young woman is captured in the Peloponnesian War, made a slave in Athens, and is seduced by a soldier who tells her he's Zeus in disguise.  A comedy inspired by Aristophanes.

Self-Produced in Chicago, 2017

Reading: Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, 2015

The Morrigan

The ancient legends of Irish hero Cuchulainn.

Produced by Trinity High School, 2019

The Sound

A couple is driven to surreal madness by a sound coming through the walls of their new apartment. 

Reading: Coffee and Whisky Productions, 2019

Seven Devils Conference semifinalist, 2017

Poet and Warrior

30 years in the relationship between Irish poet William Butler Yeats and revolutionary Maud Gonne.

I started this play in college in 1981.

Readings: Prop Theatre, Chicago, 2018

Greenhouse Theatre, Chicago, 2014 and 2015

On the Continuous Dream podcast

Locked Ward

When a nurse is apparently murdered in a psych ward, the patients must hold themselves together to solve the mystery.

Produced by First Run Theatre, St. Louis, 2022

Readings: Three Cat Productions, Chicago, 2014

Creative Studio Space, 2009

Her 85 Minutes

On November 19, 2021, Kamala Harris was the acting president for 85 minutes.

The New Deal

A serial killer runs for president. Because everyone loves serial killers.

Iphigenia

A teen-aged girl can save her father from financial ruin  if she makes a great sacrifice.

Reading: Ubiquitous Players, 2024

The Day After

A conservative journalist has a fever dream in the wake of Trump's re-election in 2024.

One Act Plays, 30-60 minutes

Fourteen

Three high school freshman girls try to get the experimental robot who has joined their class elected class president.

Judge Peter Hagan said, "It's very moving... it's sweet... I laughed out loud... Amy Crider is a real playwright." 

Front Range Comm. College, 2023

Winner, Tennessee Williams One-Act Play Contest, 2021

Published by Theatrical Rights Worldwide (TRW), 2023

The False Years

A monologue. A man leaving a psych ward tries to work out when it all went wrong.

Five Views of David Hockney's "The Arrival of Spring in Normandy, 2020"

A mother and son savor an art exhibit throughout their lives in an eternal now. 

New Plays from the Heartland (video), 2023

WordWave, Lake Tahoe, 2023

Frostburg State University, 2023

A Legacy

A nun searches for her missing twin brother as their conflicted history haunts her.

Rhino Fest (video), Chicago, 2023

Commission: Refracted Theatre Lab, 2022

Reading: Ubiquitous Players, 2022


You Are Here

What would you do with baby Hitler?

New Works of Merit: Honorable Mention, 2024

Ten Minute Plays

Crossing Over

American Blues Theatre Ripped Festival 2020

A Day Full of Life

Children's Weird Wonderful Fest 2022

Proofreading

Third place winner, James Stevenson Prize 2019

The Bible

The Artistic Home Cut to the Chase Festival 2019

The Terrible Secret

Stage Left Theatre Drek Fest 2019

Sue

20% Theatre Snapshots Festival 2016

Between Here and Our Destination

Three Cat Productions Holiday Stories 2014

Page Ten

Chameleon Theatre Circle 2014

Fading Away

Women's Theatre Alliance 2013

The Waiting Room

Words and Wine, New York, NY 2013

Projections

Chicago Dramatists Ten Minute Workshop 2011

Sell the House

Second City Level 5 Showcase 2008

Chicago One Minute Play Festival:  2016, 2017, 2018

More ten minute plays are on the Continuous Dream podcast

Directors of my work include: 

Keira Fromm, Pat Henderson, Jason Smith, T. Paul Lowry, Duck Washington, Sarah Holt, Charlie Marie McGrath, Natalie Sallee, Tabbi Kolber, Kyle McCloskey, Myesha-Tiara, Lexi Saunders, Patricia Tinsley, Jacob Janssen, Stephanie Stroud, Davette J. Franklin, Bec Willett, Kevin Christopher Fox

Teachers I have studied with:

Dana Lynn Formby, Alice Austen, Will Dunne, Philip Dawkins, Emilio Williams, Douglas Post, Calamity West, Marisela Treviño Orta, Mary Scruggs, Jay Steigmann, Winter Miller, Leigh Fondakowski