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.
Reading: Chicago Dramatists, 2019
On the Continuous Dream podcast
Self-produced at City Lit, Chicago, 2024
Published by Theatrical Rights Worldwide (TRW)
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
We're producing this in 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
A Visible Hand
A teen-aged girl decides whether to sue a software company for stealing her art.
Reading: Ubiquitous Players, 2025
Texas Chainsaw
Post-Roe Texas.
The Day After
A conservative journalist has a fever dream in the wake of Trump's re-election in 2024. A monologue.
Self-produced at Dreamers YOLO December 2024-January 2025.
The Day Before
A Hillary Clinton impersonator does a one-woman show on the eve of the 2016 election. A monologue.
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.
Eclectic Full Contact Theatre podcast, 2023
Yippie Fest, 2023
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, winner, 2023
WordWave, winner, Lake Tahoe, 2023
Frostburg State University, third place, 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