Plays

Samples from most of my plays are available on my NPX page.   

Charlie Johnson Reads All of Proust

An old man 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.  

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. 

Reading: Ubiquitous Players, 2023

A Legacy

One act (45 minutes) A nun searches for her missing twin brother as their conflicted history haunts her.

Commission: Refracted Theatre, 2022

Reading: Ubiquitous Players, 2022

Rhino Fest, Chicago, 2023

Fourteen

One act (50 minutes) Three high school freshman girls befriend the robot who has joined their class and try to get her elected class president. To be published by TRW in 2023.

Winner: Tennessee Williams One Act Play Contest, New Orleans, 2020-2021

Produced at Front Range Comm. College, 2022

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

Civilization


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

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 motel in San Antonio.  Orson has a favor to ask. 

AACT New Plays Fest quarterfinalist, 2020

Reading: Chicago Dramatists, 2019

On the Continuous Dream podcast


Buddha's Birthday

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

Reading: Chicago Dramatists Master Class, 2021

Metadata

Two psychologists studying human behavior run experiments on social media.  At first it's fun to study who likes and shares cute cat videos, but when they're assigned to create a new political action group, things take a dark turn.

Produced by DavJasFran Entertainment, 2021

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. 

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.

Readings: Prop Theatre, Chicago, 2018

Greenhouse Theatre, Chicago, 2014 and 2015

On the Continuous Dream podcast

The False Years

A half-hour monologue in which a man leaving a psych ward tries to work out when it all went wrong.

Eclectic Full Contact Theatre podcast, 2023

redcircle.com/shows/half-hour-audio-hour 

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, 2022

Readings: Three Cat Productions, Chicago, 2014

Creative Studio Space, 2009

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

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, Leigh Fondakowski