plays

one-minute plays

/ jessylaurensmith

In 2014 and 2015, I’ve been fortunate enough to get tapped to write for Chicago’s Annual One-Minute Play Festival. I’ve written four plays total (two per year), but each year, I had a favorite. I’d like to share those with you.

Mermaidtown

The Sound of the Train

Thanks.

guest blogs, collaboration, and tickets to things

/ jessylaurensmith

I wrote a guest blog for my friend-and-fellow-screenwriter Katie Markovich‘s blog! It was written with the assistance of five-year-old Jessy.

Talking about some pretty cool future collaborations with artist David Mitchell (a.k.a., DAVID DEATH), so you should go ahead and check out the rest of his work in the meantime.

Tickets are now available for my 2nd Story performance here (Thurs & Fri, May 7 + 8) and for the Chicago One-Minute Play Festival here (Wed & Thurs, April 29 + 30).

And related to nothing, here’s a photo Chad Eschman took of me in 2013 when I was auditioning for hipster of the year:

IMG_0110

plays and storytelling now that it’s spring

/ jessylaurensmith

I told a story about fort-building and eviction at Living Room Playmakers‘ Two Year Anniversary Party on April 11.

Featured imagephoto by Galen Gulick

I’ll be telling a story about car accidents and ex-boyfriends on May 7th and 8th with 2nd Story at Inspiration Kitchens. Tickets are available here!

If you happen to be one of my many blog readers who definitely live in Houston, you can see my short play Goodbye, Breakfast at the University of St. Thomas during their Ampersand Festival, April 22nd through the 25th.

I also have a couple plays in the Chicago One-Minute Play Festival, which is either running April 27th through April 29th, or April 29th & April 30th, depending on who you ask.

SO MANY THINGS

/ jessylaurensmith

Photos from Night Lights can be found here.

Photos from basically everything else I’m doing can be found here.

I was a Storefront Playwright again during Chicago Theatre Week, and the Sun Times even said my name out loud.

The Living Room Playmakers just celebrated our one-year anniversary at the house where we did our first production, Three Stories. I don’t think I could be happier to work with this group of people, or prouder of the work we’ve done in the past year:

Photo by Pam Krayenbuhl

Photo by Pam Krayenbuhl

I am participating in Chicago’s One-Minute Play Festival at Victory Gardens this year. Come see my plays Heat Source and Mermaidtown on Sunday/Monday May 4th & 5th, at 7:30 PM (plus like 70 other plays by Chicago-area playwrights).

Members of Living Room Playmakers, including myself, will be performing plays and prose pieces and songs as part of Modet Dance Collective’s Future Perfect Tension performance at Stage 773 on Sunday, June 15th at 8PM. My short play The End Is Next will be featured.

Many other projects are in the works, but they are all still secrets. More soon!

holiday sounds

/ jessylaurensmith

Night Lights killed. Photos coming soon.

In the meantime, you can feel like you were there (or relive the experience, if you were there) by checking out our party playlist.

Also, want to hear some weird songs co-written and partially performed by me? Including a Christmas song?  Sure you do. You have a heart. Go to my friend Stacie’s soundcloud page.

Although I must admit, the best song on there is Vegetarian, which I only helped with by being Stacie’s first vegetarian friend.

stories about plays: The End is Next

/ jessylaurensmith

I’ve been thinking about all the different places where a play can start.

The End Is Next, a ten-minute play about the apocalypse in an ‘L’ car, was directed by Damon Krometis at Next Theatre in April 2012, as part of Master Clash, an ongoing collaboration between the MFA Directors and MFA Playwrights at Northwestern University. It starred Anna Marr and Benj Sullivan-Knoff.

Anna Marr and Benj Sullivan-Knoff in The End Is Next

Photo by David Crawford

This is the short version of a play that continues to grow and stretch.

I started writing it on my phone, on a train in Chicago, after my friend David texted me to ask:

Have you seen The Future?

Yes. …. Wait. Literally, or the Miranda July film?

I mean things that happen after now.

Oh. Yes.

Cool, what happens?

The world gets a lot muddier. Some people learn to love but some people only get really good at their jobs. At the end, it’s just one L car and the ocean.

It sounds wonderful. I can’t wait.

Theatre Collectives! Reviews! Breakfast!

/ jessylaurensmith

When I’m not making dumb videos, here are some other things I do:

I am part of a new theatre collective called the Living Room Playmakers. We just did Three Stories, three plays that went up in a Rogers Park estate earlier this month, and I will be producing Last Call: 7 Rounds of Theatre in a bar in a Lakeview loft on May 17th & 18th, directed by Jess McLeod. I’m also writing a new short play called Prodigals for that evening. Go to our website! It has pictures and everything.

I am also one-half of Shorties Review Chicago, a two-woman review machine that does one-sentence reviews of art, theatre, live music, film, and the occasional sandwich. If you live in Chicago, we can help you find out what’s good, fast. If you live elsewhere, you will only enjoy it if you like anything.

Did you know that I am also Co-chair of The What Is Breakfast Committee? If you are wondering if what you are eating is Breakfast, our experts are here to help.

So, stop by these sites and be sure to say, “Hello, Jessy!” And I will say, “Hello, you!”