Photo Credit: Derrica Moser
A long time ago (1995), in a galaxy far, far away (in the middle-of-nowhere, Indiana)…
I started writing Oregon Trail and Nancy Drew fan fiction when I was six years old, and it’s been a wild and wonderful journey ever since! An avid fan of all things nerdy, I quit my job as a university project manager in 2016 to barista it up while pursuing the writing of a fantasy novel. At the coffee shop where I worked, I became friends with actors who told me I should try writing plays. After completing a 400,000 word, “unpublishable” (that’s a direct quote from a literary agent) fantasy novel, I pivoted to playwriting. My first attempts were hilariously awful, but an amazing cohort of actors, writers, and directors encouraged me to keep going. From the beginning, I fell in love with theatre’s unique ability to bring people together to experience something effervescent, immediate, and special - something that fit well within my sci-fi, fantasy, and horror sensibilities.
In 2018, I received the first performances of my short plays and readings of full-lengths. I’m still so grateful to these theatres for giving me a chance. I also began work as the Literary Manager for MadLab Theatre and started self-producing my own plays, which grounded me in the communal aspect of theatre that first drew me to playwriting. My first majorly successful play, a twisty science fiction piece called The Consciousness, premiered in 2019. Since then, I’ve had four additional world premieres and over 100 one-acts produced around the world.
The Fandom Of It All:
I never lost my love for all things nerdy - almost all of my work uses genre storytelling and/or fandoms to explore feminism and identity. As a female gamer and passionate fan of all things comic books, anime, and strategy card games, I struggled with a sense of belonging in male-dominated spaces and I explore these tensions in my work. In addition, as a member of the LGBTQ+ community raised in rural, conservative America, my plays also depict characters struggling to come to terms with their sexuality and inability to fit neatly into boxes.
Finally, I live to tell genre stories: subverting audience expectations of science fiction, fantasy, and horror while creating kickass roles for women bringing these stories to the stage. The playwrights I align with - and admire deeply! - are Annie Baker and Anne Washburn, with a dash of Caryl Churchill. While I create naturalistic dialogue and am character-driven in approach, I am also drawn to the theatrical possibilities of theatre and believe speculative stories belong onstage. In my work, UFOs appear in the sky, the Rapture really happens, cryptids emerge from lakes, and an enormous demon forged of trad wife anxieties does a dance with chicken bones. It gets weird and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
I’ve been fortunate to find other artists and audiences as interested in this strange and nerdy stuff as I am. :) Through surveys, I’ve proven my work is exciting for new, young audiences who rarely see their experiences onstage. The 2025 world premiere of my play Slaymaker aligned with card shops and comic book stores to market the play, leading to high turnout among young people who rarely attend the theatre. My work also prioritizes propulsive storytelling and exposition through action and visuals, providing meaning and character depth while entertaining.
What is your work best known for? Reviews and surveys often use words like ‘propulsive,’ ‘entertaining,’ ‘genre-bending,’ ‘relevant to my experience,’ and ‘thrilling.’
Where are areas you would like to continue developing? Tightening my world-building skills and growing my roster of characters.
What kind of theatre company is a good fit for your work? Those who are interested in reaching - or are already reaching! - young audiences and the fandoms they represent, which are growing in popularity. Also, these theatres should be open to exciting, visual moments onstage. I think this has less to do with budget and more with creativity and thinking outside the usual living room set! :)
What are your goals in 2026 and beyond? To continue to take the lead in developing my own work while building connections with regional theatres. Given my work deals with niche topics (less niche by the day but still!) and blends naturalism with theatricality, I understand I need to ‘prove out’ my work and build my own audience. That said, I am open to working with other theaters if there is high compatibility!
What do you do in addition to writing? I am on the leadership team for Whiskey Theatre Factory, a 501c3 nonprofit providing new play development support to local writers. I also am a grant writer for Playwrights’ Round Table and other nonprofits in the Orlando community. In my free time, I’m a toddler mom and a massive fan of most genres of rock and roll, anime, comic books, video games, and so-bad-its-good movies.