emergency room

by Ian Donley

FULL LENGTH PLAY. Leslie's gut is all out of whack: she's got celiac disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, acid reflux, and bacteria overgrowth. Like many chronically ill people, she finds herself at home the hospital, this time in the emergency room of the St. Roch Hospital. Little does she know, the hospital will become a home to a new virus that may push her, her body, and her sanity to the limit.

FULL LENGTH PLAY. Leslie's gut is all out of whack: she's got celiac disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, acid reflux, and bacteria overgrowth. Like many chronically ill people, she finds herself at home the hospital, this time in the emergency room of the St. Roch Hospital. Little does she know, the hospital will become a home to a new virus that may push her, her body, and her sanity to the limit.

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emergency room

Recommended by

  • Jonny Bolduc: emergency room by Ian Donley
    “

    It's bleak, beautifully written, with a great ensemble and final twist. Amazing job capturing the anxious zeitgeist of the start of COVID. It also has one HELL of a final twist. A smart play that deserves production.

    It's bleak, beautifully written, with a great ensemble and final twist. Amazing job capturing the anxious zeitgeist of the start of COVID. It also has one HELL of a final twist. A smart play that deserves production.

    ”
  • Eden Lane: emergency room by Ian Donley
    “

    Emergency Room throws a mismatched group of patients into a hospital waiting room at the dawn of COVID and lets the tension simmer. Ian Donley balances bleak humor with genuine empathy, capturing the way people talk past one another when fear and uncertainty take over. The ensemble writing is lively, the dialogue rings true, and the final reveal reframes everything that came before. A dark comedy with real teeth and strong ensemble potential.

    Emergency Room throws a mismatched group of patients into a hospital waiting room at the dawn of COVID and lets the tension simmer. Ian Donley balances bleak humor with genuine empathy, capturing the way people talk past one another when fear and uncertainty take over. The ensemble writing is lively, the dialogue rings true, and the final reveal reframes everything that came before. A dark comedy with real teeth and strong ensemble potential.

    ”
  • Ricardo Soltero-Brown: emergency room by Ian Donley
    “

    The patients and staff of a St. Roch Hospital ward, already anxious and stressed by severe personal and professional conditions, find themselves well over the edge after the arrival of COVID-19, with everyone going far beyond the common limits of compassion, courtesy, decency, decorum, empathy, sanity, truth, and understanding. Depicting the apocalyptic attitudes and brutal behaviors so prevalent during the pandemic, Ian Donley's EMERGENCY ROOM is a sardonic portrait of human nature in extremis.

    The patients and staff of a St. Roch Hospital ward, already anxious and stressed by severe personal and professional conditions, find themselves well over the edge after the arrival of COVID-19, with everyone going far beyond the common limits of compassion, courtesy, decency, decorum, empathy, sanity, truth, and understanding. Depicting the apocalyptic attitudes and brutal behaviors so prevalent during the pandemic, Ian Donley's EMERGENCY ROOM is a sardonic portrait of human nature in extremis.

    ”
Patients
Leslie Ackerman = mid-late 20s, a technical writer for a medical company, has the IBD gambit (ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, bacterial overgrowth, and acid reflux), her strong work ethic has led her to not prioritize her health
Virginia Woolf = 40s, suffered a nervous breakdown (at least that’s what the doctors say)
Marvin Strake = 50s, a recently divorced divorce lawyer, smokes three packs of Newport's a day, raised in the Gen X era, in the ER for a heart attack.
Jazmine Morris = 15 years old, a cancer patient
Craig Patterson = Leslie’s ex-boyfriend, golden retriever personality
Lauren Marks = 60s, an elementary school teacher and a grandma of three, dealing with COVID symptoms
George Newport = 40s, a construction worker with frail bones dealing with COVID symptoms
Andrew McCrae = a minor league baseball player, dealing with COVID symptoms

Staff:
Nurse Ana Borango = mid-30s, the head nurse
Nurse Tony Larson = late 20s, assists Ana, the kind of guy who peaked in high school.
Nurse Cindy Trout = mid-20s, just hired, easily frazzled, still in her honeymoon phase at the hospital.
Maureen = 40s, the receptionist, selectively obvious.
Mr. Fred Handyman = 60s, the janitor

Awards

  • Emerging Voices New Play Festival
    Full Circle Players
    Semi-Finalist
    2026