Jean Egdorf

Jean Egdorf grew up in a small and isolated county in the high-desert mountains of northern New Mexico. It is a space that feels simultaneously isolated and claustrophobic. Geographical isolation necessitates close-knit community, where everybody knows everybody and all their personal business. At 18, she thought she couldn’t get out fast enough; yet, only a few years later, she left the city for another small mountain town where she chose to once more plant her artistic roots. Much like she will not live long in a big city, she does not write “big city” plays. She writes small-town, southwestern romanticism; her plays are about isolated women whose voices are stymied by their small-town settings and in society at large; through them I explore the suffocation, isolation, and survival...

Jean Egdorf grew up in a small and isolated county in the high-desert mountains of northern New Mexico. It is a space that feels simultaneously isolated and claustrophobic. Geographical isolation necessitates close-knit community, where everybody knows everybody and all their personal business. At 18, she thought she couldn’t get out fast enough; yet, only a few years later, she left the city for another small mountain town where she chose to once more plant her artistic roots. Much like she will not live long in a big city, she does not write “big city” plays. She writes small-town, southwestern romanticism; her plays are about isolated women whose voices are stymied by their small-town settings and in society at large; through them I explore the suffocation, isolation, and survival inherent to life in a small-town.

Jean holds her MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University. She is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association and has worked for the past decade as a stage manager and dramaturg. Jean's short plays have been produced in Colorado and Ohio, and her short dramaturgical essays have been published for the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities. Jean worked multiple seasons with the Creede Repertory Theatre (CRT) where she co-developed the CRT Company Generated Ten-Minute Play Festival; she presently serves as a member of CRT’s Headwaters New Play Festival reading committee.

Scripts

Fusion and Fallout of the Nuclear Family

by Jean Egdorf

Synopsis

At the end of World War II, brilliant scientists, like Marcel Lange, ushered the world into the nuclear age. Seven decades later, Ada Lange has followed in her grandfather’s footsteps, working with the government on nuclear energy. But when particles of Marcel’s past collide with Ada’s vision for the future, can she unlock the secret to fusion and mend her nuclear family?

At the end of World War II, brilliant scientists, like Marcel Lange, ushered the world into the nuclear age. Seven decades later, Ada Lange has followed in her grandfather’s footsteps, working with the government on nuclear energy. But when particles of Marcel’s past collide with Ada’s vision for the future, can she unlock the secret to fusion and mend her nuclear family?

The Evolution of Rattlesnakes

by Jean Egdorf

Synopsis

Rattlesnakes are evolving to lose their rattles. Man has spent so long wiping out the ones that make noise, it’s become a better defense mechanism to remain silent. Denni Erwine is arrested for the murder of the Drybrook County Sheriff. According to their statements, she only struck back against the Sheriff in defense of her neighbor, Louisa Trelawney, but there is more coiled up in the case than either woman is...

Rattlesnakes are evolving to lose their rattles. Man has spent so long wiping out the ones that make noise, it’s become a better defense mechanism to remain silent. Denni Erwine is arrested for the murder of the Drybrook County Sheriff. According to their statements, she only struck back against the Sheriff in defense of her neighbor, Louisa Trelawney, but there is more coiled up in the case than either woman is willing to say. To prevent it from striking more than once, is there only one way to deal with a venomous snake?

How to Bake a Genoise Sponge Without Breaking Any Eggs

by Jean Egdorf

Synopsis

Melissa hosts a popular online baking video series and dreams of studying patisserie at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. After a live episode of her series featuring her signature cake falls apart, the pressure of pursuing her dreams while managing her depression and anxiety may be too much for Melissa to handle. She thinks she can do it with the help of her only “real life” friends, Sylvie, her neighbor who keeps bees...

Melissa hosts a popular online baking video series and dreams of studying patisserie at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. After a live episode of her series featuring her signature cake falls apart, the pressure of pursuing her dreams while managing her depression and anxiety may be too much for Melissa to handle. She thinks she can do it with the help of her only “real life” friends, Sylvie, her neighbor who keeps bees, and Ms. J, her baking mentor. But the two women are actually manifestations of her mental illness, evocations of Sylvia Plath and Julia Child. Melissa has to prove to her therapist, Dr. Morgan, and her mom, Anne, that she is well enough to succeed on her own. In order to make it to Paris, she must keep herself and her genoise sponge from collapsing.

The Flood

by Jean Egdorf

Synopsis

Broke and directionless, Nora returns to the last place she ever wanted to wind up: home. She arrives to find her grandma to evacuate if the threat of a forest fire draws too near their small, mountain town, all while her sister, Letty, is having prophetic dreams about a coming flood. A woman claiming to be an archangel from God arrives with a message: He needs Nora to build Him a boat. Could Letty's dreams...

Broke and directionless, Nora returns to the last place she ever wanted to wind up: home. She arrives to find her grandma to evacuate if the threat of a forest fire draws too near their small, mountain town, all while her sister, Letty, is having prophetic dreams about a coming flood. A woman claiming to be an archangel from God arrives with a message: He needs Nora to build Him a boat. Could Letty's dreams about the flood be true? Or is building a boat, and its connection to their absent father, just one more piece of the past Nora has to face?

Absorbed

by Jean Egdorf

Synopsis

Have you ever felt like there's more than one person living inside you? As it turns out, that's exactly the case for Darren, who has just un-absorbed a twin he didn't know he had. It will probably help make things easier in his relationship with Thomas, right?

Have you ever felt like there's more than one person living inside you? As it turns out, that's exactly the case for Darren, who has just un-absorbed a twin he didn't know he had. It will probably help make things easier in his relationship with Thomas, right?

Burning (Or, Like a Sitcom)

by Jean Egdorf

Synopsis

A woman contemplates setting her house on fire and her husband along with it.

A woman contemplates setting her house on fire and her husband along with it.

The Expedition Diaries of Captain Addison Montgomery

by Jean Egdorf

Synopsis

A brave adventurer sets out an expedition from the Queen to represent the Prince and Princess. Their mission: to explore and conquer a strange, uncharted land filled with candy-like fruits and dangerously whimsical wonders. These are the expedition diaries of Captain Addison Montgomery.

A brave adventurer sets out an expedition from the Queen to represent the Prince and Princess. Their mission: to explore and conquer a strange, uncharted land filled with candy-like fruits and dangerously whimsical wonders. These are the expedition diaries of Captain Addison Montgomery.

New American Mythology

by Jean Egdorf

Synopsis

Waiting for fireworks, a dad explains the proud, American origins of the constellations to his young daughter.

Waiting for fireworks, a dad explains the proud, American origins of the constellations to his young daughter.

Recurrence

by Jean Egdorf

Synopsis

A wife and husband try to recapture their teen, dating years in the face of a life-threatening diagnosis.

A wife and husband try to recapture their teen, dating years in the face of a life-threatening diagnosis.

Vive La Beesistance

by Jean Egdorf

Synopsis

Bernard and Buddy are but humble, bumbling bees. With the crops and flowers dying, and the workers starving, what hope does any one colonist have for a better life in the queen's regime?

Bernard and Buddy are but humble, bumbling bees. With the crops and flowers dying, and the workers starving, what hope does any one colonist have for a better life in the queen's regime?