Paul Michael Thomson

It’s 2004, and a state senator named Barack Hussein Obama is running to represent Illinois in the United States Senate. On the South Side of Chicago, his field team includes: Dan, a hot, smart white guy (“politically incorrect”); Clark, a spritely base coverer; and Porsche, an environmentalist who loves humanity but is meh on humans. When newcomer Aisha joins the team, her candor, quick smile, and comfortability with voters rocket her to the top of the organizing food chain. But how will the other members of her team react to this fast ascent? Can white men cede power when they really, really think they deserve it? And, dear God, will Mr. Obama win his Senate race?!

Fourteen-year-old queer boy Chrysanthemum is the endearing know-it-all serving as president of the Drama Club Council and is based on no playwright in particular. His best friend is Vice President Phylicia, a coloratura soprano in every way. (If you’ve ever done musical theatre, you know what I'm talking about!!) They are best best friends, okay? They comment on each other’s posts out of desire, not obligation. But when FJHS announces the spring musical will be Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, our protagonists rift. Shoot! Now one of them is the antagonist. But which one?!
Phylicia wants to star in Oklahoma! as Laurey Williams. Having a Black girl take on this iconic lead role in a classic American musical will make a statement—and she’s the only one qualified for the job. But Chrys wants to scrap the musical altogether: it’s too problematic, providing a revisionist history that not only degrades womxn, but completely erases and forgives the atrocities done to the Native American folx from whom the territory was stolen. “We know we belong to the land/ and the land we belong to is grand”? Bullshit! That land was not theirs!
The six members of the Drama Club Council must come to a vote by the end of the week, and right now it’s 50-50. How far will Phylicia and Chrys go to get their ways? Will Chrys resort to blackmailing Zac & Jack, Cutest Couple™ for three years running? Will Phylicia betray their ten-year friendship for the chance at a role? And where the eff is their teacher?!

In the too-close-for-comfort future, an environmental justice organizer named Giselle and her billionaire baby brother Elon are (unsurprisingly) at odds. She believes the earth and her people are worth saving; he marvels at the potential in starting over somewhere new. Meanwhile, his virtual assistant Ava has some very nuanced opinions of her own. (Who programmed her to talk so much?!) Set against the backdrop of a rapidly-accelerating climate crisis, brother sister cyborg space explores political divisions within families, an expanding definition of humanity, and what we'll do when time runs out.

When the Phenomenal Four arrive in Stockholm for the 2020 Summer Olympics, they feel the world is at their feet. After all, they’ve got the Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T.), Ximone, to lead them to gymnastics glory. But when second-best Dougy starts having visions (of Tonya Harding & Nancy Kerrigan, no less!), the seed of sabotage is planted. Will the team be able to stick the dismount of competition, or will they fall from grace?

Regina (Reggie) runs a femme-centric feminist bookstore in Tucson, AZ. Artemis Books is a safe space for queer people, free expression, and womxn of all kinds. When her boss unexpectedly jumps ship, Reggie is stuck with a new-hire: straight, white, cisgender JJ. Workplace romances, existential anxieties, and some questionable spell casting abound as Reggie tries to reclaim her safe space. Does identity have to influence ideology? Does colonialism ever stop? And what in the actual hell is a “good guy”?

It's the end of the world as we know it. Climate crisis has decimated the coasts of the former United States of America. So what happens to all the actors living in New York and LA? They move to Chicago and meet with the top artistic director of a certain totally-fictional, not-based-off-of-anything-in-real-life ensemble-based theatre.
In this biting-but-not-bitter theatrical satire, no one is safe: not New York film actors; not LA improvisers; not even Chicago's Laurie Metcalf. (No matter how many Broadway shows she does, she is STILL OURS.)

Nik Ivanov is broke. His wife is dying. He’s losing his bid for reelection. And he might be gay. But at least he has his looks! Leave Me Alone! is a contemporary, queer adaptation of Anton Chekhov's most unloved play, Ivanov. It’s about labels, identity, advice, Chekhov’s gun, and how none of that matters when you’re depressed…except perhaps the gun.

Hooking up is supposed to be fun, but in the Age of Trump, even the extremely personal becomes overtly political. SAME SECTS! is a play about assumption, identity, intimacy, and what happens when they share a bed.