Jessica Chipman

Based on the short story of the same name by Willa Cather and based on a farmer she knew growing up in Red Cloud, Nebraska, Neighbour Rosicky is a memory play that asks the question, "What does it mean to live a meaningful life?" Full-length and thirty-five minute versions are available. A Christmas play, perfect for all audiences.

This is the mostly-forgotten true story of Sarah Emma Edmonds. Growing up in Canada in the 1840s, Emma can sense she's not like other girls. Desperate to escape a life of unwanted marriage and servitude, she escapes to the United States, where she discards her skirts for trousers, assumes the moniker of Frank Thompson, and lives as a man. When the Union army comes calling, Emma's life changes forever. She faces war, near-death, heartbreak, and the pain of untruths. After the war, she must convince Congress to grant her the pension she's owed. Jumping in time between Emma's past and present, Trousers weaves together the life of a woman trying: to be seen, to be equal, to be autonomous. In the end, Emma discovers she's not alone in her story--there are many women just like her.

Mel, KJ, and Amanda are former college roommates on a Zoom call from their homes in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Des Moines, Iowa in late summer, 2020. When Mel shares information about a woman who lived in their hall, long-held secrets are revealed and the friendship starts unraveling. A play about long-time friendship, complicity, and what is left unsaid. Designed for virtual performance/livestream with traditional staging option.

Jae is thirty-five and struggling. She's working a demanding journalism job, serving as conservator and caretaker for her sister with mysterious memory issues, comforting her sister's broken-hearted, butterfly wing-wearing therapist, and bemoaning her non-existent romantic life. Plus there's a song she can't get out of her head and a feeling she can't shake. It's a lot. When Jae's boss assigns her a story covering a mother orca who is carrying her dead baby through the ocean off the coast of Washington state, she reluctantly agrees to go. Her boat captain is uncooperative, she's worried about her sister, and her phone won't stop ringing. Then she comes face-to-face with the orca and everything changes. Waves Waves Waves is a dramatic comedy about family and memory, and asks the question, "Are you listening?"

Based on Frederico Garcia Lorca's play of the same title, Yerma is the story of a young woman who is desperate to have a child, despite her husband's indifference. She tries every tactic she can think of until her desperation mounts to a breathtaking breaking point. Removed from Lorca's original setting to the Dust Bowl-era rural Midwest, this feminist one-act retelling explores the intersection of isolation, societal pressure, and traditional gender roles.

When seventeen-year-old purse thief Jeremy climbs through his bedroom window with some loot, the last thing he expects is to be followed by the middle-aged, asthmatic husband of the woman whose purse he stole. This is Leon, and he wants his wife's purse back. Jeremy and Leon supposedly meet for the first time in Jeremy's bedroom, but as the play goes back in time, we find this isn't the first convergence between Jeremy and Leon's families. This comedy explores how our worlds are smaller than we think and how our similarities connect us more than our differences. [Full-length]

*Under contract with a publisher. Kindly reach out with inquiries.

Pandora and the Sickle Moon is a tragic fairy tale told out of time and
place. The play opens with Pandora, the first woman,
releasing evil into the world. When she realizes she can't
undo this deed, she decides her penance must be to
observe the evil play out in the world. She serves as the
audience's guide and narrator for a story about Freya, a
young princess who has been captured in a battle that killed
her family. A classically evil queen, Skadaas, is plotting a
way to stay in power. Her first-born son, Brono, does not
speak and, therefore, cannot be king. Her second-born son,
Vol, is an explorer who has no kingly aspirations, though his
mother wishes otherwise. Both sons fall for Freya. Pandora
frets about not being able to stop evil and considers her
situation hopeless, yet through a climactic and surprising
sacrifice, she realizes that Freya has taught her that hope
will always remain. Published by Eldridge Plays and musicals.

This Greek myth follows the inventor Daedalus, who commits a crime in Athens and is banished to Crete to serve King Minos. Determined to right his wrongs, Daedalus becomes a father to Icarus, a daring and precocious boy whose eyes are on all the glories of the world around him--the sky, the sea, the stars--while Daedalus buries himself in his work, attempting to save the people of Crete from King Minos's shrewd plans, which include sacrificing humans to a ravenous minotaur. After adventures involving a sea god, the Labyrinth, the slaying of the minotaur, and a broken heart, Daedalus and Icarus find themselves in a tower surrounded by Minos's ships. As Icarus uses Daedalus's final invention, a pair of wings made of wax and feathers, he teaches Daedalus the joy of noticing the beauty around us and the bravery it takes to fly toward our fate. [60 min.]

Originally produced under pseudonym J.L. Sheridan.

Scripts/rights available from Eldridge Plays and Musicals: www.histage.com.

Matt and Ginny Mooney are thrilled to find out they are expecting a baby. When they discover their child will be born with Trisomy 18, a condition that typically results in death within a few days, Matt and Ginny must decide how to move forward. Feeling pressured by their community and adrift from their faith, Matt and Ginny's relationship is tested. Based on a true story, 99 Balloons is about the unconditional love of parents for their children, the power of faith, and celebration of all lives. [45 min.]

Denver and Sal are siblings dealing with the deaths of their parents. When Sal asks Denver for his signature on documents releasing her inheritance, things take a dark turn. [11 min.]

Louisa is a quirky, hopeless romantic with a sweeping imagination. On Louisa's sixteenth birthday, she and her first love, Sam-o, celebrate by flying a kite on a storybook day when they meet Kip, a teenager who has lost his way on a trail run. As Louisa gives Kip directions to the trail, she finds her heart moving in a new direction of its own. In this short comedy about the power of our imagination and the power of true love, Louisa's reality collides with her dream world. Before Kip runs off, Louisa must decide whether to follow the man of her dreams or her dream of a man. [17 min.]

When sixteen-year-old Jeremy climbs through his bedroom window carrying a stolen purse, he doesn't expect an allergy-prone, wheezing middle-aged man to follow. The man is Leon, and he wants his wife's purse back. [17 min.]

Leo and Stan are brothers and complete opposites. Leon needs Stan's help running errands on the day he's going to propose to his girlfriend, but little does he know Stan has some news to break. [11 min.]

Essie is a hapless girl in a television-watching rut. Little does she know when she places a call for help fixing a leaky toilet that her life is about to change. The handymen who arrive at her place are conjoined twins, and they fix more than leaky toilets. A comic romp. [12 minutes]

Violet is a fourteen-year-old high school try-hard and Elena is a fourteen-year-old Harry Potter superfan. Despite their differences, Violet and Elena have been best friends since fourth grade, when they made a pact to be friends forever. When Elena makes a choice that changes Violet's chances at making student council, they must determine whether their friendship is worth saving. [Ten minutes.]