jesse robkin

Jesse Robkin is a Brooklyn-based writer, filmmaker, and transsexual woman (not always in that order). She tells stories about enduring in an increasingly hostile culture and writes essays that seek a culture less hostile.

Before moving to Brooklyn, Jesse spent 7 years working in the Chicago theater scene. To date, Jesse has written four full-length plays and a handful of short ones. In 2023, she wrote, directed, and co-produced her debut short film Stress Fracture, which premiered at the 42nd Reeling Film Festival in Chicago. As a playwright, Jesse is best known for Austin’s Home, performed virtually in the 2021 Great Plains Theatre Conference, and Child Protection, a short play commissioned for Jackalope Theatre Company’s 2022 Living Newspaper Festival.

Jesse also serves as head writer...

Jesse Robkin is a Brooklyn-based writer, filmmaker, and transsexual woman (not always in that order). She tells stories about enduring in an increasingly hostile culture and writes essays that seek a culture less hostile.

Before moving to Brooklyn, Jesse spent 7 years working in the Chicago theater scene. To date, Jesse has written four full-length plays and a handful of short ones. In 2023, she wrote, directed, and co-produced her debut short film Stress Fracture, which premiered at the 42nd Reeling Film Festival in Chicago. As a playwright, Jesse is best known for Austin’s Home, performed virtually in the 2021 Great Plains Theatre Conference, and Child Protection, a short play commissioned for Jackalope Theatre Company’s 2022 Living Newspaper Festival.

Jesse also serves as head writer for the largest Magic: The Gathering YouTube channel, Tolarian Community College, where she’s written scripts for more than 100 videos. She’s also a former contributor for the premier Magic strategy site ChannelFireball. Though she is indeed a white trans girl who plays Magic, Jesse swears she’s not a complete stereotype; she still doesn’t know how to code!

Scripts

Dysphoria Fugue

by jesse robkin

Synopsis

Patrick is a space-loving teenager navigating senior year and his first serious relationship (with his best friend's sister, no less; it's a whole thing). He's also a girl, though he doesn't know that yet. DYSPHORIA FUGUE is an ethereal memoir of pre-transition life that externalizes the internal sensation of gender dysphoria.

Patrick is a space-loving teenager navigating senior year and his first serious relationship (with his best friend's sister, no less; it's a whole thing). He's also a girl, though he doesn't know that yet. DYSPHORIA FUGUE is an ethereal memoir of pre-transition life that externalizes the internal sensation of gender dysphoria.

Austin's Home

by jesse robkin

Synopsis

It has been twenty-eight long months since Margaret's daughter ran away from home in the wake of a family tragedy. This year, miraculously, her daughter will be home for Christmas. Is reconciliation possible? Well, maybe, but the person who's shown up at Margaret's front door isn't her daughter.

It has been twenty-eight long months since Margaret's daughter ran away from home in the wake of a family tragedy. This year, miraculously, her daughter will be home for Christmas. Is reconciliation possible? Well, maybe, but the person who's shown up at Margaret's front door isn't her daughter.

Child Protection

by jesse robkin

Synopsis

Martin Davis arrives late to a parent-teacher conference with the third-grade teacher of his trans daughter Mia. But the meeting isn't a conference; it's an ambush. Waiting for him is not his daughter’s teacher, but rather an investigator with Child Protective Services. Unprepared, Martin must navigate a barrage of probing questions about his life, his past, and the validity of his daughter’s identity.

Martin Davis arrives late to a parent-teacher conference with the third-grade teacher of his trans daughter Mia. But the meeting isn't a conference; it's an ambush. Waiting for him is not his daughter’s teacher, but rather an investigator with Child Protective Services. Unprepared, Martin must navigate a barrage of probing questions about his life, his past, and the validity of his daughter’s identity.

The Chain

by jesse robkin

Synopsis

Isabelle is a pretty ordinary transgender girl: she aspires to be a dancer, she suffers from depression and body issues, and she has a family who just doesn’t “get” her. Oh, and for as long as she can remember, she’s lived her life completely naked, attached to the wall of her living room by a long metal chain protruding from her pelvis. You know, typical trans things. This allegory for gender dysphoria and...

Isabelle is a pretty ordinary transgender girl: she aspires to be a dancer, she suffers from depression and body issues, and she has a family who just doesn’t “get” her. Oh, and for as long as she can remember, she’s lived her life completely naked, attached to the wall of her living room by a long metal chain protruding from her pelvis. You know, typical trans things. This allegory for gender dysphoria and anti-trans violence is an absurdist twist on the classic American living room drama. Fair warning — The Chain is not for the faint of heart.

Graves Grow No Green

by jesse robkin

Synopsis

The fear of heights isn’t the fear of falling, it’s the fear of jumping. On the night of the 2016 election, on the roof of her friend Ava’s apartment building, Grace feels like jumping. Her friends are there to talk her down, but in the days and weeks and months that follow, Grace learns the hard way that rejecting the call of the void once doesn’t just make it go away. The question then remains: how do you live...

The fear of heights isn’t the fear of falling, it’s the fear of jumping. On the night of the 2016 election, on the roof of her friend Ava’s apartment building, Grace feels like jumping. Her friends are there to talk her down, but in the days and weeks and months that follow, Grace learns the hard way that rejecting the call of the void once doesn’t just make it go away. The question then remains: how do you live with it?

Visitation

by jesse robkin

Synopsis

When it comes to siblings, love isn’t always unconditional. Natalie is visiting her brother Danny, who’s in jail for the possession of heroin. It’s Danny’s birthday, and it’s his first time seeing Natalie since his most recent relapse. Let's hope it’s not his last.
Visitation is a play created for the virtual world, designed to make use of its Zoom staging rather than work against it.

When it comes to siblings, love isn’t always unconditional. Natalie is visiting her brother Danny, who’s in jail for the possession of heroin. It’s Danny’s birthday, and it’s his first time seeing Natalie since his most recent relapse. Let's hope it’s not his last.
Visitation is a play created for the virtual world, designed to make use of its Zoom staging rather than work against it.