Kevin Sparrow

Kevin Sparrow

Kevin Sparrow (they/them) is a writer, performer, and curator of live and time-based work. In January 2021, they presented the immersive, interactive "The Kingdom of Slovenalia: Virtual Tour", following a live work-in-progress production at Chicago's Rhinofest in February 2020. Kevin is Literary Manager for Nothing Without a Company, where their credits include: Cornerstone (April 2018;...
Kevin Sparrow (they/them) is a writer, performer, and curator of live and time-based work. In January 2021, they presented the immersive, interactive "The Kingdom of Slovenalia: Virtual Tour", following a live work-in-progress production at Chicago's Rhinofest in February 2020. Kevin is Literary Manager for Nothing Without a Company, where their credits include: Cornerstone (April 2018; Playwright); New World Play Festival (October 2018; Producer and Playwright, "D.P.N.B."); 4Plays New Play Festival (2017; Playwright, "Shotgun Preemie"); [Trans]formation (2016; Co-Deviser and Performer); and Dramaturg for ThroatPunch (May 2018) and Down the Moonlit Path (2015). In addition to their own independent performance practice, the Museum of Unnatural history Chicago (MUnCh), they serve as Production Manager for the IN>TIME Performance Festival (Winter 2019 and Winter 2016).

Plays

  • Sofa King Queer by Kevin Sparrow
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6–8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 5 more
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    Keyword: lgbtqia, Transgender + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, immersive, musical, period, political
    Keyword: lgbtqia, Transgender, cisgender, gay, queer, Chicago, music, American politics, site-specific
    A play about fu'king, family, and queer resistance.

    Chicago, September 2008: TOPHER is the booking manager for and lives in the green room of a local bar and music club. BRODY is the lead singer of an about-to-be famous band, back in town for a secret show. GRANGER is a promoter starting up an LGBT dance night at Topher's club, with Brody's band unknowingly headlining the first...
    A play about fu'king, family, and queer resistance.

    Chicago, September 2008: TOPHER is the booking manager for and lives in the green room of a local bar and music club. BRODY is the lead singer of an about-to-be famous band, back in town for a secret show. GRANGER is a promoter starting up an LGBT dance night at Topher's club, with Brody's band unknowingly headlining the first queer night.

    NAO is Topher's cousin's (SIL) partner who is looking for some guidance on how to deal with Sil. PATTY is Topher's sister who gossips that Sil is planning to leave Nao.

    They all come together in one 24-hour period that has Topher questioning what secrets are worth revealing, and which ones we should keep to ourselves
  • Extremely Online by Kevin Sparrow
    Cast: 
    10–12
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 5 more
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    Keyword: virtual reality, internet + 5 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, dark comedy, farce, political, satire, science fiction
    Keyword: virtual reality, internet, Twelfth Night, online radicalization, Transgender actor, based on Shakespeare, features actors of color
    Welcome to IRLia, a virtual world where anything you say becomes reality.

    CESAR has opened up his old account (Viola) to meet with IRLia creator OLIVIA and find his presumed-dead brother SEBASTIAN's profile. TOBY is Olivia's uncle and main funder, and he and programmer MARIA are trying to convince ANDREW AGUILAR to invest in them by roping in famous comedian FESTER JENKINS. But...
    Welcome to IRLia, a virtual world where anything you say becomes reality.

    CESAR has opened up his old account (Viola) to meet with IRLia creator OLIVIA and find his presumed-dead brother SEBASTIAN's profile. TOBY is Olivia's uncle and main funder, and he and programmer MARIA are trying to convince ANDREW AGUILAR to invest in them by roping in famous comedian FESTER JENKINS. But everyone's reality comes crashing to a halt when they encounter the virally online troll MALVO O'BLIVION, who is determined to change IRLia in all the worst ways.

    A contemporary take on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," "Extremely Online" focuses on how online spaces are curated socially and asks, what do we owe each other when we log on?
  • Cavers and Cowboys by Kevin Sparrow
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    9–11
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: America, LGBTQ + 7 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, experimental
    Keyword: America, LGBTQ, absurdism, feminist, social issues, social commentary, cultural diversity, diverse cast, journey of discovery
    A metaphysical journey across mediums, Cavers and Cowboys features four very different pairs of people as they cross from the real world to the silver screen, from fiction into reality, and from a colonizer past into a more hopeful future. DEB and JUDITH are a couple out of Victorian literature who find themselves brought into a real-world cave in Texas. JESSICA and DENNIS are a married couple who are on the...
    A metaphysical journey across mediums, Cavers and Cowboys features four very different pairs of people as they cross from the real world to the silver screen, from fiction into reality, and from a colonizer past into a more hopeful future. DEB and JUDITH are a couple out of Victorian literature who find themselves brought into a real-world cave in Texas. JESSICA and DENNIS are a married couple who are on the ropes because of Dennis’ obsession with “caving” and Jessica’s undisguised disgust of the practice. ALDO and BETH are siblings who can’t stand each other but do everything together. COWBOY 2 is very proud of being a cowboy but also concerned about his manhood when he starts to fall for Aldo. COWBOY 1 is the strong, silent type. A LAWYER shows up and is killed; they later become a BARTENDER and a WOODCUTTER.
  • Cornerstone by Kevin Sparrow
    Cast: 
    11
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 5 more
    ·
    Keyword: self-help, LGBTQ + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, experimental, immersive, political, satire
    Keyword: self-help, LGBTQ, Cults, design, Architecture, gender identity, corporate takeover, social issues, contemporary social issues, power struggle
    Cornerstone Lecture Series Consideration Managers encourage participants to become "the architects of their own lives" through training exercises and group discussion. They espouse a philosophy that "promises to harness your passion and unleash your unbridled potential," through wildly misappropriated design and architectural terms. The talk begins like any other, but as the Consideration...
    Cornerstone Lecture Series Consideration Managers encourage participants to become "the architects of their own lives" through training exercises and group discussion. They espouse a philosophy that "promises to harness your passion and unleash your unbridled potential," through wildly misappropriated design and architectural terms. The talk begins like any other, but as the Consideration Managers become more ruthless and belligerent, the attendees begin to rebel. What follows is an epic struggle for dominance and power.
  • OMG! Coloring Books and Space Shrooms by Kevin Sparrow
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, political + 1 more
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    Keyword: queer, LGBTQ + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, political, science fiction
    Keyword: queer, LGBTQ, Transgender, Non-Binary
    Demi, Gen, and Andy are the officers and captain of a spaceship operated by trans and non-binary people. This short play is a chatty comedy about the future, the things we thought we left behind, the escapes we make even as we explore new frontiers, and the roles that assigned identities push us into. "OMG!" had its first staged reading at the Chicago Theatre Marathon in July 2017.

  • 10 Year by Kevin Sparrow
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
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    Keyword: reunion, comedy + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: reunion, comedy, reincarnation, high school, coming of age
    Ten-Minute: RACHEL and RYAN reconnect at their 10-year high school reunion. A 10-year-old girl comes up to them and claims to be their dead friend, LISA. Is it a prank, or is it real.
  • In the Fish Bowl by Kevin Sparrow
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, zoom
    ·
    Keyword: short, Cannabis + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, zoom
    Keyword: short, Cannabis, virtual, comedy
    It's Kristi's first time trying cannabis. She's on a call with weed guide Jerald and his protege Lennie to lead her through the experience, but Lennie's nerves start to affect Kristi as well. As the experience unfolds, Kristi has to face the real reasons she sought out Jerald and Lennie's help.
  • Shotgun Preemie by Kevin Sparrow
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, fantasy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: bar, dating + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, fantasy, immersive
    Keyword: bar, dating, site-specific, drag queen, tacos
    Icky and Kelly meet on a Tinder date, trying to draw out a common ground in their 10-year age difference. Heck, a 2,000 year old drag queen, interrupts to sway the course of events. Shotgun Preemie is a comedy that explores modern dating culture, mythology, and toxic masculinity. Previously produced for Nothing Without a Company's New Play Festival in 2017 and Abbie Fest in 2015.
  • Cavers by Kevin Sparrow
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: cave, adventure + 3 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, fantasy, political
    Keyword: cave, adventure, marriage, America, philosophy
    Cavers is the start of a metaphysical journey across mediums, which features Jessica and Dennis, a married couple at odds about their annual caving trip, and Deb, a woman who has crossed over from fiction into reality. This 10-minute play is also the opening scene for the full-length play Cavers and Cowboys.