Colleen O'Doherty

Colleen O'Doherty

Colleen O'Doherty is a Chicago-based writer. She has her MFA in play and screenwriting from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Her plays have been part of many festivals, including: Bold Dorothy, Retired, as part of Br!nk Briefs at Renaissance Theaterworks, 2017 in Milwaukee, WI and Itinerant Theater’s “The Play’s the Thing” in Lake Charles, LA, May 2019.  Elevated and Swipe Right at the Bar as part of...
Colleen O'Doherty is a Chicago-based writer. She has her MFA in play and screenwriting from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Her plays have been part of many festivals, including: Bold Dorothy, Retired, as part of Br!nk Briefs at Renaissance Theaterworks, 2017 in Milwaukee, WI and Itinerant Theater’s “The Play’s the Thing” in Lake Charles, LA, May 2019.  Elevated and Swipe Right at the Bar as part of Cone Man Running Productions’ Five-Minute Mile 2017 in Houston, TX. Northern Bound as part of Station Hope at Cleveland Public Theater in Cleveland, OH. Meet Puberty won "Festival Favorite" for the Funky Little Theater Company's 2018 Spectrum festival in Denver, CO. Ricky and Ready was in Heartland Theatre Company‘s 10-minute Play Festival, Normal, IL, June 2019 and Secret Theater's Act One: One Act Festival, NYC, February 2020. Sister of Experience was produced at Playwrights’ Round Table Summer Shorts in Orlando, FL, July 2019. MOABIRTHC  was in Funhouse IV at the Theatre Off Jackson in Seattle, WA, November 2018 and Omaha's Fringe Festival, July 2019. Her play, Stripped, was a quarterfinalist for ScreenCraft's 2018-19 stage play competition based out of LA and a 2018 Henley Rose Playwright Competition for Women Finalist. It was part of TheatreMidwest's Fresh Produce Concert Reading Series in 2020 in Des Moines, IA. Her play, Stories: on the Brink was part of the Great Plains Theatre Commons season in Omaha, NE in October 2021. 

Plays

  • Stories: on the Brink
    Kati, Will, Tara, Alyssa and Nik form a new kind of family when they all land in a homeless shelter in town.
  • Stripped
    While working in a seedy strip club, a troubled young woman has to juggle tragedy, personal demons, and her dysfunctional family.
  • Lottery
    Patrick wins the lottery, then gets some news about his health that upends all of his plans. Meanwhile, TV journalist Carol Winters is figuring out what being a journalist means when you have to tell feel good stories about terrible situations. Their stories intersect in this play about what it means to be "lucky" in America.
  • Missing Ingredient
    Two sisters deal with what's missing in their lives.
  • Ricky and Ready
    A mother must deal with the truth of her daughter's health, but first she is going to find some answers from the public library. They have the answers to everything, right?
  • Gaming Garret
    Matt has lost his brother, Garret, to opioid overdose. However, he claims Garret has returned as a chimp. Matt's best friend, Nikki, tries to help him see sense in this tragicomedy that explores the ways grief causes our shared realities to shift.
  • Oroonoko (Draft)
    An adaptation of the Aphra Behn novel. Still in-progress.
  • Farmer Nelson Sings a New Tune
    A farmer who never wants anything to change has his world rocked by a new song bird on the farm.
  • Sister of Experience
    A young priest and an older nun debate the future of a young girl.
  • Bold Dorothy, Retired
    Two superheroes are trying to make a living hero-ing. Luckily they have a retired teacher to show them how it's done.
  • Chin Up, Head Down
    A high school student faces the police officer who injured her friend during a fight at school.
  • Saul
    Nancy thinks her husband is a dog. Literally. Her sister, Bernie, thinks Nancy might be crazy. Granted, both could be true.
  • MOABIRTHC
    A PSA about the dangers of birthday parties. They are the leading killer of children 12 1/2 and younger.
  • Gub Gub, Godmother, Gaslight
    Cindy thought the whole Happily Ever After thing was gonna be legit. Instead, the Prince gaslights her and she never gets to talk to animals. Or sing. It's some BS.
  • Meet Puberty
    Amelia is about to hit puberty. Or rather, Puberty is about to hit her. Her emotions are in meltdown and she's falling in love with her best friend.
  • Northern Bound
    The Crafts begin the first leg of their journey to freedom.