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: Her Zoom-based play, Missing Ingredient was selected for NYC's Project Y Theatre Company's Zoom series and was released in November 2020. It was also nominated for best short in the first annual Young-Howze Theatre...
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: Her Zoom-based play, Missing Ingredient was selected for NYC's Project Y Theatre Company's Zoom series and was released in November 2020. It was also nominated for best short in the first annual Young-Howze Theatre Awards, February 2021. In June 2023, she was commissioned by Project Y to write for the Women In Theater Festival. Her full-length, Stripped, was a 2022 Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition 2nd Rounder, a quarterfinalist for ScreenCraft's 2018-19 stage play competition and a 2018 Henley Rose Playwright Competition for Women Finalist. It was part of TheatreMidwest's Fresh Produce Concert Reading Series in October 2020 in Des Moines, IA and a 2020 semi-finalist for UP Theater’s Renewal Reading Series in NYC. Her screenplay Power Surge was a 2022 quarter-finalist for the ISA Table Read My Screenplay genre competition and a semi-finalist for the Script2Comic competition. Her new play about Long COVID, Heavier Than Water had a public reading at Chicago Dramatists for the Telling Humans festival in December 2023.

Plays

  • Stories: on the Brink by Colleen O'Doherty
    Cast: 
    10–15
    ·
    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: homeless shelters, homeless veterans + 5 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: homeless shelters, homeless veterans, black poverty, white poverty, women in poverty, poverty, 20th Century Women
    Kati, Will, Tara, Alyssa and Nik form a new kind of family when they all land in a homeless shelter in town.
  • Stripped by Colleen O'Doherty
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6–10
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: midwest, family + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, political, tragedy
    Keyword: midwest, family, Stripper, women, LGBTQ, working class, health care, cancer
    While working in a seedy strip club, a troubled young woman has to juggle tragedy, personal demons, and her dysfunctional family.
  • Lottery by Colleen O'Doherty
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5–8
    ·
    Genre: biography, comedy + 8 more
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    Keyword: health care, interactive + 5 more
    Genre: biography, comedy, dark comedy, drama, experimental, immersive, parody/spoof, political, satire, tragedy
    Keyword: health care, interactive, midwest, women, monologue, flyover country, blue collar
    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 by Colleen O'Doherty
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    2–3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: accepting death, coping with grief + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, tragedy
    Keyword: accepting death, coping with grief, digital grief, ripe for zoom, Sisters
    Two sisters deal with what's missing in their lives.
  • Ricky and Ready by Colleen O'Doherty
    Recommendations: 10
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: health care, older women + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: health care, older women, library, cancer, dark comedy
    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 by Colleen O'Doherty
    Cast: 
    8–10
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: opioid addiction, opioid crisis + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, movement/physical, tragedy
    Keyword: opioid addiction, opioid crisis, large cast, absurd, dark comedy, family tragedy
    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) by Colleen O'Doherty
    Cast: 
    7–15
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, docudrama/historic + 2 more
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    Keyword: slavery, adaptation + 1 more
    Genre: adaptation, docudrama/historic, drama, political
    Keyword: slavery, adaptation, novels
    An adaptation of the Aphra Behn novel. Still in-progress.
  • Farmer Nelson Sings a New Tune by Colleen O'Doherty
    Cast: 
    10–30
    ·
    Genre: comedy, fable/folktale + 5 more
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    Keyword: children, farm + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, fable/folktale, musical, parody/spoof, satire, verse, young audiences
    Keyword: children, farm, animals, commentary, children's theatre
    A farmer who never wants anything to change has his world rocked by a new song bird on the farm.
  • Sister of Experience by Colleen O'Doherty
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: abortion, Catholic + 4 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, political
    Keyword: abortion, Catholic, older women, Nuns, church scandal, nun scandal
    A young priest and an older nun debate the future of a young girl.
  • Bold Dorothy, Retired by Colleen O'Doherty
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: teachers, heroes + 4 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, fantasy, political, satire, science fiction
    Keyword: teachers, heroes, superhero, villains, powers, retired teachers
    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 by Colleen O'Doherty
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama, political
    ·
    Keyword: high school, violence + 3 more
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: high school, violence, police brutality, youth, school
    A high school student faces the police officer who injured her friend during a fight at school.
  • Saul by Colleen O'Doherty
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: absurdism, women + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, experimental
    Keyword: absurdism, women, marriage, murder
    Nancy thinks her husband is a dog. Literally. Her sister, Bernie, thinks Nancy might be crazy. Granted, both could be true.
  • MOABIRTHC by Colleen O'Doherty
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5–10
    ·
    Genre: biography, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: birthday, PSA + 4 more
    Genre: biography, comedy, parody/spoof, satire
    Keyword: birthday, PSA, DARE, 1990s, motherhood, absurdism
    A PSA about the dangers of birthday parties. They are the leading killer of children 12 1/2 and younger.
  • Gub Gub, Godmother, Gaslight by Colleen O'Doherty
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: adult fairy tale, Cinderella + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, dark comedy, satire
    Keyword: adult fairy tale, Cinderella, Prince, marriage
    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 by Colleen O'Doherty
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: puberty, Adolescence + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy, satire
    Keyword: puberty, Adolescence, LGBTQ, women
    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 by Colleen O'Doherty
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic
    ·
    Keyword: slavery, crafts + 2 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic
    Keyword: slavery, crafts, Race, History
    The Crafts begin the first leg of their journey to freedom.