Kelly Lusk

Kelly Lusk

Kelly Lusk is a Chicago based playwright who recently completed his MFA in playwriting at Indiana University. His works have been developed at the Kennedy Center with NNPN’s MFA playwriting workshop, DC's Source Festival, MadLab Theater in Columbus, and Orlando Shakespeare’s Playfest. His short play, Space, was finalist for the National Ten Minute Play contest at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. In the...
Kelly Lusk is a Chicago based playwright who recently completed his MFA in playwriting at Indiana University. His works have been developed at the Kennedy Center with NNPN’s MFA playwriting workshop, DC's Source Festival, MadLab Theater in Columbus, and Orlando Shakespeare’s Playfest. His short play, Space, was finalist for the National Ten Minute Play contest at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. In the summer of 2009 Kelly was chosen to study in Umbria, Italy with Charles Mee through LaMaMa ETC. His works include: (a love story), Lacy and Ashley Live in a Trailer Now, king oedipus, and The Day We Fell in Love. He was also recently selected to be a Core Apprentice at The Playwright's Center in Minneapolis. He teaches creative writing at Harper College.

Plays

  • guncle
    vanya has worked at the same job for years. so has everyone else. he is miserable. just like everyone else. he finds small joys in drinking, screaming at his mother, hating everyone, and trying to seduce the doctor.
  • no. 5

    It’s almost opening day and C is behind schedule. They are malfunctioning, forgetting lines, and losing their sight. As pressure builds in this hall of presidents-like exhibit from the totalitarian government that controls this propaganda-fueled theme park, C prepares for a new performance cycle. But for C, an antique in a modern world, what once was simple and routine has become difficult.
    ...

    It’s almost opening day and C is behind schedule. They are malfunctioning, forgetting lines, and losing their sight. As pressure builds in this hall of presidents-like exhibit from the totalitarian government that controls this propaganda-fueled theme park, C prepares for a new performance cycle. But for C, an antique in a modern world, what once was simple and routine has become difficult.

    The newly appointed strict supervisor of the park demands progress and assigns a new mechanic to work with the performance robot. The mechanic struggles to keep the rehearsal on track while C’s outdated systems prove inadequate. As the mechanic explores C’s antiquated wiring, C reveals a patch of rogue programming that was installed by their previous mechanic that allows for far-advanced robotic emotion. With the threat of being replaced by a new model, C and the mechanic bond over their feelings, what it’s like (and means) to be alive, and how their world has changed outside the park; it’s become violent, unpredictable, and nothing like C’s programmed memories. C comes to terms with their termination and asks the mechanic to help them experience one last feeling: dying.
  • (a love story)
    It starts off as a completely normal day in this small town. Then somebody falls in love. And everything falls apart. Two school friends, Greg and David slowly realize that maybe they just might be in love. Emily begins having feelings for the school bully, Richard, who has his own plants that are fawning over him. And single parents Anne and Jack commiserate their terrible lives together and hope that love can make it better.
  • boy
    Tad cleans Howard’s apartment for money. And he does it in his underwear. It’s a business
    arrangement. The two take turns pushing boundaries on their client/business relationship.
    Conversations (that seem to always land within their age gape) allows the two to confess their fears of
    growing old, dying, and the importance of being important.
  • business
    Due to weather, Masha is stranded in an Orlanda hotel for a few more days than an originally planed business trip. A usual at the hotel, Cassie, greets her with hospitality and a little too much comfort. As the two develop a friendship, they begin to share more than intended as they move from strangers to something else.
  • Space
    Drew and Emily just got married and moved to the moon. They try to navigate their new home and each other. All the while their old lives loom in the distance.
  • And Then Something Happened
    Ruth and David decide to end things just as the world decides to end as well. David has been having a secret love affair with Rachel, and Ruth has found solace in the stoner neighbor, Chad. Entirely by accident, the couples flip flop lovers as they try and find safety as the world crumbles around them... and a gigantic, corporate monster is chasing them to the end of the world. What is possibly even more...
    Ruth and David decide to end things just as the world decides to end as well. David has been having a secret love affair with Rachel, and Ruth has found solace in the stoner neighbor, Chad. Entirely by accident, the couples flip flop lovers as they try and find safety as the world crumbles around them... and a gigantic, corporate monster is chasing them to the end of the world. What is possibly even more terrifying than the end of the world? Being told by a dinosaur skill that you are the ones that need to save it.
  • king oedipus
    Oedipus was cursed from the moment of his birth. Every choice, no matter how logical or passionate, led him closer and closer to fulfilling his prophecy. In this adaptation, we examine the choices and motives of Oedipus and his loves ones. No matter your curse, it's tough sometimes being trying to be a good person.

    (There is a lot of room to double and really make this piece your own. It...
    Oedipus was cursed from the moment of his birth. Every choice, no matter how logical or passionate, led him closer and closer to fulfilling his prophecy. In this adaptation, we examine the choices and motives of Oedipus and his loves ones. No matter your curse, it's tough sometimes being trying to be a good person.

    (There is a lot of room to double and really make this piece your own. It requires at least six actors, but can be done with a larger cast. It just depends on doubling.)
  • Lacy and Ashley Live in a Trailer Now
    Lacy and Ashley finally have a plan to get out of the trailer they’ve been occupying for the past several years. An old friend from high school, Jimmy, returns to their stomping grounds to rekindle their friendship and start his life over again. The presence of Jimmy and his baggage adds stress to the lives of Lacy and Ashley, but provides a doting Kevin with a hopeful future. The four end up devising a new...
    Lacy and Ashley finally have a plan to get out of the trailer they’ve been occupying for the past several years. An old friend from high school, Jimmy, returns to their stomping grounds to rekindle their friendship and start his life over again. The presence of Jimmy and his baggage adds stress to the lives of Lacy and Ashley, but provides a doting Kevin with a hopeful future. The four end up devising a new plan that will help everyone get what they want. But do we ever really know what we want?
  • The Day We Fell in Love
    Rebecca, who doesn't believe in love, finds herself doting over the next door neighbor... as does her little brother. These young children in love on the precipice of puberty try and figure out what it means to give yourself to someone. And Rebecca's Mom and Dad are no help at all.