Michael Yates Crowley

You're invited to the first meeting of the Oak Street Block Association. Ryan wants a dog run, Aneta wants a dog ban, Elena wants flowers, George wants money. In this show, the audience becomes part of the community, voting on issues and deciding who's in charge. Taking place over email, cell phone videos, Zoom, and one stormy night in a local Church basement, Block Association Project is about what makes a community, and what breaks it.

Sarah Jane is taking her first vacation in years, and you’ve been hired to take her place. TEMPING, the strange and comic tale of an employee’s inner life, is performed for an audience of one by a Windows PC, a corporate phone, a laser printer, and the Microsoft Office Suite. In this interactive show, you’ll update client records, receive faxes, and eavesdrop on intra-office romance as you discover the secrets of your new employer. Sit down, send an email, and experience a meditation on life and death between the cells of an Excel spreadsheet.

One fine day in 753 B.C., a soldier carried off a girl from the next town over and the Roman Empire was born. Twenty five hundred years later, the Springfield High Romans are getting ready for the Homecoming Dance. This is the story of girls and boys, women and men, Wikipedia and the evening news. This is the story of Grace B Matthias (the B doesn’t stand for anything, she just likes the letter). Like the girls in Steubenville, Ohio and Maryville, Missouri and other villes we don’t hear about, Grace was raped. This is the story of what happens next.

GUNPLAY: A LOVE STORY is about kids and guns. It follows the teenage survivors of a school shooting as they take part in a Hollywood remake of the tragedy. It's supposed to bring closure. But the logic of big budget movies takes over: the shooter becomes a monster, the English teacher is hiding an arsenal in the supply closet, and the victims end up cast as action movie heroes. Meanwhile the kids wrestle in private with their grief as the NRA moves into town, spreading the gospel of guns and asking: how much are we willing to pay to feel safe?

THE TOURISTS is about a group of American tourists who get trapped on an island in the Mediterranean after a ferry strike. Their dream vacation begins to unravel as they’re forced to stay in a hostel, scavenge for food, and endure each other’s company. During the long first night, too much wine is had, various ill-advised seductions are attempted, and a local dog begins telling stories. Meanwhile, in the background, increasingly violent austerity protests threaten to set the island on fire, which the Americans mistake for a wedding party.

An insurance executive’s wife dies, leaving a bizarre request: that her remains be left out for the birds to eat. The company spirals into bankruptcy while a strange and powerful woman circles, dropping black feathers in her wake… A play about capitalism, blood, and resurrection.

Evanston: A Rare Comedy begins with the disappearance of a teenage girl in deepest suburbia and ends when a meeting of the local Women's Book Club goes horribly awry. In between, a housewife dreams of Mexico, an economics professor has an affair with a check-out clerk at Whole Foods, and the financial crisis rages on. Inspired by the words of Psalm 137 and the best-seller "Eat, Pray, Love," Evanston: A Rare Comedy takes a look at Middle America and asks: how can we sing a song of joy in this strange land?