Melanie Coffey

Melanie Coffey

Melanie Coffey is a playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker. Growing up on the Connecticut coast and earning an Honors BFA in Film in New York, she currently resides in Chicago, where she recently earned her MFA at Northwestern University in their Writing for Screen and Stage program.
Her work in theater, television and film has been performed, read and/or screened in NYC, Evanston, Chicago, San Diego,...
Melanie Coffey is a playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker. Growing up on the Connecticut coast and earning an Honors BFA in Film in New York, she currently resides in Chicago, where she recently earned her MFA at Northwestern University in their Writing for Screen and Stage program.
Her work in theater, television and film has been performed, read and/or screened in NYC, Evanston, Chicago, San Diego, LA, Durham, North Carolina, Mystic, Connecticut, Edinburgh, Scotland and London, England. She is a member of the Chicago Dramatists Guild, the Playwrights' Center.

Plays

  • Deserted
    An Americana play for the new American West.

    Jodie and Emma have won a large amount of soil to start biodynamic farming, grow prairie grasses and native plants and a few fresh vegetables for themselves. But growing roots in a desertified environment has never been easy - especially when the Neighbor keeps sneaking over and eating the soil.
  • She Can Declare a Hurricane
    1860s, coastal Connecticut. Marisha and Ginny are completely in love, though secretly. When Ginny begs Marisha to run away with her, Marisha asks for more time, for patience and promises one day they will do it.
    But Ginny is tired of waiting. And then a hurricane eats at the coast and Ginny is counted as one of the dead. Inconsolable, Marisha stalks the dark beaches looking for her, lantern held high,...
    1860s, coastal Connecticut. Marisha and Ginny are completely in love, though secretly. When Ginny begs Marisha to run away with her, Marisha asks for more time, for patience and promises one day they will do it.
    But Ginny is tired of waiting. And then a hurricane eats at the coast and Ginny is counted as one of the dead. Inconsolable, Marisha stalks the dark beaches looking for her, lantern held high, ethereal like a furious ghost with nothing to lose.
  • If This is the End
    Burnt out doesn’t even cover it, Keeley is a pile of ash. She wants to sleep, wants to quit, wants to blame anyone but herself. And then the moon falls to earth as a beautiful, destructive woman and everything changes. Suddenly a white flag appears - now that the planet has tilted on its axis and the end of the world is in mere days.
  • Time is a Color and the Color is Blue
    Whittaker has been searching for the oldest cave paintings on record for years and finally the glaciologist has found them! And then she gets snowed in.

    While her tiny team waits out the storm in their lab, Whittaker begins to spiral, her memories and guilt melding and folding in on itself just as pressurized ice, thousands of feet below the surface does. Sensitive memories come to the forefront...
    Whittaker has been searching for the oldest cave paintings on record for years and finally the glaciologist has found them! And then she gets snowed in.

    While her tiny team waits out the storm in their lab, Whittaker begins to spiral, her memories and guilt melding and folding in on itself just as pressurized ice, thousands of feet below the surface does. Sensitive memories come to the forefront and snap and crack as Whittaker works to figure out how to apologize to her mother, how to let go of her guilt, how to ask forgiveness from the Earth and how to get out of the cave. Falling back on the safety of her lectures on ice to keep her calm, and talking to friends and family in her head, Whittaker questions if she even wants to leave the cave.
  • To You & Me & the Ocean
    Saoirse and Lore spend their last afternoon together, drinking ouzo from tea cups and watching the ocean, nostalgic for a time before the sun was too hot, travel was normal and going to California wasn’t a death sentence.
  • The Coming Out Play
    Lucy Moran is on her way to her parents’ house to tell them that she is not only bisexual but she is going to propose to her girlfriend tonight. Afraid of how her very traditional parents will react, Lucy looks for help and inspiration from gay and bisexual women throughout history, gaining the confidence to leave the coffee shop and knock on her parents’ door.
  • Today/Tonight/Soon
    In the far future, a group of women have spent their lives on an island waiting for the last man on earth - the Rowboat Man - to row to shore and help restart the human race. After the desperate urgings from their mother however, Lorelei and Eloise must steal the man's boat and escape the island and their duty. Waiting on the beach, the two question their roles as women, reproductive rights and the...
    In the far future, a group of women have spent their lives on an island waiting for the last man on earth - the Rowboat Man - to row to shore and help restart the human race. After the desperate urgings from their mother however, Lorelei and Eloise must steal the man's boat and escape the island and their duty. Waiting on the beach, the two question their roles as women, reproductive rights and the consequences of climate change.
    A mixture of Regency romance and feminist dystopia, the play takes place an hour before the sun sets, when the water is calm and the sky is pink and blue.
  • Easy as Pie
    May Washington throws a rock at what was meant to be a peaceful protest and smashes a window. Suddenly the weight crushing her lungs lifts just for a moment and she is able to breathe deeply. Yearning to feel this sense of peace once more, May becomes more violent - punching the man who was screaming at her for being a murderer with his pro-life signs in hand - and when the presidential election elects the...
    May Washington throws a rock at what was meant to be a peaceful protest and smashes a window. Suddenly the weight crushing her lungs lifts just for a moment and she is able to breathe deeply. Yearning to feel this sense of peace once more, May becomes more violent - punching the man who was screaming at her for being a murderer with his pro-life signs in hand - and when the presidential election elects the first woman vice president, May decides it’s time to commit treason and murder the president.

    A full length play, set in the not-so-distant future, Easy as Pie delves into the exploration of sexism in politics, the idea of pro-choice - whether that’s abortion or just generally giving people the option to make their own decisions - and the affects and consequences of desperation.
  • Pros and Cons of Leaving Him at the Altar
    After leaving Jackson at the altar, Elsie meets the self-described has-been sculptor, Luke, at a bar. The two drink themselves into a dreamy summer romance while Elsie contemplates love, marriage and living up to the fairytale couple her parents are.
  • Come When I Call
    Alvera Wilkes, a successful woman in her mid-thirties, has decided that she wants to have a baby through intracervical insemination. When her best friend, Robin, offers up her husband, Josh, to be the sperm donor, friendships and relationships jettison into a complicated mess. With rash decisions made and Josh’s baby on the way, the three realize the complexities that come with baby-making and how this...
    Alvera Wilkes, a successful woman in her mid-thirties, has decided that she wants to have a baby through intracervical insemination. When her best friend, Robin, offers up her husband, Josh, to be the sperm donor, friendships and relationships jettison into a complicated mess. With rash decisions made and Josh’s baby on the way, the three realize the complexities that come with baby-making and how this supposedly harmless act can change everything.
  • Detached
    A family comes together to say goodbye to their father/husband one last time before they take him off of life-support. It doesn't go as planned.
  • Anne and Henry: a love story
    Henry VIII comes to Anne Boleyn's chamber just minutes before the guards come to take her away to the Tower.