Jack MacCarthy

Jack MacCarthy

Jack MacCarthy (he/they) is a non-binary writer and creatrix, currently making the transition from theatre to film and TV. They write funny, devastating stories about women and/or queer and/or trans people, all of whom are simultaneously sympathetic and destructive. The New York Times called his work "a lot of fun," and Kate Bornstein said it was "f*cking brilliant." Jack's plays have...
Jack MacCarthy (he/they) is a non-binary writer and creatrix, currently making the transition from theatre to film and TV. They write funny, devastating stories about women and/or queer and/or trans people, all of whom are simultaneously sympathetic and destructive. The New York Times called his work "a lot of fun," and Kate Bornstein said it was "f*cking brilliant." Jack's plays have been performed everywhere from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to the New York City subway and beyond. For eight years, Jack ran Caps Lock Theatre, an award-winning, often site-specific, scrappy af theater company in New York. Jack is a critically acclaimed YA novelist with Squad (published by FSG, 2019), which was a Washington Blade Springs Arts 2019 Book List Pick and Barnes & Noble Most Anticipated LGBTQAP YA Book of 2019 ("won me over" -NPR). He is also a proud birth mother; his true story of giving birth to a child he placed for adoption was the subject of an Amazon Original commission, "My Boy, Their Son," which was #1 in Adoption, as well as the award-winning solo show Baby Mama (“★★★★★” -Broadway Baby). They moved to Los Angeles just before the pandemic hit, where he lives with his cat Sophie. They are Communications Manager of The Outwords Archive, an LGBTQIA2S+ storytelling nonprofit, and he performs comedy on the internet with his Ruby sketch team, Sleepless. Get to know them at jackmaccarthy.com!

Plays

  • Honors Students
    Kora and Minnie are best friends. And honors students. And are plotting something involving a lot of money and a little blood. When their volatile relationship is threatened by Minnie’s friendship with awkward YouTube sensation Megan, all bets are off. In the tradition ofHeathers and The Virgin Suicides, Honors Students asks one question: Who will survive?
  • Magic Trick
    Bana, a beautiful paraplegic who everyone falls in love with, is missing. Eric, her (ex?) boyfriend, can’t find her. Clara, that burlesque dancer they almost had a threesome with, gets naked and won’t leave his apartment. And just when he thinks it might all be over, Eric finally finds Bana…on the burlesque stage. Magic Trick is a nonlinear story of heartbreak and burlesque, jumping time in the tradition of...
    Bana, a beautiful paraplegic who everyone falls in love with, is missing. Eric, her (ex?) boyfriend, can’t find her. Clara, that burlesque dancer they almost had a threesome with, gets naked and won’t leave his apartment. And just when he thinks it might all be over, Eric finally finds Bana…on the burlesque stage. Magic Trick is a nonlinear story of heartbreak and burlesque, jumping time in the tradition of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Last Five Years. With characters that are complicated, funny, and above all human, this is a portrait of people figuring out what it means to be in love while also staying true to oneself.
  • Baby Mama: One Woman's Quest to Give Her Child to Gay People
    Baby Mama tracks one birth mother's true adoption journey, from conception to placement with the gay couple of her dreams--while still living her life, dating, and attending the occasional orgy. From adoption agencies to (ahem) discharge, from burlesque to good-byes, this up-close-and-personal night of storytelling is everything about those ten months you ever wanted to know (and probably plenty that you didn't). Bring hankies.
  • The All-American Genderf*ck Cabaret
    Eight characters’ sexy and surprising journeys from stereotypes to Human Beings, facilitated by an androgynous MC intent on their redemption. Hearts are broken, Pomeranians are purchased, the Pussies of America make their stand, and we discover that in a polarized world of pink versus blue, everyone deserves Technicolor.
  • The Foreplay Play
    A straight couple comes to a lesbian couple's apartment for dinner, drinks, and a foursome. Things do not go as planned.
  • Safeword
    Lisa and Damien have a young son together, but live separately. She’s left their child with a sitter and invited Damien over tonight without telling him why. When she tells him she wants to enact a rape fantasy together, he’s hesitant at first, but soon warms up to the idea. What begins as a kinkier “Who’s on First” (“Stop!” “Really?” “No, not really!”) gives way to a night of lust, trust, and excavated trauma—...
    Lisa and Damien have a young son together, but live separately. She’s left their child with a sitter and invited Damien over tonight without telling him why. When she tells him she wants to enact a rape fantasy together, he’s hesitant at first, but soon warms up to the idea. What begins as a kinkier “Who’s on First” (“Stop!” “Really?” “No, not really!”) gives way to a night of lust, trust, and excavated trauma—with devastating consequences.