Matthew Carpenter

Matthew Carpenter

Matthew Carpenter (age 23) is an emerging Chicago writer whose plays received five staged readings and one full production in the last five years. In school, Carpenter received a BFA in playwriting but also trained as a director, performer, designer, and technician involving him in the production of over forty performances, nine of which he held major titles such as assistant director, playwright, divisor, etc...
Matthew Carpenter (age 23) is an emerging Chicago writer whose plays received five staged readings and one full production in the last five years. In school, Carpenter received a BFA in playwriting but also trained as a director, performer, designer, and technician involving him in the production of over forty performances, nine of which he held major titles such as assistant director, playwright, divisor, etc. Carpenter grew in the conservatory setting, with intensive programming focused on writers’ room and workshop skills. As a stagehand Carpenter has worked professionally behind the scenes for over five years and his skills extend into woodwork, rigging, lighting, and sound. As an artist Carpenter thrives in collaborative projects and prefers works that are civically minded. Not only do all of his plays confront themes of class and economic struggle but as a student, he founded several political activist groups to combat injustice on campus and he continues to work remotely with community leaders to help support his hometown city of Dubuque Iowa.

Plays

  • Sundown
    How long do we stay independent in a world that prides itself on rugged individualism? Set in the river city, Dubuque Iowa, Sundown is a diary of what it’s like to die in the rural U.S.A. Follow Miriam and her sons as they fight for their lives, wading through the untethering freefall that is dementia.
  • Underbelly
    Underbelly takes its audience on a journey through the unrelenting cycle of lost love in the face of poverty. After experiencing sex for the first time a young woman, Alex discovers she is pregnant at sixteen. As her relationship is caught in the turbulence of abortion, and she and her significant other Johnny flee to the city, we glimpse into the family life Johnny is leaving behind in ruin. Can love survive...
    Underbelly takes its audience on a journey through the unrelenting cycle of lost love in the face of poverty. After experiencing sex for the first time a young woman, Alex discovers she is pregnant at sixteen. As her relationship is caught in the turbulence of abortion, and she and her significant other Johnny flee to the city, we glimpse into the family life Johnny is leaving behind in ruin. Can love survive this kind of strife? Can Johnny’s family survive without his support? Will Alex and Johnny live happily together or will Alex have to break off and meet life on its own terms, alone?
  • Heart (part I)
    In a small rural town, corporate influence is growing and local business is on its way out. Maxwell Heart, a political theorist teams up with a recently unemployed contractor, Brian. Together they organize a city-wide strike to fight back, but with Max’s health declining while the town sits on the brink of political crisis, Brian takes matters into his own hands. In Heart, working-class heroes take on the B.I.G...
    In a small rural town, corporate influence is growing and local business is on its way out. Maxwell Heart, a political theorist teams up with a recently unemployed contractor, Brian. Together they organize a city-wide strike to fight back, but with Max’s health declining while the town sits on the brink of political crisis, Brian takes matters into his own hands. In Heart, working-class heroes take on the B.I.G. corporations and the most unlikely characters take to the streets risking everything.
  • A Sunset (not particular from any other sunset)
    In a world where faith in yourself and your work is all a person can believe, people across the world dig into the earth. They create a grave, a place to set the sun one last time. Afraid of what might come next in the dark, two men hold on to one another while they wade into an uncertain future, hoping for something better.