Kate Black-Spence

Kate Black-Spence

For ten years I was a working actor in Chicago known primarily for my work with new plays. It turns out, when you surround yourself with talented playwrights for a decade and help them develop their work, you start to learn a thing or two... and you start to want to tell your own stories.

And thus, "Ghosts of Whitechapel" was born! My first play sold out nearly every night in workshop...
For ten years I was a working actor in Chicago known primarily for my work with new plays. It turns out, when you surround yourself with talented playwrights for a decade and help them develop their work, you start to learn a thing or two... and you start to want to tell your own stories.

And thus, "Ghosts of Whitechapel" was born! My first play sold out nearly every night in workshop performances at Prop Thtr's Rhinofest, and upon our closing performance we needed to add 20 extra chairs. Joining NPX feels like the next logical step to helping this play receive the world premiere production it deserves.

Plays

  • Ghosts of Whitechapel by Kate Black-Spence
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: women's stories, Toxic Masculinity + 8 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, period, political
    Keyword: women's stories, Toxic Masculinity, feminism, LGBTQ, full length, metoo, Murdered victims, Jack the Ripper, metatheatrical, saytheirnames
    Co-written by Chris Brickhouse, "Ghosts of Whitechapel" is a well-researched but fictionalized account of the five women who have been known in history only as "Jack the Ripper's victims." Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Catherine Eddowes, Elizabeth Stride and Mary Jane Kelly are ready to speak from beyond the grave and ask you to consider the lives they led instead of simply the deaths...
    Co-written by Chris Brickhouse, "Ghosts of Whitechapel" is a well-researched but fictionalized account of the five women who have been known in history only as "Jack the Ripper's victims." Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Catherine Eddowes, Elizabeth Stride and Mary Jane Kelly are ready to speak from beyond the grave and ask you to consider the lives they led instead of simply the deaths they suffered.

    www.ghostsofwhitechapel.weebly.com
  • Static Space by Kate Black-Spence
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: LGBTQ, bisexuality + 5 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, science fiction
    Keyword: LGBTQ, bisexuality, human connection, isolation, Discovering of Sexual Identity, PTSD, no physical contact required
    For Jamie, life is a quiet business in her Indiana home. For Noa, it's a two year solo mission orbiting the earth. When a radio malfunctions against all odds, can these two women find a meaningful human connection, even though they're worlds apart?

    This has been adapted to a 30 minute short film with the same title, produced by Glass City Films, which is presently touring film...
    For Jamie, life is a quiet business in her Indiana home. For Noa, it's a two year solo mission orbiting the earth. When a radio malfunctions against all odds, can these two women find a meaningful human connection, even though they're worlds apart?

    This has been adapted to a 30 minute short film with the same title, produced by Glass City Films, which is presently touring film festivals around the world including multiple festivals in the US, Australia and Canada.
  • Enter Gretta by Kate Black-Spence
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: imagining worlds, feminism + 3 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, drama, mystery/thriller, tragedy
    Keyword: imagining worlds, feminism, capitalism, novelist, the power of storytelling
    MB Hollis has an optics problem. Her readers believe she's a man who hates women based on the novels she's been writing for the last fifteen years. Enter Gretta: A strong woman character to turn her next novel upside down, and with it, Margaret's entire life. While the worlds of fiction and reality intertwine in any writer's mind, Margaret begins to wonder who is in control of hers.
  • Our Grass is Always Greener by Kate Black-Spence
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: American politics, neighborhood association + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, farce, political, satire, zoom
    Keyword: American politics, neighborhood association, neighborhood, abuse of power, metaphor
    A Neighborhood Association meeting on Zoom goes awry when a vote to remove a tree turns into rehashing old resentments and secrets are revealed. A farcical examination of those hungry for power and the politics of politics.
  • What of Tomorrow? by Kate Black-Spence
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, science fiction
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    Keyword: Social distancing, Siri + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, science fiction
    Keyword: Social distancing, Siri, artificial intelligence, virus, robot takeover, loneliness and isolation, absurd comedy
    A ten-minute play: When Siri takes human form and foretells of humanity's destruction, no one is less equipped to handle the news than Helena, a daddy's girl who already struggles to cope with everyday life. This play asks what social distancing means for the entities who've already been pushed to society's fringes.
  • Ghosts of Whitechapel: The Zoom play by Kate Black-Spence
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, dark comedy + 5 more
    ·
    Keyword: women's stories, Toxic Masculinity + 8 more
    Genre: adaptation, dark comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, period, tragedy, zoom
    Keyword: women's stories, Toxic Masculinity, feminism, LGBTQ, full length, metoo, Murdered victims, Jack the Ripper, metatheatrical, saytheirnames
    "Ghosts of Whitechapel: The Zoom play" is a Zoom-adaptation of the well-received, "Ghosts of Whitechapel" cowritten by myself and Chris Brickhouse. This adaptation is made specifically for safe performances over a digital platform where each actor is in isolation.

    "Ghosts of Whitechapel" is a well-researched but fictionalized account of the five women who have been...
    "Ghosts of Whitechapel: The Zoom play" is a Zoom-adaptation of the well-received, "Ghosts of Whitechapel" cowritten by myself and Chris Brickhouse. This adaptation is made specifically for safe performances over a digital platform where each actor is in isolation.

    "Ghosts of Whitechapel" is a well-researched but fictionalized account of the five women who have been known in history only as "Jack the Ripper's victims." Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Catherine Eddowes, Elizabeth Stride and Mary Jane Kelly are ready to speak from beyond the grave and ask you to consider the lives they led instead of simply the deaths they suffered.
  • Away From The Shadows by Kate Black-Spence
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: funeral, a mother's love + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, tragedy
    Keyword: funeral, a mother's love, daughter-father relationship, daughter-mother relationship, the emotional burden of mediocre parenting, aging, children of divorce, divorce
    A ten-minute play: When Kelly comes home to her mom in time for her father's funeral, questions arise about life, death, and all the mini-deaths we suffer in between. This short play examines what the death of a parent looks like for adult children of divorce, how we express love, how we choose to be loved, and what we owe to those who love us.
  • The Myth of Motherhood by Kate Black-Spence
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    4–6
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    Genre: drama, political
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    Keyword: postpartum depression, hysteria + 4 more
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: postpartum depression, hysteria, female agency, motherhood, societal pressure, expectations
    An examination of the expectations society sets around women and motherhood, and what it means to have regrets as a new mother.