Georgette Kelly

Georgette Kelly

Georgette Kelly is a playwright with one foot in Chicago and the other in New York. Her work has been produced across the country, and she has participated in numerous artistic residencies, including the 2018-2019 Goodman Playwrights Unit. Her play I CARRY YOUR HEART received the inaugural Hope on Stage Playwriting Award, accompanied by a rolling world premiere, and BALLAST was featured on The Kilroys List and...
Georgette Kelly is a playwright with one foot in Chicago and the other in New York. Her work has been produced across the country, and she has participated in numerous artistic residencies, including the 2018-2019 Goodman Playwrights Unit. Her play I CARRY YOUR HEART received the inaugural Hope on Stage Playwriting Award, accompanied by a rolling world premiere, and BALLAST was featured on The Kilroys List and received the Craig Noel Award for Outstanding New Play. Other plays include: NORTH STAR, PORTRAIT (HOLDING A MIRROR), FAITH IN A FALLEN WORLD, IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE, F*CK LA VIE D’ARTISTE, HOW TO HERO, and an adaptation of Jeanette Winterson’s LIGHTHOUSEKEEPING. Georgette’s work has been developed with The Kennedy Center, The National New Play Network, The DC Source Festival, The Alliance Theatre, Diversionary Theatre, and Chicago’s DCASE. She is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and she has participated in residencies at the Tofte Lake Center, the National Winter Playwrights Retreat, and terraNOVA Groundbreakers Playwrights Group. She has been chosen as a finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, the Lark Playwrights Week, the Playwrights’ Center CORE Writer Program, the BPP Woodward/Newman Drama Award, the Stage Left Playwright Residency, and the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition. Georgette holds a B.A. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Hunter College, where she studied with Tina Howe, Arthur Kopit, and Mark Bly.

Plays

  • Ballast by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 6
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    Cast: 
    6–7
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: Transgender, spirituality + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: Transgender, spirituality, marriage, dreams
    (5W, 2M: including 1 trans woman and 1 trans man) What does it mean to love someone in a moment of great transition? Zoe dreams of flying—of escaping to new heights—while her wife, Grace, dreams of standing in a pulpit before a religious community that accepts her recent transition from male to female. 16-year-old Savannah dreams only of her first love, Xavier, who is coping with becoming a man. Meanwhile...
    (5W, 2M: including 1 trans woman and 1 trans man) What does it mean to love someone in a moment of great transition? Zoe dreams of flying—of escaping to new heights—while her wife, Grace, dreams of standing in a pulpit before a religious community that accepts her recent transition from male to female. 16-year-old Savannah dreams only of her first love, Xavier, who is coping with becoming a man. Meanwhile Xavier is haunted by the nightmares he sees staring back at him from the mirror. Ballast tells the story of two relationships between transgender and cisgender partners, exploring not only the way gender influences our relationships, but also how gender seeps into our spirituality, our dreams, and even our ability to take flight.
  • I Carry Your Heart by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: poetry, grief and healing + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: poetry, grief and healing, Morocco, organ donation, spirituality, mother and daughter
    (4W, 2M) Phoebe is a young poet, forever living in the shadow of her estranged mother’s literary acclaim. When her mother unexpectedly dies, however, Phoebe is left with two complicated legacies: donating her mother’s organs and reading her mother’s unpublished confessional journal. Meanwhile, Tess and her partner Lydia receive a late night phone call, informing them that a donor heart is available for Tess...
    (4W, 2M) Phoebe is a young poet, forever living in the shadow of her estranged mother’s literary acclaim. When her mother unexpectedly dies, however, Phoebe is left with two complicated legacies: donating her mother’s organs and reading her mother’s unpublished confessional journal. Meanwhile, Tess and her partner Lydia receive a late night phone call, informing them that a donor heart is available for Tess – good news, but news that has come far sooner than they were prepared for. As these two families form an unlikely connection, they struggle to understand the politics and poetics of organ donation—and they dare to hope that pieces of us can live on after great tragedy.
  • North Star by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    9
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: active shooter, camp + 1 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: active shooter, camp, folklore
    Summer in the north woods of Minnesota. The days are long. The stars are bright. But when it gets dark, it gets really dark—like when someone opens fire at camp. NORTH STAR is a new play that centers around an all-female group of campers and counselors coping with violence that leaves them utterly vulnerable. At the crux of this play is the question: what happens when social contracts are broken, when gun...
    Summer in the north woods of Minnesota. The days are long. The stars are bright. But when it gets dark, it gets really dark—like when someone opens fire at camp. NORTH STAR is a new play that centers around an all-female group of campers and counselors coping with violence that leaves them utterly vulnerable. At the crux of this play is the question: what happens when social contracts are broken, when gun violence breaks through places that should feel safe, and when young people lose trust in the adults in their lives? Their stories are entwined with the French Canadian myth of La Chasse-Galerie, in which a group of voyageurs made a deal with the devil to journey home in a flying canoe in order to see their lost loved ones.
  • F*ck la vie d'artiste by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: black lives matter, France + 7 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: black lives matter, France, police, aspiring artists, race riot, Lesbian, Vincent Van Gogh, bilingual, Arab women
    (2W, 1M) France, 2005: Zenab is an aspiring French-Moroccan artist, stuck giving tours of the room where Vincent Van Gogh died. When Vincent’s ghost begins to speak to her, she finds herself torn between her art and Avery, the American woman she’s fallen in love with. Meanwhile, race riots explode near Paris after two youths of color are killed in a police chase. Zenab joins the riots, easel in hand, to...
    (2W, 1M) France, 2005: Zenab is an aspiring French-Moroccan artist, stuck giving tours of the room where Vincent Van Gogh died. When Vincent’s ghost begins to speak to her, she finds herself torn between her art and Avery, the American woman she’s fallen in love with. Meanwhile, race riots explode near Paris after two youths of color are killed in a police chase. Zenab joins the riots, easel in hand, to paint her own version of France—one that digs deeper than the postcard-perfect veneer sold to tourists. Based on the true story of Bouna Traoré, 15 and Zyed Benna, 17, whose deaths inspired weeks of sustained rioting across France, this play asks the question: what does it mean when your own country sees you as an outsider? [For perusal script, please contact author].
  • Portrait (holding a mirror) by Georgette Kelly
    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: biography, drama + 3 more
    Genre: biography, drama, experimental, period, political
    At a time when women were largely excluded from the art world, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun rose to fame by painting Queen Marie-Antoinette—and crafting her image for public consumption. But as the French Revolution begins, Vigée Le Brun is forced into exile with her daughter, on a 13-year artistic odyssey across Europe and Russia. In a poetic riff on women’s bodies against the backdrop of a bloody...
    At a time when women were largely excluded from the art world, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun rose to fame by painting Queen Marie-Antoinette—and crafting her image for public consumption. But as the French Revolution begins, Vigée Le Brun is forced into exile with her daughter, on a 13-year artistic odyssey across Europe and Russia. In a poetic riff on women’s bodies against the backdrop of a bloody revolution, this play follows a mother and daughter on their journey from fame to infamy. (Commission: Goodman Theatre Playwrights Unit. Currently in development.)
  • In the Belly of the Whale, or the Jonah Play by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: adaptation, adventure + 3 more
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    Keyword: flood, whales + 5 more
    Genre: adaptation, adventure, dark comedy, drama, experimental
    Keyword: flood, whales, Jonah, global warming, parrot, puppets, sculpture
    (3W, 2M) Astrid is a sculptor. Domino is a hoarder. Jona is a writer. Calliope is a parrot. They all live together—separately—in a Manhattan studio apartment building. When it begins to rain…and rain…and rain…they pile into one of Astrid’s sculptures and float out to sea. The adventure that ensues tests their endurance, as they lose one world and create another in the belly of a whale. This new take on...
    (3W, 2M) Astrid is a sculptor. Domino is a hoarder. Jona is a writer. Calliope is a parrot. They all live together—separately—in a Manhattan studio apartment building. When it begins to rain…and rain…and rain…they pile into one of Astrid’s sculptures and float out to sea. The adventure that ensues tests their endurance, as they lose one world and create another in the belly of a whale. This new take on the biblical story of Jonah asks the question: What does it mean to be swallowed, by a great fish? By a city? By yourself?
  • Faith in a Fallen World by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: creationism, pregnancy + 5 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: creationism, pregnancy, coming of age, Fathers and Daughters, dinosaurs, Interfaith relationships, Islamophobia
    Bethany is the only daughter of a charismatic creationist preacher who has founded The Museum of God’s Creation in rural Kentucky. When Bethany returns home from her first year in a liberal arts college, she finds herself working retail in the museum’s gift shop as her father preps for a televised debate with Rita Anning, a famed evolution scientist. The morning before the debate, Bethany’s atheist boyfriend...
    Bethany is the only daughter of a charismatic creationist preacher who has founded The Museum of God’s Creation in rural Kentucky. When Bethany returns home from her first year in a liberal arts college, she finds herself working retail in the museum’s gift shop as her father preps for a televised debate with Rita Anning, a famed evolution scientist. The morning before the debate, Bethany’s atheist boyfriend shows up and they must juggle two worlds and a big secret. Meanwhile, Bethany discovers a six-year-old girl who has been living in the museum and who promises to deliver a miracle. {Script currently in process--for a perusal copy please get in touch via contact info!}
  • how to hero, or the subway play by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    6–15
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    Genre: adaptation, adventure + 4 more
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    Keyword: Greek mythology, children + 3 more
    Genre: adaptation, adventure, drama, fantasy, movement/physical, young audiences
    Keyword: Greek mythology, children, grief and healing, coming of age, ensemble
    (Flexible Casting or 2W, 2M, and 3W/M) Webster is 11, and he has a lot of questions: Why are the grown-ups building a new subway tunnel along Second Avenue? Why won’t his sister Rory stop stuttering? Why have all the words disappeared from his copy of Bulfinch’s Greek and Roman Mythology? And most importantly: is it still possible to visit the King of the Underworld to rescue a lost thing, for example, a...
    (Flexible Casting or 2W, 2M, and 3W/M) Webster is 11, and he has a lot of questions: Why are the grown-ups building a new subway tunnel along Second Avenue? Why won’t his sister Rory stop stuttering? Why have all the words disappeared from his copy of Bulfinch’s Greek and Roman Mythology? And most importantly: is it still possible to visit the King of the Underworld to rescue a lost thing, for example, a father? Webster, Rory, and their friend Madison try to answer these questions when they sneak into the new subway tunnel on a quest to find their lost words and their lost father. On the way, they meet a strange cast of characters (and rats!) who live under the streets of Manhattan.
  • Farewell Opportunity by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: adventure, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: illness, Mars rovers + 3 more
    Genre: adventure, drama, young audiences
    Keyword: illness, Mars rovers, outer space, female scientist, Hope
    (4W, TYA) In spring 2018, Halley visits the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and meets the Opportunity Mars rover. The two have something in common: a curious spirit and a shortened life-expectancy. Halley and the NASA scientist in charge of the Mars mission find themselves transformed by an unlikely friendship—with each other, and with a rolling robot millions of miles away. With poetic language and magical realism,...
    (4W, TYA) In spring 2018, Halley visits the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and meets the Opportunity Mars rover. The two have something in common: a curious spirit and a shortened life-expectancy. Halley and the NASA scientist in charge of the Mars mission find themselves transformed by an unlikely friendship—with each other, and with a rolling robot millions of miles away. With poetic language and magical realism, Farewell Opportunity explores the question “How do you keep on roving when you—or someone you love—faces a dust storm that threatens to block out the sun?”
  • Lighthousekeeping by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    8–15
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    Genre: adaptation, drama
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    Keyword: Jeanette Winterson, lighthouse + 3 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama
    Keyword: Jeanette Winterson, lighthouse, adoption, storytelling, Jekyll and Hyde
    (Flexible Cast Size or 4W, 4M) Adapted from the novel by Jeanette Winterson. Silver, a young woman twice flung from home, learns to tell herself like a story, piecing together the disparate events that make up her life and connect her with those who came before her. While examining the structures we use to interpret our experiences, this epic journey of love, longing, and light explores the gambles and gifts...
    (Flexible Cast Size or 4W, 4M) Adapted from the novel by Jeanette Winterson. Silver, a young woman twice flung from home, learns to tell herself like a story, piecing together the disparate events that make up her life and connect her with those who came before her. While examining the structures we use to interpret our experiences, this epic journey of love, longing, and light explores the gambles and gifts of choosing change from one life to the next.
  • Fragile Filigree Love by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: queer, generations + 3 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: queer, generations, women, grandmother/granddaughter relationship, feminist
    10-minute play: (2W) A grandmother and granddaughter who have never met grapple with dreams, jealousy, and what it means to live in the future. This play was written in response to the 2016 election for the Chicago Future is Female festival.
  • Fresh Timber / Frozen Time by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2–4
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    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama
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    Keyword: History, Chicago + 4 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama
    Keyword: History, Chicago, Germany World War II, journalists, Immigrants, immigration
    10-minute play: (3M, 1W) On the brink of Germany's surrender in May 1945, an elderly Chicago immigrant couple celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. An ocean away, 2 journalists hope to leave a legacy that will bridge the gap between continents.
  • Skylla & Kharybdis by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: adaptation, drama
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    Keyword: Greek mythology, queer + 3 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama
    Keyword: Greek mythology, queer, love triangle, monster, sexuality
    10-minute Play: (2W, 1M) A monster, a whirlpool, and a hero with too many notches on his belt. An epic love triangle retold from a queer perspective, this 10-minute play asks the question: how do we become hideous in love?
  • Help Wanted. Must Tolerate Dust. by Georgette Kelly
    Cast: 
    3–4
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: magical queeralism, magical realism + 5 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: magical queeralism, magical realism, generations, queer, Transgender, grief, magic
    10-minute play: (2W, 1 gender neutral, 1 non-binary) A magical meditation on queer generations. Local kids are hired to help clear out the house after a beloved older gay man has passed. Dust rains down, and love bubbles up.
  • Triptych by Georgette Kelly
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    1–4
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: PTSD, combat veterans + 3 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: PTSD, combat veterans, Disabled Veterans, storytelling, loss
    10-minute play: (flexible 1-2M, 1-2W) If you had one big story to tell—say, the story of how you lost your leg—how would you tell it to your granddaughter? Or to your drinking buddy? Or to God? Triptych centers around John, a Vietnam vet who tells his big story over, and over, and over...until he is left alone at the kitchen table, trapped inside his own history.