Jesse Hartley

Jesse Hartley

Jesse Hartley (He/Him) is a new works playwright currently based in Harlem New York. Jesse focuses on telling the stories he wished he had at different times in his life. Jesse's work explores different themes through a queer and feminist lens. When he's not writing Jess also enjoys performing, dramaturgy, intimacy coordination, and hanging out with their cats frog, and toad.

Plays

  • Follow Her Down
    Follow Her Down is an Absurdist Play that deals with the use of the word rape, are we allowed to throw it around? When should it be applied? Is it worth ruining someone's life over? The play follows Alice through a series of abstract, personal, and contrived conversations as she has to decide whether or not the word applies to her own life.
  • What Follows?
    Ella and Van have a series of conversations with each other about their breakup. They're both waiting for their dream girl, but Van has to realize that for him, it'll never be Ella.
  • Lifeline
    Maria, Zane, Piper, and Macie are grouped together to do a semester-long project on if soulmates exist for their freshman ethical reasoning class. None of them are confident soulmates do exist but Maria insists that they can’t just discredit something their professor asks them to research. Each of the kids is sure their research method is the best. Maria believes that a perfect system of going on as many dates...
    Maria, Zane, Piper, and Macie are grouped together to do a semester-long project on if soulmates exist for their freshman ethical reasoning class. None of them are confident soulmates do exist but Maria insists that they can’t just discredit something their professor asks them to research. Each of the kids is sure their research method is the best. Maria believes that a perfect system of going on as many dates as possible will allow her to find her soulmate, Zane believes committing to a girl out of a hat will help him find his soulmate, Piper believes she can make a soulmate using flowers, Macie believes she can lure her soulmate to her. None of them are entirely wrong but each seems to be very misguided.
  • Miss American Pie
    After Penny's best friend, Ashlyn dies in a protest. Penny must make sense of her own relationship with race and come to terms with how she has so often been a bystander.
  • Pride is Her Prejudice
    Liz Nadia Benson is an out and proud She/They Non-Binary Lesbian. Well in theory. That is to say, they've never exactly done the whole relationship thing. All of a sudden a chance encounter with a very closeted Darcy Williams sends Liz's entire world spinning. Who is this girl? Why is she able to make Liz feel so many things?

    Join Liz and her friends as they explore first love and...
    Liz Nadia Benson is an out and proud She/They Non-Binary Lesbian. Well in theory. That is to say, they've never exactly done the whole relationship thing. All of a sudden a chance encounter with a very closeted Darcy Williams sends Liz's entire world spinning. Who is this girl? Why is she able to make Liz feel so many things?

    Join Liz and her friends as they explore first love and identity with just a taste of toxic young lesbians.

    A Note On Pride: Pride is Her Prejudice for me represents a time in which zoom theatre was at its peak and we were all just learning what it meant to create art for this brand new medium. Pride opened doors for me that I never thought possible and opened up a new way of making theatre that I will always hold near and dear to my heart. That being said, I consider this play an unfinished product of its time. It was a play about trying things, learning who I was, and making the right friends to get me there. This isn’t a produceable play but rather a historic relic in my journey as a young artist.
  • What I Wish I Said
    Years after a rape allegation is published about football star, Flynn Daniels. Flynn meets with his accuser to try and tell his story.
  • January: a short series of unconnected/connected monologues
    Sometimes you take 3 years off of playwriting and then January happens.