Morris McLennan

Morris McLennan

Morris McLennan is a writer from Chicago, IL. He holds a BFA in Playwriting from DePaul University. He is the recipient of the Zach Helm Endowed Playwriting Scholarship, the Bundschu Award, the DeGroot Foundation Writer of Note award, a Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Individual Artist Project grant, a Robert Chelsey/ Victor Bumbalo Foundation Award, and a Helene Wurlitzer Foundation...
Morris McLennan is a writer from Chicago, IL. He holds a BFA in Playwriting from DePaul University. He is the recipient of the Zach Helm Endowed Playwriting Scholarship, the Bundschu Award, the DeGroot Foundation Writer of Note award, a Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Individual Artist Project grant, a Robert Chelsey/ Victor Bumbalo Foundation Award, and a Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Residency. His plays have been workshopped with the support of DePaul University, King’s College, Shattered Globe Theatre, DCASE, and Pocket Theatre VR. His writing has appeared in Adelaide, underscore_magazine, and more. You can purchase his new poetry chapbook, Poems for Employees, from Bottlecap Press. You can view his work at morrismclennan.net.

Plays

  • The Psychonauts by Morris McLennan
    Cast: 
    3–4
    ·
    Genre: drama, romantic comedy
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    Keyword: Drugs, addiction + 5 more
    Genre: drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Drugs, addiction, Mental Health, LGBTQ+, trans identity, queer relationships, polyamory
    Michael and Devin meet on a cruise ship. Their goal: ten days of debauchery. They snort and smoke and sleep together under the pretense that they'll never see each other again. But when Devin starts his first day of work at the same law firm as Michael, they're going to need to figure out how to deal with each other as professionals, even maybe friends. They figure out that they have more in common...
    Michael and Devin meet on a cruise ship. Their goal: ten days of debauchery. They snort and smoke and sleep together under the pretense that they'll never see each other again. But when Devin starts his first day of work at the same law firm as Michael, they're going to need to figure out how to deal with each other as professionals, even maybe friends. They figure out that they have more in common than not, and can no longer deny wanting to be in each others' lives. But Michael has been hiding everything from his wife, and needs to come clean before they can figure out how to be together. The play ends with three adults unraveling all the secrets and deciding to try and love one another regardless.
  • Crossing by Morris McLennan
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: queer, friendship
    Genre: adventure, comedy, drama
    Keyword: queer, friendship
    Stan and Parker meet at work. This year at a National Park in a few miles south of the Canadian border, next year on the train to a ski resort, next year in another ghost town in the middle of nowhere. As seasonal tourism staff, they’re completely isolated from the American queer community. Years pass and they try to figure out how to have community in transient spaces. Crossing is a play about queer friendship...
    Stan and Parker meet at work. This year at a National Park in a few miles south of the Canadian border, next year on the train to a ski resort, next year in another ghost town in the middle of nowhere. As seasonal tourism staff, they’re completely isolated from the American queer community. Years pass and they try to figure out how to have community in transient spaces. Crossing is a play about queer friendship and the barriers we create for ourselves when we’re afraid of being understood.
  • Meeting Points by Morris McLennan
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: contains LGBTQ characters, climate apocalypse + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, political, romantic comedy, science fiction
    Keyword: contains LGBTQ characters, climate apocalypse, climate crisis, transgender characters, midwest, Chicago
    Meeting Points follows the lives of four queer twentysomethings living in Chicago in the near future. Their quest for fulfilling interpersonal relationships is disrupted by a climate apocalypse. At the end of the world, they find that connection is a survival need.
  • Hexafoil by Morris McLennan
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: witchcraft, halloween
    Genre: adventure, comedy, dark comedy, fable/folktale
    Keyword: witchcraft, halloween
    Brian meets most of the psychological requirements to be a serial killer. When he discovers an ability to bring back the dead, he goes on a wacky anti-killer adventure with his new undead not-quite-girlfriend. They meet up with some witches to try to figure out what's going on. And at the end of the day, they're right back where they started.
  • October by Morris McLennan
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: LGBTQ, love story + 1 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: LGBTQ, love story, happy ending for queer people
    A ten minute play about a closeted cisgender man and an out transgender man falling in love but not knowing how to talk about it. A silly surreal adventure told with moments of connection.
  • Going to Cape Elizabeth by Morris McLennan
    Cast: 
    4–6
    ·
    Genre: adventure, drama + 4 more
    Genre: adventure, drama, mystery/thriller, political, romantic comedy, science fiction
    Part Greek tragedy, part action movie, and part road trip rom-com, Going to Cape Elizabeth takes place a hundred years from now when most of America is a ghost town. But the military remains, and to keep up morale and prevent PTSD, they delete soldiers’ memories. Except one man is immune, and can remember all the horrible secrets of his country. The play follows his adventures through America and all of its ghosts.
  • Transit of Gemini by Morris McLennan
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: biography, experimental + 2 more
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    Keyword: science, genetics
    Genre: biography, experimental, radio drama, science fiction
    Keyword: science, genetics
    In 2018, He Jiankui used CRISPR to gene-edit a pair of unborn twin babies. Transit of Gemini follows the fictionalized lives of those babies, born with the ability to see into the future, if they choose to do so. Transit of Gemini was originally produced as a pandemic podcast musical and is undergoing rewrites to become a normal play.