Natalie Welber

Natalie Welber

Natalie is a Chicago-based playwright, poet, and actor. With degrees in Theatre and Religious Studies from Northwestern University, she loves writing about religious exploration, teenage angst, and outer space. When she's not doing that, she's weaving music and dance into adaptations of women artists' work from centuries gone by. She feels very strongly that realism does not exist in theatre! For...
Natalie is a Chicago-based playwright, poet, and actor. With degrees in Theatre and Religious Studies from Northwestern University, she loves writing about religious exploration, teenage angst, and outer space. When she's not doing that, she's weaving music and dance into adaptations of women artists' work from centuries gone by. She feels very strongly that realism does not exist in theatre! For more hot (tepid?) takes, you can go to nataliewelber.com :)

Plays

  • Banshee (a play with irish stepdancing) by Natalie Welber
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: coming-of-age, teenage girls + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, fable/folktale, faith-based, young audiences
    Keyword: coming-of-age, teenage girls, LGBTQ+, intersectional, Irish dance, competition, Celtic Mythology
    With the Irish dance world championships just weeks away, Shannon and her twin brother’s dance careers are on the line. Shannon’s only hope is to train with Ria, the dancer who stole the world title from her last year -- the dancer who’s since crept into Shannon’s every thought. As the girls’ relationship deepens, they’re forced to reckon with their identities, beliefs, and why they even want to dance. Weaving...
    With the Irish dance world championships just weeks away, Shannon and her twin brother’s dance careers are on the line. Shannon’s only hope is to train with Ria, the dancer who stole the world title from her last year -- the dancer who’s since crept into Shannon’s every thought. As the girls’ relationship deepens, they’re forced to reckon with their identities, beliefs, and why they even want to dance. Weaving together Celtic folklore, live music, and dance, Natalie Welber’s queer coming-of-age dramedy, BANSHEE, wrestles with the monumental question of growing up: who are you going to be, and what are you willing to lose to get there?
  • When She Went to Mantua by Natalie Welber
    Cast: 
    4–15
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, mystery/thriller + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: grief, Shakespeare + 7 more
    Genre: adaptation, mystery/thriller, tragedy
    Keyword: grief, Shakespeare, adaptation, climate anxiety, love, ghosts, revenge, vengeance, tragedy
    Lady and Lord’s daughter, Jules, is dead, and someone is going to pay. While attending grief counseling sessions, the parents discover that their counselor, Lawrence, had a hand in Jules’ death. They plot revenge, but off in Mantua, Jules is still alive. Probably. Her happy-ever-after is so unhappy that she’s beginning to wonder if the fake-your-death potion was really poison. Her husband, Ro, can’t stop...
    Lady and Lord’s daughter, Jules, is dead, and someone is going to pay. While attending grief counseling sessions, the parents discover that their counselor, Lawrence, had a hand in Jules’ death. They plot revenge, but off in Mantua, Jules is still alive. Probably. Her happy-ever-after is so unhappy that she’s beginning to wonder if the fake-your-death potion was really poison. Her husband, Ro, can’t stop thinking about the people he killed to get to this honeymoon. Shadows keep seeping out of the walls to haunt both star-crossed couples, and the earth is heating up, and the world is ending, and we’re all gonna fucking die anyways so can love be enough when you aren’t even sure that love exists?

    Eventually, one of these households is going to have to face the fate ordained by Shakespeare’s prologue. Remixing Romeo & Juliet with a sprinkling of Macbeth and brand new poetry and prose, WHEN SHE WENT TO MANTUA hurtles into a rapidfire manifesto on how we grapple with the ghosts of our past – before the future ceases to exist.
  • The Ash Sonata by Natalie Welber
    Cast: 
    9
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Composers, classical music + 2 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, musical, period
    Keyword: Composers, classical music, 18th century women's history, royalty
    ​In a musical fantasia, rediscover the life of Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia: Baroque composer, prolific musician, librarian, and long-forgotten sister of famed King Frederick the Great. From her early years learning music in secret from her cruel father, to her adult life struggling against the unpredictable rule of her once-beloved brother, Amalia desperately searches for meaning, happiness, and most...
    ​In a musical fantasia, rediscover the life of Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia: Baroque composer, prolific musician, librarian, and long-forgotten sister of famed King Frederick the Great. From her early years learning music in secret from her cruel father, to her adult life struggling against the unpredictable rule of her once-beloved brother, Amalia desperately searches for meaning, happiness, and most importantly, a legacy. At the same time, her fellow musical siblings seek flashes of fortune, monumental military victories, and the freedom to love who they choose. Harmonizing Amalia’s few surviving compositions with famous pieces of the Baroque and Classical eras, Natalie Welber’s THE ASH SONATA traces a young woman’s quest for musical recognition in a time when women were relegated to the drawing room, not the drawing board -- a recognition that Amalia has yet to receive today. ​