Rachel Herriges

Rachel Herriges (she/her) is an actress and playwright relatively new to Chicago. Originally from the West Coast, Rachel got her BA from Westmont College, double majoring in Theatre and Religious studies. She has now laid her roots in Chicago as a proud Short Leap Theatre Company Ensemble Member and a microChicago Playwrights' Residency member. As an author, Rachel enjoys writing works exploring grotesque, unusual, and captivating aspects of humanity with poetic prose. A number of her short plays have transgressed Microsoft Word to breathe new life on stage. These works include Heat, Hot Yoga for Women's Bodies (Chicago Dramatists), and Straw Hats in the Sand (Artery Theatre). As an actor, Rachel has most recently been seen in It's a Wonderful Life and Dante 360 with the Athenaeum Center...

Rachel Herriges (she/her) is an actress and playwright relatively new to Chicago. Originally from the West Coast, Rachel got her BA from Westmont College, double majoring in Theatre and Religious studies. She has now laid her roots in Chicago as a proud Short Leap Theatre Company Ensemble Member and a microChicago Playwrights' Residency member. As an author, Rachel enjoys writing works exploring grotesque, unusual, and captivating aspects of humanity with poetic prose. A number of her short plays have transgressed Microsoft Word to breathe new life on stage. These works include Heat, Hot Yoga for Women's Bodies (Chicago Dramatists), and Straw Hats in the Sand (Artery Theatre). As an actor, Rachel has most recently been seen in It's a Wonderful Life and Dante 360 with the Athenaeum Center, Milking the Beast and Going to Hell with the Runaways Lab Theatre, and several other stages throughout Chicago. Upcoming is her play I LOVE CHESS! with Freshly Brewed at the Understudy in April, as well as her role as a stage manager for Clearing with a Short Leap in April. Check out more of Rachel's work at her website: rachelherriges.com

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Scripts

Hopes, Dreams, and Worms

by Rachel Herriges

Cast Size
2
Genre
fantasy,
horror,
immersive

Another day, another dollar for Susan, the corporate nobody who trudges through each day until she meets a tiny, insignificant worm and is transported to a magical world no one has seen before.

Another day, another dollar for Susan, the corporate nobody who trudges through each day until she meets a tiny, insignificant worm and is transported to a magical world no one has seen before.

POJO: The God Who Took On Time

by Rachel Herriges

Cast Size
7
Genre
adventure,
dark comedy,
drama,
experimental

In a quaint small town, a teenage Pojo faces the tribulations of not fitting in, a broken family, and the unspoken love for his best friend. His whole world is shaken when an Immortal Being offers him a second chance at life, where he can live authentically with his best friend forever. Will taking this mysterious, holy person up on the offer save his life? Or will it spiral him deeper into a world that no...

In a quaint small town, a teenage Pojo faces the tribulations of not fitting in, a broken family, and the unspoken love for his best friend. His whole world is shaken when an Immortal Being offers him a second chance at life, where he can live authentically with his best friend forever. Will taking this mysterious, holy person up on the offer save his life? Or will it spiral him deeper into a world that no human should go?

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Straw Hats in the Sand

by Rachel Herriges

1
Cast Size
2
Genre
drama,
fable/folktale,
romantic comedy,
tragedy

A Crane and a Persimmon meet, and the sand begins to fall.

A Crane and a Persimmon meet, and the sand begins to fall.

Hot Yoga for Women's Bodies

by Rachel Herriges

1
Cast Size
3
Genre
drama,
experimental,
movement/physical

For Emily, yoga is a mode of exploration in her postpartum body, as she struggles with the realities of motherhood, estranged family, and her perfect sister-in-law. Will it take a cosmic force to show her what motherly love looks like?

For Emily, yoga is a mode of exploration in her postpartum body, as she struggles with the realities of motherhood, estranged family, and her perfect sister-in-law. Will it take a cosmic force to show her what motherly love looks like?

Hysteria

by Rachel Herriges

Cast Size
4
Genre
drama,
fantasy,
romantic comedy

With odes to One Direction, school dances, and the end of the Mayan calendar, Naomi must navigate what it means to grow up in 2012 with her angry mother. Everything changes when she meets a mysterious boy in the forest, and impending doom becomes divine judgment.

Three different endings are to be performed on three different nights.

With odes to One Direction, school dances, and the end of the Mayan calendar, Naomi must navigate what it means to grow up in 2012 with her angry mother. Everything changes when she meets a mysterious boy in the forest, and impending doom becomes divine judgment.

Three different endings are to be performed on three different nights.

Her: The Existence Play

by Rachel Herriges

Cast Size
7
Genre
drama

Casey Winslow is the host of the hit podcast, Quiddity, where guests are brought on to describe what it means to live the "human experience." From B-listers to doctors to recovering drug addicts to washed-up retail workers, Casey has a lively cast of characters to entertain. However, she is faced with an anonymous guest, who ends up entangled in the lives of previous attendees. When given the chance to share her...

Casey Winslow is the host of the hit podcast, Quiddity, where guests are brought on to describe what it means to live the "human experience." From B-listers to doctors to recovering drug addicts to washed-up retail workers, Casey has a lively cast of characters to entertain. However, she is faced with an anonymous guest, who ends up entangled in the lives of previous attendees. When given the chance to share her "human experience," she might just shake the audio world.

Her: The Existence Play is intended for audio or radio-play-type performances.

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storyteller

by Rachel Herriges

Cast Size
4
Genre
drama,
tragedy

the life of a tortured poet is nothing new to Daniel Moon, as he navigates through the space-time continuum in search of his true love. with the tangling of prose and fate, will Daniel get the woman he truly desires? or will the reality of his love be too much to bear?

the life of a tortured poet is nothing new to Daniel Moon, as he navigates through the space-time continuum in search of his true love. with the tangling of prose and fate, will Daniel get the woman he truly desires? or will the reality of his love be too much to bear?