J. E. Cramer

"You Look Well" is approximately one minute of the conversation between Hayes, a soon-to-be killer for hire, and Sherin, the person who's hired him in the first place.

In the foothills somewhere, forty-five minutes’ drive from anywhere of consequence, playwright Halloran Ayres and their fiancée Sue have just arrived at a small artistic residency for the summer. Sue intends to begin her career as a cinematographer, and Halloran is just as content writing there as they ever were working at home, but before long, it’s clear that something isn’t right—the people sharing their cabin, the old buildings themselves, or the woods around them; something there simply hates them. As they all attempt to figure out what may be waiting for them under every decaying plank and around each darkened corner, shadows creep in closer and tempers flare hotter by the hour—but their work has never been better.

Nine days ago, Reesie was scheduled for gallbladder removal three weeks out. That evening, he decided he’d most likely die in the hospital of complications following surgery. Now, as his girlfriend-of-a-sort Leah drives him to the emergency room to have an emergency operation performed tonight, he dares to imagine that things might turn out for the best after all. "Dancing With Lyndon" is a surrealist black comedy that examines contemporary masculinity and American individualism, the purpose of hope, and ultimately, what it means to build and have built a life.

Throughout 2023, I set out to write a play every day. Upon hearing that it had been done before and done exceptionally well, I compensated by writing one more for good measure. "Automedon" here was my work for February 27th, originally composed for a short play festival that unfortunately never took place.

In a kingdom not too far away, a couple years from now, a young factory worker breaks a fingernail inside a watch on the assembly line irreparably out of shape and thinks nothing of it. Within months, the whole state has been reduced to a few scraps of metal and a concrete foundation by a cataclysmic storm out of the sea. In this short, snappy play for three performers, we'll learn just how easily a world that expects itself to run like clockwork can wind itself apart.