Dan Noonan
he, his, him
Evanston, IL
[contact]
Biography

Dan’s play Set Up was produced by TheatreBAM Chicago in Chicago. Set Up was also produced at the Alleyway Theatre in New York. Dan’s play Out Among the Dragons was produced by After Midnight in Evanston, IL. Out Among the Dragons was workshopped by Victory Gardens Theater and was a part of Stage Left’s Leapfest.  Dan’s play Blue Over You was produced by Best Medicine Repertory Theatre in Washington D.C. and by Spot On Company in Evanston, IL. Dan has had staged readings of his plays at several Chicago theaters: The Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago Dramatists, Steep Theatre, Stage Left and Circle Theatre. Dan has won the Neil Simon New Play Competition; the Maxim Mazumdar Playwriting Competition; and the Agnes Nixon Playwrighting Competition. Dan was a finalist in the Dayton Playhouse FutureFest, B Street Theater New Comedies Festival, The Three Cat Productions Chicago New Works Festival, the Henrico Theatre One-Act Playwrighting Competition, the Dionysia New Play Competition and the SART Repertory Theatre Playwrighting Festival. Dan was a semifinalist in the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwright’s Conference, Inkslinger Playwriting Competition, Ukiah Comedy Playwrighting Competition and the Chesterfield Screenwriters Competition. Dan also received an Honorable Mention in the New Works of Merit Playwriting Competition 2015 and The Writer’s Digest Competition 2018. 

Plays

BLUE OVER YOU
by Dan Noonan

Where's Mitzi? What happened to Mitzi?! Francis, an enchanting high school drama teacher, comes home to discover that his wife, Mitzi, is missing. Did she leave because of his infantile behavior, has she run off with the hunky maintenance man, or is something much darker at work here? Join this song-and-dance man as he tries to find Mitzi and woo her back. 

Cast:
Francis: A male fifty-something high school drama teacher.
Set Up
by Dan Noonan

Set Up is a modern romantic comedy for grown-ups. Cheryl, a neurologist, has reluctantly agreed to go on her last blind date, on her 39th birthday, before she is off to Doctors Without Borders. Ted, a lawyer, is on his first date since his divorce several years ago. Cheryl and Ted are coping with real challenges and have pulled themselves together just enough to have dinner with a stranger. They both come to the evening with unseen issues, overt opinions and more than a tad of desperation. Their awkward date, at an odd Roger’s Park restaurant, is interrupted occasionally by three characters: their nosey waiter; Mimi, Cheryl’s soccer mom best friend; and Fred, Ted’s well-meaning but clueless brother. The play is funny and poignant and will be a great show for anyone who has ever been anywhere near a blind date.

Cast:
Cheryl: Thirty-nine-year old neurologist Ted: Fortyish attorney Mimi: Fortyish soccer Mom Fred: Fortyish newly divorced attorney Waiter: (Played by the same actor as Fred) Samantha: The heard but not seen chef (Played by the same actress as Mimi)
BOUNTIFUL GIFTS
by Dan Noonan

It’s the 1990’s and Rosemary is hosting her dysfunctional family for Thanksgiving as usual. But this year the stakes are especially high because her husband Ed was just offered a big transfer/promotion out to California. But Rosemary, who has devoted her life to this contentious group, does not want to move and leave her family behind. In order to change Ed’s mind, Rosemary is determined to make this the most peaceful, joyous, family affirming Thanksgiving of her career. The only real obstacle is her family: a sister-in-law with a brain tumor; a self-obsessed teenage son who does hair and make-up; a daughter-in-law and son who want to move back in; a caustic sister who loves to be a pot boiler; an aunt in her eighties who insists on being treated like a princess; and a neurotic hippy niece who can’t be in the same room as her mother. Join this cast of characters as they put Rosemary through the ringer while she tries to create a day of family bliss.

Cast:
Dennis Sullivan: The thirty-seven-year old narrator. This actor also plays the artsy seventeen-year old high school senior, the younger of the two Sullivan boys. Kay Sullivan: In her late forties and in a wheel chair. She has two brain tumors and she lives with her brother Ed and sister-in-law Rosemary. Because of her brain tumors she has pauses in her speech. Rosemary Sullivan: A housewife in her mid-fifties; married to Ed, Dennis and Marty’s mother, Carmel’s sister, Winifred’s niece and Maude’s Aunt. Ed Sullivan: Engineer in his mid-fifties; married to Rosemary, Dennis and Marty’s father, Kay’s brother etc… Carmel O’Casey: Single mother of Maude, in her mid-fifties, Rosemary’s sister, Winifred’s niece, city employee Winifred Lathrop: A very stylish seventy-something. Rosemary and Carmel’s Aunt, the sister of their mother Mary. Pacita Sullivan: Twenty-something year old married to Marty Sullivan, Ed and Rosemary’s older son (who is not seen). Ed and Rosemary’s daughter-in-law, Dennis’ sister-in-law. Maude O’Casey: Carmel’s twenty-something daughter. Rosemary’s niece, Dennis’ cousin. A social worker committed to social justice. Bob Pochatello: Maude’s twenty-something year old boyfriend. He is half Native American. He is a trumpet player and works at a novelty shop.
OUT AMONG THE DRAGONS
by Dan Noonan

 

Ever have trouble getting out off the couch? Patrick has the same problem, only its been two years, and it’s his Mom’s couch. Being a twenty-six year old virgin with severe hemophilia, HIV and lousy joints has not given him much impetus.

 

Encouraged by his therapist, Patrick is determined to shake things up. He decides to cruise his infectious disease clinic for the HIV positive woman of his dreams. Instead of finding “Ms. Right”, Patrick meets two people from the HIV landscape. The first is Joe, a gay man close to Patrick’s age, who only has one small ambition in life: to change the world. The second is Marie, an enigmatic young woman who embodies contradiction and specializes in shocking people. Authentic friendships are formed as they help each other pursue their dreams.

 

OUT AMONG THE DRAGONS begins in 1995, just before the life-saving “drug cocktail” is available to patients, and AIDS is still viewed as a terminal illness. Through humor, OUT AMONG THE DRAGONS explores how the mode of transmission can affect the way we 

Cast:
Cast: Three women; three men Patrick: Twenty-something, HIV Positive Hemophiliac. Joe: Twenty-something, HIV Positive gay teacher. Marie: Twenty-something, HIV Positive waitress. Helen: Fifty-something, mother of Patrick Therapist 1 Joe’s therapist, male, played by the same actor that plays Coach Riley, the Waiter and Fallon. Therapist 2 Patrick’s therapist, female, played by the same actress that plays Trudi and Arlene. Trudi: Forty-something, best friend of Helen. Coach Riley: Forty-something, high school coach. Arlene: Fifty-something, infectious disease nurse. Fallon: Fifty-something, Joe’s father. Waiter: Forty-something.
BEST WOMAN
by Dan Noonan

Jane and Melissa are forty-two and have been best friends since kindergarten. However, all that is at risk when Jane gets engaged to unreliable Jimbo. Suddenly, Melissa is no longer the most important person in Jane's life. So Melissa, a successful gay corporate attorney, schemes to convince Jane to break off the engagement. But Jane, a straight paralegal struggling with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, thinks Melissa is not being honest with herself and wants to know the truth.  Can their friendship survive? BEST WOMAN is a play about two complex women as they navigate the difficulties of a long-term friendship and all the co-dependency, care-giving and love that goes with it.

Cast:
Jane – A 42-year-old paralegal who has lived with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since she was two and has been fairly debilitated by this disease. She is recently engaged. Melissa – A 42-year-old beautiful and very successful lawyer who is gay and has purposely avoided marriage.

Successes