A Chicago-area playwright, John's plays have been produced by Steel Beam Theatre, Wing & Groove Theatre, and Talisman Theatre. Most recently his 10-Minute Play "Just Checking In" was featured in a night of Short Plays at Steel Beam Theatre. In 2020 he undertook a commission from Steel Beam Theatre to write and produce an adaptation of the letters of John and Abigail Adams (Dear Abigail/Dear John: An Incandescent Match) to be streamed on YouTube. His work has had staged readings at Victory Gardens, Canongate Theatre, Borealis Theatre, Steel Beam Theatre, and was featured in the New Voices Festival and Saturday Series at Chicago Dramatists, and in New York at the American Theatre of Actors. A graduate of the creative writing program at the University of Illinois, he is earning his MFA in Stage and Screen at Lesley University.
Plays
John and Abigail Adams were the original power couple of the American Revolution. They spent many years apart and that distance produced a voluminous correspondence that shines a bright light on their incandescent relationship. This play covers the years 1774 - 1776 up to July 4th and the Declaration John has worked so hard to pass. The play was developed using the letters of John and Abigail Adams as a base and then adapted for stage and zoom.
Dickens classic gets turned on its head as old Ebenezer becomes Ms CC Scrooge, an ambitious woman with a popular QVC Heart of Stone jewelry line and a ruthless online payday loan business that's just as heartless. Bobbi Cratchit is her beleaguered assistant while her ex-partner Marlene, chooses this year to pay a long-delayed visit to her old friend to give her the Christmas makeover she deserves. A female-focused ensemble with doubling and tripling will round out this holiday world.
Three college-educated, under-employed, and unlikely bank robbers find themselves where no suburbanites should - a seedy run down motel in the middle of nowhere - when their plans spin widely out of control and they must grapple with suspicion, kidnapping, and the universal laws of cause and effect. Cast of seven (2W, 5M). 1 unit set.
This modern adaptation of the classic Christmas Carol puts Charles Dickens on stage with an ensemble cast of mismatched locals to enact a Christmas story written by his friend, Ebenezer Scrooge, Esq. Mayhem and misanthropy ensue as Dickens assumes the role of Bob Cratchit, the Ghosts play hooky, and Tiny Tim won't stop rapping in church. The ensemble cast doubles and triples and even quadruples characters.This modern adaptation of the classic Christmas Carol puts Charles Dickens on stage with an ensemble cast of mismatched locals to enact a Christmas story written by his friend, Ebenezer Scrooge, Esq. Mayhem and misanthropy ensue as Dickens assumes the role of Bob Cratchit, the Ghosts play hooky, and Tiny Tim won't stop rapping in church. The ensemble cast doubles and triples and even quadruples characters.
Newbie, Pax receives an email from Human Resources with the subject line, "Just Checking In." He arrives in the wrong place, however, and must grapple for his innocence with a stealth employee, the older and much more savvy Singer.
A horrendous multiple murder. A daughter, a father, and two ambitious reporters. Past and present collide as media coverage and a sensational investigation distort truth and justice to become the story. Eight actors (4 women, 4 men). Multiple locations in continuous action.
Successes
New Play Zoom Reading: Chicago Dramatists First Draft Series
Still Life + Baby by John David Westby
May 13, 7pm CT
Virtual doors will open at 6:50 PM CT.
Access the reading here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88578612832
In Still Life + Baby, a milestone birthday forces Beth to confront her unexplainable terror of motherhood and family-- even as her wife Alex rushes ahead. When Alex gives her an ultimatum, Beth knows her life will never be the same. While her mother makes things worse by trying to make them better and a therapist drives her crazy, Beth struggles to rewind her life in time to build a future.