An alphabetical listing of work shared at various Performance events. Click the shiny buttons for publication and other info.
Angry Young Man
Portrait of an artist as an Angry Young Man through high school (etc.) poetry and song lyrics.
History
Debut: Mortifed Chicago at Schubas Tavern, September 21, 2013.
Encore: Broken Road Theatre Company’s Defining Moments, February 26, 2014.
Blaming Richard Marx
“I blame Richard Marx for the shift in my relationship with my family. Yes, Richard Marx, he of number one hit “Right Here Waiting” and high white-boy 1980s hair fame.”
History
Debut: That’s All She Wrote (inaugural show) at Swim Cafe, Chicago, September 2012.
Dance of the Ring
“‘You know what we are?'” my husband Ernie asks as he drives and I stare into the abyss.
‘What?’
‘We are an episode of Mad About You. This could only happen to us.'”
History
Debut: Solo Homo 8 (NewTown Writers) at Strawdog Theatre’s Hugen Hall Cabaret, June 21-23, 2010
Encores: With SH8 at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 9, 2010.
TenX9 Chicago – Love Stories (inaugural show) at Uncommon Ground, Chicago July 23, 2014.
The Death of a Jock
“Back in my day, those of us who wore black trench coats to high school did think about shooting our enemies–but we didn’t actually fucking do it! Instead, we wrote poetry….”
History
Debut: Solo Homo 5 (NewTown Writers), at Live Bait Theatre, Chicago, March 2007.
Drama 101
Dedicated to all the long lost radio stations of our youth.
History
Debut: The BYOB Story Hour – Encounters With Strangers at The Playground, April 15, 2014.
Encore: The Sidesplitter, September 21, 2016 at Laugh Out Loud Theater, Chicago.
Drive Safely
“’It’s Steve.’ Our middle brother who turned 16 over the summer.’ He was in a car accident last night.’”
History
Debut: Tenx9 Chicago – Starting Over, January 27, 2015
An Ernie Yes or No
After ten years with my husband Ernie, I take on the “So…Kids…?” question through family history, pop culture, and personal reflection.
History
Debut: Solo Homo 9 (NewTown Writers) at Strawdog Theatre’s Hugen Hall Cabaret, June 20 & 21, 2011.
Published by the now defunct The Everyday Gay site, June 2011.
Even Me
I’m a gay man, but a man nonetheless. And you know what, a lot of girls are into men. This is the tale of two of them.
History
Debut: Solo Homo (NewTown Writers). Inaugural show at Bailiwick Art Center, Chicago, April 2003.
For Now
“I’m not telling Grandpa. He need not know. He knows you’re happy with your college classes. That’s enough for now.” For now is where it stayed.
History
Debut: Pour One Out – I Paid the Price For… at Volumes Book Cafe, April 10, 2019.
If I Hadn't Burnt That Lampshade...
“The universe has a crazy fucking way of organizing itself, doesn’t it?”
History
Debut: Is This a Thing? – You Just Don’t Understand at O’Shaughnessy’s Public House, April 14, 2014.
Encore: Guts & Glory at Schubas Tavern, October 15, 2014.
In My Tribe
“I felt like I was part of a freak show. An amazingly brilliant freak show, even if I didn’t exactly fit the part. Yet.”
History
Debut: Serving the Sentence at Towbar, Chicago, December 14, 2014.
Is Jimmy Stackpool Singing Too?
“My head is leaking every known fluid it holds: blood, snot, spit, and tears….”
History
Debut: Solo Homo 7 (NewTown Writers) at Strawdog Theatre’s Hugen Hall Cabaret, June 22-24, 2009.
It's Try and Love Me if You Can
“Sensitive Gay College Boy is deeply in love with Straight College Roommate…”
History
Debut: You’re Being Ridiculous – Confession at Mary’s Attic, November 14, 2014.
A Love Poem for Sleepaway Camp
“Winter into spring 1995, and I, twenty years old, am gathered in our late-night living room filled with Theatre Majors, passing a bowl after popping in our 89 cent VHS rental of our beloved Sleepaway Camp…”
History
Debut: Flick Lit: Reel-to-Real Storytelling – So Bad It’s Awesome at The Logan Theatre, Chicago. May 11, 2016.
Mike & Amy TLA or Never Tear Us Apart
“We were makin’ out (clothes on) on the floor on the side of her bed—we’ve made out before, but not as heavy as this—& her mom walked by and said, ‘Where are you guys?'”
History
Debut: Mortified – Chicago at The Beat Kitchen, March 2011.
Encores: Mortified – Chicago at Schubas, December 10, 2011.
Mortified – Chicago Valentines Schmalentines at the Mayne Stage, February 14, 2015.
More Than Words
“What I do believe, is that it’s hella hard to do justice to a thirty year friendship in less than 2,000 words….”
History
Debut: Story Lab Chicago (inaugural edition) at the Black Rock Pub, January 19, 2011.
Encore: TenX9 Nashville with The Porch at Parnassus Books, August 28, 2017.
The PB Club
Cub Scout meetings are fun! But in their own way, the meetings we hold in my friend Bill’s basement beforehand are even more exciting….
History
Debut: Solo Homo 4 (NewTown Writers) at Bailiwick Art Center, Chicago, March 2006.
Encore: Story Club (as open mic performer) at Uncommon Ground, Chicago, June 2010.
Playing Bingo With Wally
“But I am not worried about soaked socks and almost-lost companions as I cross Main Street, ‘cause now I’m hangin’ with Wally at his van’s open back doors as he unloads his acoustic guitar and two boxed sets of Bingo cards.”
History
Debut: Drinkers With Writing Problems: Lit Up @ Brisku’s Bistro, Chicago, September 30, 2016.
Playing Guns
“Mark-Kent and I have the biggest yards in the whole neighborhood, and gun battles need big yards—or small countries….”
History
Debut: Essay Fiesta at The Book Cellar, Chicago, February 15, 2010.
The Real World: Me
“It’s the true story of a young man who so desired to be a seven stranger picked to live in a house and have his life taped…”
History
Debut: You’re Being Ridiculous at Fillet of Solo, January 24, 2015 at Lifeline Theatre, Chicago.
The Residents
For two summers in college, I worked grounds crew at a cemetery. A car ride through the grounds with my father ten years later brings life full circle.
History
Debut: Working Stiffs 3 (NewTown Writers) at Bailiwick Art Center, Chicago, June 2004.
Encore: This Much Is True at the Hopleaf Bar, Chicago, March 8, 2011.
Route 36
Once upon a time, my brother and I delivered the Detroit News…
History
Debut: Working Stiffs 4 (NewTown Writers) at Bailiwick Art Center, Chicago, June 2005.
Saint Kathy The Mouse
“Kathy does that—is just there, back for another go, no explanation of her estrangement. I like her, but have to be in the mood for Kathy, her whining, and general odd ways of showing she likes you….”
History
Debut: Story Club (as Featured Reader) at UnCommon Ground, Chicago. November 4, 2010.
Salzburg
“Then why am I so scared…”
History
Debut: Is This a Thing? – The Facts of Life at O’Shaughnessy’s, Chicago, November 12, 2018.
Encore: OUTSpoken Chicago at SideTrack, Chicago, March 12, 2019.
Silencing the Creaks or The Final Word
My grandmother played a crucial role in developing my love of and art. I do love her, despite her wanting me to go back to church and be straight….
History
Debut: Solo Homo 3 (NewTown Writers) at Bailiwick Art Center, Chicago, February 2005.
Encore (Revised): Is This a Thing? – Are You There God, It’s Me…? at O’Shaughnessy’s, Chicago, April 11, 2016.
Stings and Fractures
It was a rough fucking day for the Van Kerckhove Boys. The kind of day that gets my writerly brain pumped up; that bestows a lifelong fear with an origin story; that anoints events with retroactive premonition of future tragedy; that demands to be shared even if I’m not yet completely sure what the hell it’s all about….
History
Debut: Is This a Thing? – Home at O’Shaughnessy’s, Ravenswood, Chicago, November 11, 2019.
Tape 1, Side A, Song 1
“That’s Aunt Alison singing!” I exclaim every time Dad plays Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rhiannon.’ I am old enough to vocalize associations if not schooled in all things Stevie Nicks.”
History
Debut: Is This a Thing? – Your Song at O’Shaughnessy’s, Chicago, July 13, 2015.
Teeter Todd
Collegiate friendship, love, and sex…in a primitive era of the Internet.
History
Debut: Solo in Blue (Blue Moon Studio Theater) at Kate the Great’s Book Emporium, Chicago, February 2006.
Encores: Story Club (as open mic performer) at Uncommon Ground, Chicago, September 2010.
Solo Theatre Saturdays at The Venue, Chicago, April 12, 2014.
OUTSpoken (Sundress Academy for the Arts) at The Clarence Brown Lab Theatre, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. June 2-3, 2017.
Treat Me Well
“’Well I have lost some time, but I have won,’ Ann Wilson softly sings on track seven of Heart’s 1977 album, Little Queen. ‘And if you make it through,’ she continues, ‘you know you’ve just begun.’ A couple more lines and then the chorus: ‘So will you treat me well, oh will you treat me well..?’ Never mind her yearning toward the song’s unnamed other, she is singing those words, that chorus, to thirteen-year-old Michael…”
History
Debut: Essay Fiesta at The Book Cellar, Chicago, April 18, 2016.
The Two Turns of Table 12: A Waiter’s Tale
It must be a full moon, because I’ve had few odd characters in my section tonight.
History
Working Stiffs (NewTown Writers), Inaugural show at Bailiwick Arts Center, Chicago, June 2002.
Encore: Working Stiffs 5 (NewTown Writers) at Bailiwick Art Center, Chicago, June 2006.
Written in Sharpie
“’I don’t remember much about it.’
It’s a distraction slowly written with fresh dark green Sharpie on a moving box in my home office so I don’t have to decide quite yet whether to keep or recycle my old Discman.”
History
Debut: Serving the Sentence at Heartland Cafe, Rogers Park, Chicago, February 12, 2017.
