Theatre for Young Audiences is essential for kids, for the livelihoods of professional artists, and for the advancement of theatre.

At Saint Leo University, I created a course called “Creating Children’s Theatre.” My students engaged in vibrant discussions focused on developmental milestones, pedagogical theory, and innovative playmaking strategies.

For their capstone project, my soon-to-graduate seniors wanted to produce their own TYA play. I wrote The Cornbread Kid specifically for them—meeting their acting goals, their directorial capabilities, and their design-based dreams…all on a budget of…zero.

The Cornbread Kid will be available for national licensing by Pioneer Drama Services (Spring 2026).

I’d heard great things about the Teen Program at Metropolitan Ministries. (I’d been teaching theatre to Met Min elementary and middle school residents as a Community Engagement instructor with Straz Center for the Performing Arts.)

Well, the rumors were true. And when you get to work with a group of artists this smart, funny, and courageous… why not help them build their own, unique play?

In the spring of 2025, the Met Min Teen Ensemble wrote, rehearsed and performed TWO original one-act plays (A Wolf’s Tale and Once Upon a Leprechaun) that are ridiculously good.

After doing a lot of interview-based theatre, Lyric Opera of Chicago commissioned me to write the script/book for a brand new musical: one that I’d write alongside a composer I’d never met, and in collaboration with Tellin’ Tales Theatre—a company of artists with physical disabilities.

Together, we developed Freedom OUT OF ORDER, an interview-based concept musical.

This collaboration led to two additional commissions: a touring children's version for Chicago schools and Always Greener, a full-length musical that received significant grant support for extensive development.

Hillsborough Community College’s Now on View Festival is fabulous! It provides grants to various artists to create free, interdisciplinary, and accessible art for the people of Tampa.

In winter 2025, I was a selected artist. I wrote and directed the site-specific play, Ybor Interrupted. This immersive comedy took place in the historic Kress Building.

Ybor Interrupted was both a performance and a community conversation about historical fact and fiction, gentrification, and narrative perspective.

When COVID shut down traditional theatre, I co-wrote and directed a sci-fi comedy podcast featuring actors I’d always dreamed about working with (Hello from the Magic Tavern, Little Fires Everywhere, and Brut Force).

Working with our producer (Amy Thorstensen), other amazing playwrights, and TV writers, we created 16 interconnected episodes with feminist, queer representation.

Innovative storytelling requires creativity, commitment, and trust. If you have those things… what are you waiting for?