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John Joseph Enright is a playwright based in Chicago.

Full-length plays: Synopses: 

Space Cat Holidays is a family-friendly science fiction comedy for the Holiday season. On the Planet of the Cats, on Kitmas Eve, two young kittens make the mistake of answering a riddle, and making a request, of what appears to be an ancient Egyptian artifact. The kittens only wanted to get their Kitmas gifts early, but they find they have accidentally made their mother disappear. Now they must work together to restore the world they know. 

Kitties in Space: The Saga is a science fiction comedy about friendship in the face of danger. In a future where humans have vanished, but former pets enjoy augmented intelligence, furr-ever buddy cats Socks and Mittens go where no cat has gone before in this adult absurdist misadventure in space, where they struggle with Time-Cops, Terrorist Birds, Kitt-ler, and their own addiction to catnip.  

O'Brien & O'Brian is a romantic comedy about lawyers in love, homophobia, Irish-phobia, and finding your heart's desire. It's moving day for Alan O'Brian, who is leasing office space from his favorite law school study mate, Darlene O'Brien. In walks Sam, who knows he wants a lawyer named O'Brien, but doesn't know which one he wants. Sam needs help with the EPA - they're suing him about an overflowing pond, but counsel for the EPA, Brenda, turns out to be a former flame of Darlene's, and soon the complications are overflowing as well. 

All Mixed Up is a comedy about love, betrayal, trust, and the things that keep us apart. A very pregnant African American woman sits in a hotel lobby. A white woman, her fiancee, walks in, hoping, somehow to patch things up. They have had a terrible fight. They had agreed to have a mixed baby together, from an anonymous white sperm donor, a baby who would look like both of them. But Beth decided she couldn't go through with that plan, and sought out a black donor, without informing her partner. Now the truth has come out, and the situation is all mixed up... even if the baby isn't.  

Wild Flowers is a comedy about looking for love... and a missing birth certificate. Maggie is surprised to learn that she is not an American and may be deported to Russia. Luckily, she's got a pair of suitors willing to help her get her green card. That's before her Mom arrives, eager to bring Maggie back to the motherland. But Maggie is determined to follow her own heart, and will settle for nothing less than the truth.  

Ready Or Not is a romantic comedy about the challenge of staying true to yourself when your world goes into a spin. Ed, a young construction executive, returns home after spending a year in prison in Mexico. He looks forward to a warm welcome from his wife and his company. He is shocked to find that neither his wife, nor his boss, are eager to have him back. But Ed is not ready to surrender, and he decides to spill the secret he has been keeping for a year. Revelation follows revelation, in scenes both humorous and heartfelt, careening toward a final confrontation between a man and a woman.  


Full-length plays: Production history: 

Space Cat Holidays playing December 8, 2023 through January 7, 2024,
in Chicago, at Otherworld Theatre Company.
Directed by Belle Decker and Carson Bartholomew.
 

O'Brien & O'Brian appeared November 5, 2022 through November 13, 2022,
in La Grange, IL, at Galaxy Theater Company.
Directed by Nancy Alvarez.
 

Kitties in Space: The Saga appeared August 5, 2022 through September 11, 2022,
in Chicago, at Otherworld Theatre Company.
Directed by Tiffany Keane Schaefer.
 

O'Brien & O'Brian appeared in September 2018,
in Chicago, at Hale Theatre Company's Fall Festival.
Directed by Michael Murphy.
 

All Mixed Up appeared at the Fresh Fruit Festival in July 2017,
in New York, at The Wild Project.
Directed by Rob Belchere.
 

All Mixed Up was produced by Barely Concealed Productions
in Chicago, at Prop Thtr, in October 2016.
Directed by Denise Smolarek.

O'Brien & O'Brian appeared at FringeNYC,
New York City International Fringe Festival,
in August 2015, at Venue #1, Teatro SEA at the Clemente Center.
Directed by Rob Belchere.

O'Brien & O'Brian was produced by Barely Concealed Productions 
in Chicago, at Dream Theatre, in August 2013.
Directed by Anna Weiler Menekseoglu.

Wild Flowers was produced by Barely Concealed Productions
in Chicago, at Dream Theatre, in July 2011.
Directed by Giau Truong.

Ready or Not was produced by Barely Concealed Productions 
in Chicago, at Dream Theatre, in June 2009.
Directed by Jeremy Menekseoglu.

Short plays production history:

Charmin The Musical was produced as a music lyrics video
and released in July, 2023.
Music: Anne Tan, Lyrics: J. Enright & Anne Tan, Book: J. Enright,
Keyboard & Arrangement, Edward Enright, Sound Producer & Engineer: Rick Sims,
Singing: Kasey Foster & Colin McGonagle, Video: motion_masters.

Believe In Me was performed as a Zoom play
in February, 2022.
Directed by Denise Smolarek.

Starved Rock was performed as a Zoom play
in February, 2021.
Directed by Denise Smolarek.

Starry Night was performed as an Anthology Preview for Future Publishing's book:
American Theatre in the Twenty-First Century: Absurd, Symbolic & Poetic Short Plays in April, 2021.
Directed by Denise Smolarek. Video editing by Julia Golonka.

Distance was performed as a part of Heartland Theatre Company's Hot Shots Online Festival
in May, 2021.
Directed by Don LaCasse.

Puppies In Space was included in Otherworld Theatre Company's
Paragon festival in November, 2019, in Chicago.
Directed by Bennett Bottero.

Kitties In Space (Episode 1)  was included in Horatio Productions'
Science Fiction Theatre Festival in May, 2019, in London.
Directed by Julia Warren.

Humans In Space was included in Otherworld Theatre Company's
Paragon festival in November, 2018, in Chicago.
Directed by Zach Madison.

Space Cat Graduation was included in Otherworld Theatre Company's
Paragon festival in November, 2017, in Chicago.
Directed by John Morrison.

Kitties In Space (Episode 1) was included in Zero Hour for Zero Fox's production of
Five Plays At Midnight in September, 2017, in Chicago.
Directed by John Morrison.

 Space Cat Graduation was included in Heartland Theatre’s
Ten Minute Play Festival in June, 2017, in Normal, IL.
Directed by Rob Fulton.
 

Fellow Officers was included in Talif Productions’
Empathy Festival in May, 2017.
Directed by Iris Sowlat.
 

Kitties In Space (Episode 1)  was included in Otherworld Theatre Company's
Paragon festival in October, 2016, in Chicago.
Directed by John Morrison.

Kitties In Space (Episode 1)   was included in Runaways Lab's
DDADIS festival in March, 2016.
Directed by Sarah Patin.

Just Testing was included in Dream Theatre 
Company's Theatre of Women 8 festival in January, 2014, in Chicago.
Directed by Denise Smolarek.

Playing With Matches was included in StageQ's Queer Shorts Festival
in June 2013, at the Bartell Theatre in Madison, WI.
Directed by Karl Reinhardt.

At The Mound was included in Morgan Park 
Academy's Fall Show, Play Ball, A Collection Of One-Acts, in November, 2012.
Directed by Heather Freer Kurut.

Playing With Matches was included in Dream Theatre 
Company's Theatre of Women 7 festival in November, 2012.
Directed by Matt Dominguez.

Post Mortem was included in the Dream Theatre 
Company's Theatre of Women 6 festival in September, 2011.
Directed by Alexis Randolph.

Second Sunday and Believe In Me were included in Morgan Park 
Academy's Fall Show, Love Lost and Found,
A Collection Of One-Acts, in November, 2010.
Directed by Heather Freer Kurut.

Cleaning House was included in the Dream Theatre 
Company's Theatre of Women 5 festival in September, 2010.
Directed by Lance Brett Hall.

Believe In Me was included in the Dream Theatre 
Company's Theatre of Women 4 festival in April, 2009.
Directed by Colby Sellers

Collision Course was included in the IOS show,
In Performance, in July, 1997, at the University of Virginia.
A staged reading directed by Michael Landman.



Other short plays of note:

Starry Night and Iago's Deal are both included in:
American Theatre in the Twenty-First Century:
Absurd, Symbolic & Poetic Short Plays
(Future Publishing House Anthology) Published 2020.

Hack Attack, and Second Sunday, both monologue plays, were performed in video
during the pandemic.

 

Education:

Seminars at Chicago Dramatists:

Marketing Your Play, with Russ Tutterow, 2003.
Developing The Play-In-Progress, with June Pyskacek, 2002.
Dialogue Workshop, with Lydia Diamond, 2002.
Playwriting Fundamentals, with Ann Noble, 2001.

 

B.A. in English, University of Illinois at Chicago.

 

 

Email: johnjosephenright at gmail dot com