Melanie Adele Coffey

Drama | 2 W, 3 unspecified | 120 minutes

An Americana play for the new American West, Deserted explores desertification in rural America and how some soil is so far destroyed that no roots can grow. Mirroring the failed root systems, the married couple, Jodie and Emma, desperately try to grow a garden with the hope that the plants will be their own roots in settling down and raising a family. After winning a sought-after grant that provides soil, seeds and biodynamic agricultural help, the two work hard to keep the dream alive, but with a neighbor that continually visits to consume anything and everything, a phone that never stops ringing and the fact that maybe they should buy a gun, settling down in an uninhabitable environment isn’t easy.

Development History:

- Reading, Artemisia Theatre, Chicago, November 2024

- Reading, Redtwist Theatre, Chicago, December 2024

5W/1M

Whittaker has been searching for the oldest cave paintings on record for years and finally the glaciologist has found them! And then she gets snowed in.

While her tiny team waits out the storm in their lab, Whittaker begins to spiral, her memories and guilt melding and folding in on itself just as pressurized ice, thousands of feet below the surface does. Sensitive memories come to the forefront and snap and crack as Whittaker works to figure out how to apologize to her mother, how to let go of her guilt, how to ask forgiveness from the Earth and how to get out of the cave. Falling back on the safety of her lectures on ice to keep her calm, and talking to friends and family in her head, Whittaker questions if she even wants to leave the cave.

Development History:

- Development Workshop & Staged Reading - Avalanche Theatre, Chicago - March through June 2023

Production History:

World Premiere - May 2025 - Avalanche Theater, Chicago

Drama - 90 minutes

Burnt out doesn’t even cover it, Keeley is a pile of ash. She wants to sleep, wants to quit, wants to blame anyone but herself. And then the moon falls to earth as a beautiful woman and everything changes. Suddenly people are ready to trust climate scientists - now that the planet has tilted on its axis and the end of the world is in mere days.

Development History:

- Read & Rant, Athena Project, Colorado - October 2023

Production History:

World Premiere - Theatre L'Acadie, Chicago - April, 27th through May 7th, 2023

Photo of Audrey Ney and Kira Nutter by Theatre l’Acadie.

Chicago Reader Review

1870s, coastal Connecticut. When Ginny begs Marisha to run away with her, Marisha asks for more time, for patience, and promises one day they will do it.

But Ginny is tired of waiting. And then a hurricane eats at the coast and Ginny is counted as one of the dead. Inconsolable, Marisha stalks the dark beaches looking for her, lantern held high, ethereal like a furious ghost with nothing to lose.

Development History:

- Reading - Pocket Theatre VR - Chicago, November 2023

2 Women - 10 minute short - Climate Change Drama

Saoirse and Lore spend their last afternoon together, drinking ouzo from tea cups and watching the ocean, nostalgic for a time before the sun was too hot, travel was normal and going to California wasn’t a death sentence.

Production History:

World Premiere - SUNY Plattsburgh, Climate Theater Festival May 7th 2023

Publication:

American Theatre in the Twenty-First Century Anthology - order here!

2 Women - 75 minute Climate Change Drama

In the far future, a group of women have spent their lives on an island waiting for the last man on earth - the Rowboat Man - to row to shore and help restart the human race. After the desperate urgings from their mother however, Lorelei and Eloise must steal the man's boat and escape the island and their duty. Waiting on the beach, the two question their roles as women, reproductive rights and the consequences of climate change.

A mixture of Regency romance and feminist dystopia, the play takes place an hour before the sun sets.

Development History:

Workshop & reading - Drafted; a new play workshop (online) 2021

Production History:

World Premiere - Theatre l’Acadie, Chicago - August 2023

Photo of Laura Rojas and Brandii Champagne by Theatre l’Acadie

Five Women/Three Men - 90 minute drama

May Washington throws a rock at what was meant to be a peaceful protest and smashes a window. Suddenly the weight crushing her lungs lifts just for a moment and she is able to breathe deeply. Yearning to feel this sense of peace once more, May becomes more violent - punching the man who was screaming at her for being a murderer with his pro-life signs in hand - and when the presidential election elects the first woman vice president, May decides it’s time to commit treason and murder the president.

Development History:

Workshop and Reading - Women's Theatre Alliance, Chicago 2020

Read reviews and the play here.

An excerpt from this play is published in the American Theatre in the Twenty-First Century Anthology.

One Woman - 30 Minutes

Lucy Moran is on her way to her parents’ house to tell them that she is not only bisexual but she is going to propose to her girlfriend tonight. Afraid of how her very traditional parents will react, Lucy looks for help and inspiration from gay and bisexual women throughout history, gaining the confidence to leave the coffee shop and knock on her parents’ door.

Production History:

SpaceUK - online (due to Edinburgh Fringe being canceled), August 2020 - the 30 minute monologue is still up to watch here.

Check out reviews here.

four women/three men - 70 minutes

After leaving Jackson at the altar, Elsie meets the self-described has-been sculptor, Luke, at a bar. The two drink themselves into a dreamy summer romance while Elsie contemplates love, marriage and living up to the fairytale couple her parents are.

Development History:

Reading - Athenaeum Theatre, Chicago - January 2020

Reading - One Egg No Batter Production Virtual Unfinished Works Festival - August 2021

Read reviews and an excerpt here.

one woman - comedic monologue

Maggie sits across from the interviewer in their office. Where does she see herself in 14 months, preferably under Bradley Whitford.

Part of the Monologue Flea Market, November 2019, Wirtz Theater, Evanston, IL

Published in the Contemporary One Minute Monologue anthology, which you can purchase here.

four women/two men - 90 minutes

Alvera Wilkes, a successful woman in her mid-thirties, has decided that she wants to have a baby through intracervical insemination. When her best friend, Robin, offers up her husband, Josh, to be the sperm donor, friendships and relationships jettison into a complicated mess. With rash decisions made and Josh’s baby on the way, the three realize the complexities that come with baby-making and how this supposedly harmless act can change everything.

Development History:

Reading - Theatre l’Acadie, Chicago - October 2021

Read reviews and an excerpt here.

three women/two men - 10 minutes

A family comes together to say goodbye to their father/husband one last time before they take him off of life-support. It doesn't go as planned.

one man/one woman - 15 minutes

Using humor to mask their true feelings and talking about the subject as much as possible, a man and a young woman come to terms with their unrealistic relationship and realize that their love and adoration for each other will not keep them together.

Performed in 2019 at NYC’s Access Theater as part of Vulcan Theatre Company’s Forge Festival Night.

one woman/one man - 10 minutes

A man and a woman are in the middle of an affair when he divulges information that is both frightening for her to hear and completely useless in their situation. Ruining the moment they begin to talk around the subject, becoming even more intimate as they share past stories and fears.

Performed in January 2018 at NYC’s Hudson Guild Theater as part of the New York Theater Festival.

one woman/three men - 10 minutes

Henry VIII comes to Anne Boleyn's chamber just minutes before the guards come to take her away to the Tower.

Workshopped in December 2018 at Northwestern University.