For the Love or the Game & Tennis Dancers

Pair of short plays set on a tennis court

(a couple who have been together for at least 10 years, a couple who were together 10 months ago)

Status: Coming soon! Chicago Spring 2025

Produced by Natalie Elizabeth and Liam Collier

THURSDAY

Short film screenplay, approx 20 min

(2 lovers , 2 strangers)

Isques, France

Thursday is a fantasy of love, but not in genre. It’s set in the 1970's. It captures the “what if” of two people, Joan and Ned who love each other deeply but have only found one unconventional way to be together: sporadically, and in this case for these 3 days, starting on a Thursday, in a manor in Isques, France. But how? It’s balancing, romantic love with sustainability, longing with play and humor, risk taking with responsibility, and thrill with comfort.

MINT GREEN CAKE

short film screenplay, approx 15 min

(1f, 2m)

Manhattan NYC

Someone’s in love. The other, eats cake.

[In this one, nobody is dying]

one act stage play with live music, approx 60 min

(2 f identifying characters, one male identifying, medium maintenance set)

This piece of movement theatre has been a collision between explorations of Natalie’s work over the past 4 years, and the discovery of poems by award winning poet Philip Schaefer.

His publication of Bad Summon (https://uofupress.lib.utah.edu/bad-summon/) came into her life through a mutual friend and fellow artist. When she read Philip’s work, she immediately felt she wanted them to play a part in her creative world, or perhaps she wanted to find a way into theirs. Instantly, their exquisite beauty, melodrama, and humor brought her inspiration and kinship. She was bold enough to ask if he might grant her permission to use his poems for a night of plays she was producing. Soon after, knowing she was not yet done exploring them, she approached him about using his poems as text for a brand new play; He said yes.

At its heart, this project is a tumbleweed that has been rolling for quite some time. The experience of grief has been a driving theme for her in art making, and her own personal investigations inspire play in the grey area where tragedy, love, and humor intertwine.

Status:

Workshopped and Shown Spring 2023, revival TBD

Workshop Cast including:

Playwright/Choreographer/Producer/Performer Natalie Elizabeth

Director/Collaborator Corinne Hastings 

Performer/Collaborator Scott Dare

Performer/Collaborator Tatiana Pavela

Performer/Violist Nora Willams

DISARMED

short film screenplay, 16 min

(2f)

Whitehall, Michigan

Two best friends in their late 20’s retreat for the weekend confronting new pathways and their friendship’s ability to ride the waves.

Status:

Screened at the Lake Michigan Film Festival