Plays of various lengths

To access links to many of my plays please visit –

 https://newplayexchange.org/users/201/trina-kakacek

or email me at trina.kakacek@smallfishradio.com

♦ A TOWN CALLED PROGRESS On the dusty road between the towns of Backwards and Conspiratorial, Slim and Weed, two, thirsty vagabonds, meet and join forces to head to the town Progress, where they heard stories of a woman with a well, and fresh eggs. Ida, who is Mayor of Progress, isn’t interested in strangers in her utopia of an all-female society, unless it’s on her terms. And she especially doesn’t want anyone touching her. After all, she’s got Vivian to populate the town. Unfortunately, Vivian has other ideas about what strangers have to offer.  Despite Ida’s attempts to keep Vivian’s reproductive freedom under lock and key, Vivian decides she is going to have it all. A Town Called Progress explores the ironies of gender roles, and how the definition of “ALL” might be reconsidered to create equality on new terms.

♦ ELEGY  After a life spent planning her death, it’s Ingrid’s time to go heaven. But – it appears she might not make it through the gates, let alone take her seat next to Jesus.  Not only is there an army of dead relatives blocking the gate, she can’t find the ring, and if she can’t pass down the ring – well, the earth will open up and swallow them all whole, won’t it? And mind you she ain’t no hoarder, that’s all good stuff in the room, could come in handy someday.  The ring’s in there somewhere. Given no choice, Ingrid is forced to find her teeth, put them in, look deep into the hole in her dead husband’s throat, and overcome the truth about her life. Full of humor and pathos, ELEGY takes on fate, death, life, family treasure, and the search for an all-important needle in a haystack of memory.

♦ SOMETHING ABOUT A BIRD – DRAMA/4M 2W Winner of the John Gassner New Play Competition, New York, 2011; The Playwright’s Center, PlayLabs Festival, Semi-finalist, Minneapolis, 2008; Stage Left Theatre, Downstage Left Toolbox Series, Chicago, 2007. Developed at Chicago Dramatists, Victory Gardens Theatre, and Lincoln Square Theatre in Chicago.

♦ MERCURY CONSIDERS THE LAST LAYER – COMEDY/3M 3W  Produced by Small Fish Radio Theatre at Victory Gardens, and Infusion Theatre New Play Development Workshop.

A melodramatic romp set in the dualistic world of burlesque, the play follows the age-old quest of finding one’s heart and one’s self. Complete with music, movement and plenty of shtick, the story grounds itself in the ancient spiritual practice of yoga and the seven spiritual energy centers known as chakras.

♦ THE ADVENTURES OF SKATER GIRL – DRAMA/2M 2W 2 Gender Blind – 2012 Chicago Fringe Festival,  Chicago Dramatists Saturday Series 2010

 On the day she finished her bucket list, Skater Girl’s heart almost came to a stop, until she added an item, then another and another …

♦ ATTACHMENT DISORDER – DRAMA/3M 2W (CURRENTLY BEING ADAPTED FOR FILM)   Winner of the Dionysius Cup Festival of New Plays, Polarity Ensemble Theatre, Chicago, 2011; Featured at Great Plains Theatre Conference, Summer 2010; Chicago Dramatists, Saturday Series Reading 2008. 

What if no one knew the true story of the day you were born, or they did, but wouldn’t tell you? ATTACHMENT DISORDER explores family, forgiveness, nature vs. nurture, and the value of a human life – in cash.

♦ ALL PIGS ARE DOGS – COMEDY/3W 3M (Being adapted for an animated feature)  Lincoln Square Theatre, Staged Reading, 2010

Can the Earth afford to keep us? A dark comedy set in a recycled world,  All Pigs Are Dogs explores the legacy we might leave, and how it might be misinterpreted, in the name of survival of the fittest.

♦ A TRUMPET – DRAMA/3M 2W  Luke’s mother should never have been buried and it’s up to Luke to set things right. Accompanied by his dog and his thoughts, he digs through layer after layer trying to keep a childhood promise. The promise that will set his mother, and his own soul, free.

Short Plays

♦ INCUBATION PERIOD – Women’s Theater Alliance New Play Festival, The Theater Building, Chicago, 2008; Chicago Dramatists Saturday Series, November 2001   Sometimes, there is a reason people eat paper, collect thread … a love story set in the public library.

♦ THE TALE OF THE HUNGRY GIANT – Chicago Dramatists Saturday Series, 2009 ♦  A not-so-clean fairy tale about our food supply.

PENANCE ♦ Dream Theatre, Chicago, November 2012, Theatre of Women 7 ♦ RETRIEVING THE PICASSO Victory Gardens Theater, Sketchtopia, Chicago, 2011 ♦ THE ADVENTURES OF SKATER GIRL 2012 Chicago Fringe Festival, Small Fish Radio Theatre 2012, Chicago Dramatists Saturday Series, August 2010 ♦ AUCTION – Actors Theater of Louisville, Finalist 2009 Heidemann Award ♦ CHASING TRANQUILITY – Instant Theatre, Museum Of Contemporary Art/Literary Gangs of Chicago, 2008 ♦ ITEM FOUR Lincoln Square Theatre Casual Shorts Festival, Chicago, 2008; Victory Gardens Theater Showcase, Chicago, 2006 ♦ ARGUMENT – Instant Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art/Literary Gangs of Chicago, 2007 ♦ RED SCREAM – Chicago Dramatists Saturday Series, 2005 ♦ VIABILITY – Actors Theater of Louisville, Finalist 2000 Heidemann Award; Chicago Dramatists Saturday Series 2000