Writing Experience

I am a highly adaptable writer of various disciplines with the ability to tailor my voice and tone to any context.

I’ve written for the stage and screen for myself and others with a particular emphasis on comedy writing. I’ve written essays and cultural criticism for publications including Slate and The Boston Globe – as well as my own culture blog, Room Tone. I am a regular contributor to the film section for the Chicago Reader. Additionally, I’ve written press releases, blog entries, social media posts, and advertising copy for a variety of clients in the nonprofit sector. 

Oh yeah, and I went viral for pretending to be Lydia Tár on Twitter.

Samples are available upon request.

As seen in…

Screen & Stage

  • Produced & Commissioned Work:

    2019 - Secret Handshakes, Writer, “The Discovery”

    A commissioned screenplay for an entry in the short anthology web series about friendships, Secret Handshakes. The web series was canceled before beginning production.

    Two best friends decide to investigate whether a rumored sexual phenomenon is real through a series of scientific experiments parodying prestige dramas such as A Beautiful Mind and The Imitation Game.

    Sample of “The Discovery” available upon request.


    2017 - Comedy Showcase, Writer

    Wrote and produced a comedy showcase of sketch, improv, and stand-up comedy with a small team of peers. Co-wrote the opening musical number “Maybe This Time,” and closing sketch “Pepsi,” and wrote the sketch “Magic Duo,” about a married pair of magicians who hash out their divorce during their hotel residency.

    Sample of “Magic Duo” available upon request.


    2016-2017 - Film Revue, Head writer

    Head writer and producer for sketch show celebrating and skewering movies.

    Oversaw two runs of Film Revue, each with new sketches centered on a theme. The first theme focused on Oscar-winners and featured sketches covering Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, Ben-Hur, movie musicals of the 60s (Oliver, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, The Sound of Music), Annie Hall, The Godfather, Amadeus, The Silence of the Lambs, snubbed films of the 2000s, and The Artist. The second run focused on various genres including kids’ movies, action films, romances, sex comedies, and more.


    2016 - boxes., Playwright

    One-act play received premiere at Prop Thtr, produced by Nomads Art Collective. David, a 43-year-old bachelor, and Jules, the 18-year-old daughter of David's best friend, spend an evening together as dark secrets are revealed and trust is gained and lost.

    Sample of boxes. available upon request.


    2016 - Polyanna, Playwright

    New play workshopped with a staged reading as part of DePaul University Theatre School’s Wrights of Spring Festival.

    After her assistant Bryan drunkenly kisses and professes his love to her at an office Christmas party, Sharon, a children’s book publisher, urges him and his boyfriend Paul to embrace a polyamorous relationship – one that includes her.

    Sample of Polyanna available upon request.


    2016 - Waiting For Godot: A Promenade Piece, Co-devisor

    A two-person devised absurdist adaptation of Waiting For Godot, produced for DePaul University Theatre School’s Wrights of Spring Festival.

    This adaptation of Waiting For Godot promises to bring new and exciting interpretations to the text… that is if the production ever actually happens.

  • I am currently in the process of developing my screenplay Won’t You Join Us on Holiday? — a vacation-gone-wrong psychosexual thriller.

    More information is available upon request.

    Treatments

    I have treatments available for a feature-length woman-led dark drama about reconciling trauma from one’s youth and for a feature-length romantic queer dramedy that takes place over 48 hours in Chicago.

    Spec Scripts

    TV spec script samples are available upon request.

Featured FEATURES

The Best Theatre Films of 2024 Weren’t Musicals

The film releases of recent years telegraph an interest within the industry to return to its theatrical roots — or at least a belief that there’s money to be made by turning to Broadway for inspiration. December 27, 2024

“For all these flashy celebrations of theatre on the screen, the resulting products are often empty sketches that are more interested in capitalizing on Theatre Kid Energy than understanding why the art form has persisted for centuries. These films view theatre as an artifact to improve upon rather than embrace. This has led to an influx of musicals afraid to be musicals — and arguably even films afraid to be films.”

Explore a century of follies and film at the Elmhurst History Museum

A new exhibit on movie theater history and local industry runs through January 5. October 2, 2024

“Travel west of Chicago, though, and there are a few places that have withstood time: movie theaters. In fact, Oak Park’s Lake Theatre, Downers Grove’s Tivoli Theatre, and Elmhurst’s York Theatre are three of the oldest operating cinemas in the Chicagoland region, and they have a total of 284 years in operation between them. The York—the oldest of these three—celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.”

Cheese-en-scène

Themed movie menus that pair double or triple features with curated charcuterie. July 24, 2024

“Moonlight (2016) director Barry Jenkins once said in an interview with Bon Appétit, ‘When you cook for someone, this is a deliberate act of nurturing. This very simple thing is the currency of genuine intimacy.’ I’ve been thinking about this lately, not just in regard to the sensitive closing act in Jenkins’s film, but in how I share and express love through the act of personal curation—from baking an improvised summer solstice quiche for me and my husband to carefully putting together movie recommendation lists for my friends.”

Palacios Para La Gente

Most of Chicago’s dedicated Spanish-language movie theaters have disappeared, but the histories and cultures that they encompassed are worth remembering. June 20, 2024

“While former movie palaces have often been the center of architectural preservation efforts in Chicago, initiatives to preserve the memories that occupy each theater are scarcer.”

Coming soon—to a theater near you?

Both chain and indie theaters are limited by accessibility and distribution, but the local scene is ready to adapt. December 1, 2023

“It is sometimes said that every map of Chicago is the same map. The reverberations of redlining and segregation in the city inevitably display themselves in most reported metrics, including income levels, pollution, access to public transportation, housing, and even voting patterns. Movie theaters may not be an issue as detrimental as the inequalities that divide Chicago’s communities, but the waning of their presence mirrors larger issues of economic opportunity in the city, community investment, and access to recreation and culture throughout Chicago.”

Podcast & Radio

FEATURED: Hit Factory
To Die For feat. Daniella Mazzio

“Writer, comedian, and Lydia Tár's former publicist Daniella Mazzio joins to discuss Gus Van Sant's sharp, pitch-black satire of media, true crime, and a patently American brand of late 20th Century celebrity, 'To Die For'. The film is based on the Joyce Maynard novel of the same name, itself inspired by the true life trial of Pamela Smart, who seduced a teenage boy and coerced him and a friend to murder Smart's husband. The film features an excellent ensemble cast, including Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, Illeana Douglas, and a career-best Nicole Kidman.”

It’s Such a Beautiful Day with Daniella Mazzio

Culture writer Daniella Mazzio joins us to discuss the singular work of Don Hertzfeldt with the legacy of It's Such a Beautiful Day. (Podcast, July 2024)

Exiting Through the 2010s | Listen now

With Cinema Chatham shut down, only two movie theaters remain on the South Side

Even before Cinema Chatham unexpectedly closed last week, it was hard to find a movie theater on the South Side. (Radio, February 2024)

WBEZ Reset | Listen now

Barbenheimer? OppenBarbie? Whatever you call it, the double feature of the season has arrived

Local theaters are selling out, fans are dressing up and the internet is exploding over the movie event of the season. (Radio, July 2023)

WBEZ Reset | Listen now