About me

M. K. Wessel holds an MA in Theatre Directing from the University of East Anglia. Their first play, Tony the Fantastic Fireman! LIVE: One Show Only, was produced at their undergrad, the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, and was nominated for the John Cauble Award for Outstanding One-Act Play at KCACTF in 2019. In 2024, their one-act play Thank You For Knowing Me premiered off-off-Broadway. Their writing has been featured in the Open: Journal of Arts and Letters, Writer’s Playground, The Raven Review, and the interACT play-reading series at Lyric Rep.

My Plays

Thank You For Knowing Me


Synopsis:

Presented in six scene fragments, Thank You For Knowing Me tells the story of the doomed relationship between Taylor and Jaime. Structured as a series of Taylor’s memories, the scenes fluctuate between lighthearted and gloomy, humorous and tense. The audience is left to puzzle out the timeline of events as they’re confronted with themes of abandonment, connection, and growing apart.


Number of Characters: 2


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 2


Length (in Pages): 30


Location: An apartment


Key Words: relationship drama, romantic comedy, love, breakup


Has the Play Been Produced? Yes


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins:


Reviews:

The Father, or Daedalus


Synopsis:

Somewhere in America, a father struggles to reconnect with his teenage son, reflecting on the good times and the bad, trying to pinpoint where things went wrong. Over the course of a single conversation, the two slowly and painfully reach an understanding—but all that work is flipped on its head when the son confesses what he’s done. A mix of present day and projected memories, this play pits a father’s unconditional love against a boy’s unforgivable act.


Number of Characters: 7


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 5


Length (in Pages): 51


Location: USA


Key Words: drama, family relationships, bullying, school shooting


Has the Play Been Produced? No


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? Yes


Award nominations/wins:


Reviews:

The Formerlies


Synopsis:

The audience enters…and that’s the play. However, a former actor, a former playwright, and a former director have a few critiques about the audience they’d like to share.


Number of Characters: 4


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 4


Length (in Pages): 25


Location: The theatre in which it is performed


Key Words: meta, immersive, absurd, experimental, comedy, existential


Has the Play Been Produced? No


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins:


Reviews:

The Formerlies


Synopsis:

The audience enters…and that’s the play. However, a Former Actor, Former Director, and Former Playwright have some critiques they’d like to share.


Number of Characters: 4


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 4


Length (in Pages): 25


Location: The theatre in which it is performed


Key Words: immersive, meta, farce, uncomfortable, unconventional, existential


Has the Play Been Produced? No


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins:


Reviews:

The Red Claw


Synopsis:

A mysterious murderer on the loose. A grizzled ex-detective with a traumatic past. And a plucky
young journalist that throws them together — all on Christmas Eve!

In this boisterous parody of film noir, an unlikely duo race against the clock to track down a murderer known only as The Red Claw. Surrounded by a cast of odd and uncooperative suspects — not to mention a masked vigilante — Detective Shorthair must make peace with his past before it’s too late. Framed by audience asides and riddled with ridiculous detective work, this play mixes together thrilling action, comedic gags, and a healthy dose of Christmas cheer.


Number of Characters: 7


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 7


Length (in Pages): 25


Location: Film Noir-esque cityscape and pub


Key Words: comedy, farce, film noir, parody, detective story, mystery


Has the Play Been Produced? Yes


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins: Judges' Choice: Best Overall Play -- TADA's 25-Hour Play Festival Audience Choice: Best Overall Play -- TADA's 25-Hour Play Festival


Reviews:

Tony the Fantastic Fireman! LIVE: One Show Only


Synopsis:

In this dark comedy, children gather in the house as the House Manager stalls for time, bringing on a local kid’s entertainer Silly Willy to distract the audience. When well-known kid’s TV show host “Tony the Fantastic Fireman” finally arrives, he ends up sabotaging the career that ruined his life during the live performance, despite efforts to calm him down by his stage partner, “Private Joe the Musician,” and their manager, Heather.


Number of Characters: 17


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 10


Length (in Pages): 51


Location: The theatre in which it is performed


Key Words: dark comedy, meta, immersive, kid's show goes wrong


Has the Play Been Produced? Yes


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins: Finalist: John Cauble Award for Outstanding One-Act Play


Reviews:

wild, mysterious forces


Synopsis:

Stuck in an elevator—or is it a spaceship?—a Woman and a Man struggle to figure out if they’ve met before, if they’re strangers, if they will meet in the future, and who this Other Woman is who keeps showing up. As reality shifts around them, the trio find themselves caught up in a duel of philosophy, sexuality, and power. Defying the laws of physics, this story bends time and space around a single life-altering event, and asks the audience to decide what is true—reality, or our perception of it?


Number of Characters: 4


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 4


Length (in Pages): 73


Location: An Elevator / Outer Space


Key Words: experimental, PTSD, drama, absurdist, aliens


Has the Play Been Produced? No


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins: Honourable Mention: New Works of Merit Contest Finalist: Distillery New Works Festival


Reviews:

Location

Seattle, WA, USA

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