CALAMITY WEST

Calamity West is a Chicago-based, award-winning playwright. Her plays have appeared at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Roundabout, The Goodman, Jackalope Theatre, Steep Theatre, TimeLine, and Sideshow Theatre. In 2014 Calamity was recipient of the 3Arts Award. She teaches playwriting at the University of Chicago and Webster University. She is a company member at Jackalope Theatre Company and an ensemble member of Sideshow Theatre Company. Calamity holds a BA in dramatic writing from Webster University and an MFA in creative writing from California College of the Arts. She is represented by ICM Partners.

THOUGHTS ON
CALAMITY'S WORK

"West is a colossal Chicago talent with a formidable intellect..." - Chicago Tribune

“…an essential Chicago-style voice…” – Chicago Tribune

“Calamity West…is, without question, a name to watch.” – Chicago Tribune

“Calamity West manages to hook you in and get you comfortable only to take you places no one wants to see clearly.” – Third Coast

“West writes like a vise, slowly tightening the screws until her characters are trapped and her audience is rapt.” – Windy City Times

“West’s writing really hits the zeitgeist. She’s an important voice in the world right now.” – PerformInk

“West, a young Chicago writer with an ebullient sense of theatricality, is the real deal, far more of the real deal, in fact, than some other emerging writers who get thrown far more resources by far bigger theaters…” – Chicago Tribune

“…a leading aesthetic innovator of storefront realism as well as a tough-as-nails moralist.” – Chicago Reader