"Calamity West is one of the best playwrights in Chicago. Or maybe the country. Or the universe." - Chicago Reader
CALAMITY WEST
THOUGHTS ON
CALAMITY'S WORK
“West, a Chicago writer with an ebullient sense of theatricality, is the real deal."
- Chicago Tribune
"West is a colossal talent with a formidable intellect."
- 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
“…an essential voice…”
- Chicago Tribune
“West’s writing really hits the zeitgeist. She’s an important voice in the world.”
- PerformInk
“…a leading aesthetic innovator of storefront realism as well as a
tough-as-nails moralist.”
- Chicago Reader
AWARDS AND SHOUT-OUTS
Local Lab New Play Festival
Semi-Finalist – National
December 2024
Recognized for excellence in new play development.
Dominic Orlando Playwriting Award
Nominated - National
November 2023
Acknowledged for outstanding contributions to contemporary playwriting.
Kilroy List Citation
National
October 2023 (In The Canyon) and June 2015 (Give It All Back)
Recognized for impactful and innovative playwriting,
highlighting work that amplifies underrepresented voices.
Platform Award
Nominated - Chicago
July 2023
Honored for contributions to Chicago’s theatre landscape and new play development.
The Lortel - Alcove at The Lortel
Awardee - National
May 2023
Selected for a competitive national residency supporting new work in development.
The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute
Clifford Odets Ensemble Play Commission
Awardee - National
May 2022
Awarded for an original play commission fostering ensemble-based storytelling.
NFMLA – Best Screenplay
Nominated - Los Angeles
February 2021
Recognized in the independent film community for outstanding screenplay writing.
3Arts Theatre Award
Awardee - Chicago
October 2014
Awarded for artistic excellence and contribution to Chicago’s theatre community.
- Selected -
Calamity West is an award-winning playwright whose work has been presented at
The Lortel, Primary Stages, The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Roundabout Underground, The Goodman, and Jackalope Theatre – to name a few.
Through 2026 Calamity West will be developing her work at Primary Stages
as a member of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group
where she has (so far) written
FEAST! - and - Sgt. Hank Cole’s Drama Club of Algona.
West is also working on her newest play,
Inside the World of Somewhere Else,
commissioned by Red Yes Studio
in New York City.
West is represented by CAA and managed by Curate.