Mary Bonnett

Playwright

Mary Bonnett is currently a Chicago-based playwright focused on plays for social change since 2011 for Her Story Theater, and Artistic Director. Her work shines a light on women and children in need of social justice and community support.  These include subjects on homelessness, gender violence, multiple plays on domestic sex trafficking, the contributions of women to society, and the social/political historical impact on women in America.  Prior to that, her work included plays on the early days in labor history for women and historical plays and monologues on Chicago.  She also published a children's novel, The Adventures Of Cleaver and Whizjam On The Isle of Oogle.  Mary holds a BFA in English Literature, a BFA in Theater Arts and an MA in Creative Writing as well as a secondary degree in education. She taught theater arts for many years as well as worked around the country in various theater. Her most interesting experience being with the National Theater of The Deaf in NYC as the time.

Highlights

Plays include: 

  • GLOSS OVER, a series of monologues on Chicago homeless women.  7 member all female cast, ages 14 to 65.
  • SHADOW TOWN, the journey of four young girls into domestic sex trafficking told from the pimp's point of view of "How to Become Master of The Game In Ten Easy Lesson."  12 member cast, all nationalities.   7 F 4 M  1 F/M
  • THE JOHN, a wealthy buyer of sex trafficked girls, navigating his wife, children and job as he leads a double life in the suburbs.  6 member cast.  4 W 2 M
  • MONEY MAKE'M SMILE, a play on domestic sex trafficking for 7th-12th grade students with study guide and curriculum.  4 member cast  2 W 2 M
  • MONGER, a lawyer gets trapped in his own web of lies as he interviews a woman whose child's life had been taken, while simultaneously, his young artistic teenage son reaches out for his support and finds none.  3 member cast.  1 W  2M
  • INVISIBLE, a small town in Mississippi in 1923, reveals its underbelly to a visitor.  A journey into the world of the Women's KKK and its political might over the nation in the early 1920s.  7 member cast.  5 W 2 M
  • MIA, Mia is headed toward extinction as she plays online with elements beyond her understanding, along side her, in spirit, are two missing girls whose endgame has already come to pass. We journey with MIA into the future as we discover the two missing girls past. Multi-media, multi complex world of human trafficking and the threatened future of thousands of girls in America. This play is based on missing and murdered women and girls in America.  3 F
  • 9TH FLOOR DOOR: Blocked Justice in The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Firethe trial, tragedy and ultimate victory in establishing labor laws to protect the workers of America during the Industrial Age at the turn of the century.
  • RADICAL IDEAS! WOMEN AND THE VOTE, thirty minute one-act play, the fight to win the vote with Ida B. Wells, Catherine Waugh McCulloch, and Grace Wilbur Trout.  3 W
  • ME AND LOUIS ARMSTRONG, a twenty minute monologue on the life of Sylvia Woods, activist and labor union leader.   1 W
  • THE PRODUCT, a twenty minute monologue from a mother who lost her child to domestic sex trafficking. 1 W