Straight Icons

Part theater, part variety show, Straight Icons features visits from cartoon superstars, international pop stars, unhinged politicians, and late 2000s MTV dating show contestants who force Queer BFFs Anne-Marie and SMJ to confront the uncomfortable intersection of queer liberation, exploitation, and performative queerness.

Anne-Marie and SMJ are best friends who came out in their late 20s. Now with partners and a tiny bit of clarity, they try to chart their queer journeys through the straight people they loved growing up. However, they are quickly trapped in a TV by an unknown entity known as “The Spiral” who forces them to confront the uncomfortable intersection of queer liberation, exploitation, and performative queerness. A play with comedy, mime, dance, music, and drag, Straight Icons features visits from animated children’s show superstars, international pop stars, unhinged politicians, and late 2000s MTV dating show contestants.

BIO
SMJ (they/them) is a mixed-Latiné, non-binary playwright and theatermaker originally from Mount Vernon, OH. They were a 2022-2023 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. Currently, SMJ is creating work with Latinx Playwrights Circle and The Orchard Project. Their work has been seen in various forms with Ars Nova, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, New York Stage and Film, Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, National Queer Theater, Carnegie Mellon University, Wright State University, New York University, Art House Productions, and The Flea Theater. SMJ has been a semifinalist for the O’Neill’s National Playwrights Conference (three times) and Princess Grace Award at New Dramatists, as well as a finalist for the 2024 June Bingham New Playwright Commission and 2023 Parity Development Award. Member of the Dramatists Guild and Ring of Keys. www.smjwrites.com

Anne-Marie Pietersma (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based actor, writer, comedian, voice actor, and ACS Certified Cheese Professional®️ from Claremont, CA. She was most recently a resident artist with Ars Nova in their 2023-24 CAMP Program. She has very important pieces of paper from Penn State University, Boston University, New York Film Academy, and the National Musical Theatre Institute, UCB, Comedy Sportz, and spent hours of her childhood learning every word to Spaceballs and The First Wives Club. She blends food and storytelling constantly as reflected in her first one-woman show “Mild to Wild”, her upcoming book “I’ll Have What Cheese Having: Cheese Pairings Inspired by Romantic Comedies” and her weekly newsletter Trust Your Taste.

Mackenna Goodrich (she/they) describes her taste in plays as Big Girl Explosion Fests. Selected directing credits: American Girl Doll Horror Play by Jasmine Sharma (The Brick), An Axemas Story (The Players Theatre), WO[MAN] by Alyssa Haddad-Chin (The Brick), Radio Man by Sarah Groustra (SheNYC), Bogeyman by Allison Merkel (The Road Theatre Company), The Laundry Play by Sarah Groustra (The Chain), The Pine Barrens by Molly Kate Babos (Lime Arts), The Moors by Jen Silverman (Stagefemmes). Mackenna is also an associate producer for SciShow, teaches tiny dancers at Mark Morris Dance Group, and runs The Road Theatre Company's Under Construction playwriting group. BA: Kenyon College

Grace Guichard (she/her) is a NYC based actor and improviser from Walnut Creek, CA. Credits include SPARC’s Shakespeare in the Vineyard, Otterbein Summer Theatre, and many short films that you haven’t seen. Most recently, she was Zoey in LPAC’s Rough Draft Festival staged reading of THE COMMAND CENTER by SMJ. This is likely how she ended up here. www.graceguichard.com

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