After learning my play Human Resources had been accepted out of 800 submissions to the 2020 Great Plains Theatre Conference, I was thrilled. Then, quickly disappointed. News of the pandemic hit right as I was meeting my creative team. The 2020 conference was postponed and alas so was my anticipation of a free trip Omaha.

However, I was delighted to see my play get a virtual staged reading at the online-only 2021 conference. The conference featured a week of work by extremely talented playwrights from around the country as well as workshops led by some of the leading voices of American theatre.

My reading was directed by Nick Zadina and featured Omaha actors Teri Fender, Raydell Cordell III, and Bill Brennan, dramaturgy by Anne G. Morgan, and had a design presentation by Bentley Heydt. I was thrilled (and terrified) to receive feedback from acclaimed playwrights Anne Washburn and Jaclyn Backhaus. (They didn’t hate it! In fact, they liked it.)

The pandemic year actually gave my existential office buddy comedy surprising space to grow and develop. And in a moment in which all workplaces seem totally changed forever, Human Resources’s exploration of mortality, the nature of work, intimacy, and techno dystopianism felt more pressing and timely than ever before.

Here’s hoping I’ll get to go to Omaha IRL someday.