Calamity West headshot

Calamity West

Playwright

Calamity West is a Chicago-based, award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Her plays have appeared at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Roundabout, The Goodman Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, Steep Theatre, Victory Gardens, and TimeLine – to name a few. She holds a BA in dramatic writing from Webster University and an MFA in creative writing from California College of the Arts. She teaches playwriting and literature at her alma mater of Webster University and playwriting at the University of Chicago. In 2018 she founded the Playwrights Lab at Jackalope Theatre where she is a proud company member. In 2014 she won the 3Arts Award in theatre.

From 2020 to 2021 Calamity’s short film, Cool For Five Seconds, ran the festival circuit accumulating the following recognition and awards: NewFilmMakers LA, 2021: Nominated for Best Screenplay and Best Dramatic Short; Midwest Film Festival 2020: Grand Prize Winner; Midwest Film Festival, 2020: Judges Choice at Midwest Film Festival’s Female Filmmaker Night; New York Independent Film Festival: Final Nominee for Best Narrative Short Film; Beloit International Festival: Best Illinois Short Film.

​Calamity is currently developing her new play, "The Last Supper and Three Years Later", with The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York as recipient of the Clifford Odets Ensemble Play Commission. 

West is represented by ICM Partners and managed by Industry Entertainment.

You can learn more about Calamity and her work by going to calamitywest.com

Featured Artworks

  •  Calamity West artwork HINTER by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork HINTER by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork IN THE CANYON by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork IN THE CANYON by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork ROLLING by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork ROLLING by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork THE GACY PLAY by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork THE GACY PLAY by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork THE GACY PLAY by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork THE GACY PLAY by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork THE PEACOCK by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork THE PEACOCK by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork THE PEACOCK by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork THE PEACOCK by Calamity West
  •  Calamity West artwork GIVE IT ALL BACK by Calamity West