JACKSON IS GONE
by Joanne Hoersch
Natalie and Sam Grayson are out for a quiet Sunday morning walk when they find themselves embroiled in an argument with a stranger who kidnaps their dog, Jackson. They report the incident to the police, and their case is assigned to a friendly but vaguely threatening sergeant who insinuates himself into the most hidden parts of their lives. The play examines the nature of irreparable loss, the consequences for our lives, and the slow disappearance from the world of the ancient touchstones we have always relied on for comfort and sustenance.
- Cast Size: 3M 1W
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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About the Playwright
Joanne Hoersch is the recipient of two grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The first, in 1998 was for fiction, the second in 2012 was for her first play, “Jackson Is Gone,” which was also selected for a round table reading at The Lark Theatre in NY and was produced in 2013 by Hudson Theatre Works. She received her BA in drama from Emerson College and studied fiction at Columbia University where she won a Woolrich fellowship in fiction as well as the university –wide short story contest. She was a national semi-finalist in the Heekin Foundation’s fiction contest.
Her second play, Shelley, based on the lives of Mary and Percy Shelley was also selected by the Lark Theatre for a staged reading.
She studied fiction with Mark Richard, who co-produced and wrote The Good Lord Bird with Ethan Hawke. Her playwriting teacher, Julian Sheppard, was a Drama Desk nominee for his play Buicks.
Joanne is also an actress and producer. She cofounded the Bandit Company, with her husband Frank and had leading roles in Sam Shepard’s Action, and Angel City, as well as John Pielmeier’s Haunted Lives. In 1987, she appeared on Broadway in the original production of Larry Shue’s The Nerd. Her most recent role was as Mrs. Voynitsky in Mike Puzzo’s adaptation of Uncle Vanya, produced by Hudson Theatre Works, where she is now the resident playwright.
Her play, Bunnies is based on her own life experience working as a Playboy Bunny in the 1970s. It received a staged reading at HudsonTheatre Works’ annual Playworks festival in 2016, and in March of 2019 it was selected for a staged reading at NJTC, under the auspices of the NJ Theatre Alliance and the NJ Women Playwrights Project to celebrate Women’s Month. In September 2022, Bunnies was published by Next Stage Press.
During the pandemic, her play Bird in a Box, about the conflicting memories of two older sisters, was produced online by Hudson Theatre Works, which also included her 8 minute monologue, April 2022, in its online Ten Minute Festival.
Most recently she wrote two romance novels, The Dream Room, and Glorious, under the pseudonym Charlotte Glass, which are available as EBooks on Amazon.
In April 2022, while running with her beagle, Winnie, she fell and sustained three fractures to her right wrist. A spoken word piece that she developed after her wrist surgery, called The Arm of the Artist, is based on her terrifying but slightly exhilarating experience with proprioception
Joanne is a member of the Dramatists’ Guild.
Review Jackson is Gone.