Jessica Dickey

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Jessica Dickey is an American actor, television writer, and award-winning playwright whose work has been performed at Steppenwolf, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Ford’s Theatre, Women’s Project Theatre, and theaters across the country. Dickey is a writer on Apple TV+'s Physical, and is currently developing a show about young female clergy for ABC and Twentieth with Tom McCarthy’s company, Slow Pony.

Early Life and Education

Dickey grew up in Waynesboro, PA. She received her BFA from Boston University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, and her MFA from Goddard.

Career

Playwriting

The Amish Project

Dickey’s one-woman show, The Amish Project, is a fictional exploration of the tragic events of the Nickel Mines shooting. It was first produced at the New York International Fringe Festival on August 8, 2008 in the Players Loft. The play later opened Off-Broadway at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater on June 10th, 2009. Reviewer Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times wrote: “Jessica Dickey is giving such an extraordinary performance in “The Amish Project” at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater that she makes it easy to overlook something else: the play is also a remarkable piece of writing.” The play has since been performed all across the country and the world.

Charles Ives Take Me Home

Dickey’s play Charles Ives Take Me Home, a comic and poignant story of dissonance, defense and devotion, premiered at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in June of 2013 and went on to be produced at City Theatre in Pittsburgh, Strawdog in Chicago, and Curious Theatre Company in Denver. Reviewer Charles Isherwood of The New York Times wrote that: "[Dickey's] writing has freshness, economy, an occasional cheeky vulgarity and a fine measure of poetic insight." The New Yorker review called the play: “Honest, vulgar, funny and smart…” The play was nominated for the Susan Blackburn Prize.

Row After Row

Dickey’s play Row After Row, also nominated for a Susan Blackburn Prize, is a dark comedy about Civil War reenactors that straddles between 1863 and today. It premiered with the Women’s Project at the City Center in NYC in January of 2014. The reviewer from The New Yorker wrote “Jessica Dickey’s funny, smart, deep and sad play is beautifully written.”

The Rembrandt

Originally called The Guard, Dickey’s play The Rembrandt, revolves around a museum guard who deliberately touches a Rembrandt painting, launching him on a surprising journey through time, grief, art and love. The play had its world-premiere at Ford’s Theatre in September of 2015. The play later had a sold out run in 2017 at Steppenwolf starring John Mahoney. Reviewer Chris Jones of Chicago Tribune wrote that the play contains: “Great truths about happiness and grief, art and reality, life and death.” Dickey was the recipient of the prestigious Stavis Award.

The Convent

Dickey’s play The Convent is described as a toothy dark comedy about a group of contemporary women who try to live like nuns in the Middle Ages. Through a baptism of '80s pop, mysticism, hallucinogens and sex, The Convent is a raucous celebration of female divinity. The play premiered Off-Broadway in January 2019 in a sold-out co-production with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Rising Phoenix and WeatherVane. Reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli of The New Yorker wrote: “Dickey's commitment to big feels is commendably unflinching." The Convent is now being developed into a television series for Sarah Jessica Parker’s company Pretty Matches.

Nan and the Lower Body

Dickey’s play Nan and the Lower Body, a dark comedy about the creation of the Pap Smear and her maternal grandmother, was originally commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club and the Sloan Foundation. The play will have its world-premiere at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in July of 2022. It is a recipient of the 2021 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

Screenwriting

Dickey has developed original television shows for Tom McCarthy’s company Slow Pony, Sarah Jessica Parker’s company Pretty Matches, and for the networks ABC, Paramount TV and Twentieth. She is currently a staff writer for AppleTV’s Physical, created by Annie Weisman and starring Rose Byrne.

Acting

As an actor, Dickey has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally, as well as on television. On stage, she was seen in Wit at Manhattan Theatre Club, Pocatello at Playwright's Horizons, Hit The Wall at Barrow Street Theatre, Proof at McCarter Theatre, and Detroit at Playwrights Horizons. On television, she has appeared on Showtime's Homeland, Showtime's The Big C, NBC’s Law & Order, and the Lifetime movie Amish Grace.

Personal Life

Dickey divides her time between Los Angeles, Brooklyn and France.

Plays

• The Amish Project (2008)
• Charles Ives Take Me Home (2013)
• Row After Row (2014)
• The Rembrandt (2015)
• The Human Court (2015)
• The Convent (2019)
• The Door (the senior sex play) (2019)
• Nan and the Lower Body (2022)
• Jimmy
  

References

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