Film/TV productions include the upcoming Eric LaRue (dir. Michael Shannon) with Big Indie Pictures, Brace Cove Productions and CaliWood Pictures, Night’s End (dir. Jennifer Reeder) with Shudder/AMC, the short Convo with Breakwall Pictures and the feature The Earl with Intermission Productions. Upcoming theatre productions include The Malignant Ampersands with A Red Orchid Theatre and past productions include Verböten with House Theatre (Joseph Jefferson Nomination, New Work), Traitor with A Red Orchid Theatre (Joseph Jefferson Award, New Adaptation) and To Catch a Fish with Timeline Theatre. Past work includes productions with 59e59 Theatre in New York; The Royal Court Theatre and The Royal Shakespeare Company in London; The Goodman Theatre, Writers Theatre, Greenhouse Theatre, The Inconvenience, A Red Orchid Theatre and American Theatre Company in Chicago. A Sundance Institute Ucross Fellow, Brett is also a recipient of a Steinberg/ATCA New Play Citation (Verböten), The Marquee Award from Chicago Dramatists, The Ofner Prize for New Work, the Emerging Artist Award from The League of Chicago Theatres, an After Dark Award for Outstanding Musical (Old Town) and has developed plays with companies including The Atlantic Theatre Company and The New Group in New York and The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre and Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago. He is a resident-alum of Chicago Dramatists, a proud ensemble member of A Red Orchid Theatre, a founding member of the playwright collective MC-10, an alumni member of TimeLine Theatre Company’s Writers Collective and Center Theatre Group’s Playwrights’ Workshop in Los Angeles. Brett has been commissioned by The Royal Court Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, A Red Orchid Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, House Theatre, TimeLine Theatre Company, Writers Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, Northlight Theatre and has several of his plays published through Broadway Play Publishing, Dramatic Publishing and Nick Hern Publishing. Brett has taught writing at DePaul University, Second City Training Center and currently teaches writing for the screen and stage at Northwestern University.
Education
- BA, Playwriting and Acting, University of Iowa
- MFA, Playwriting, Spalding University
Honors and Awards
- Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Citation, Verböten with House Theatre
- The Galbut Outstanding Faculty Award, Northwestern School of Communication
- Joseph Jefferson Award, Nomination, New Work for Verböten
- Joseph Jefferson Award, New Adaptation for Traitor
- Marquee Award, Chicago Dramatists, Outstanding Career
- After Dark Award, Best Musical for Old Town with Strawdog Theatre
- Emerging Artist Awardm, League of Chicago Theatres
- The Ofner Prize, Goodman Theatre
Courses
- Writing Horror, Fantasy and Supernatural
- Writing the Procedural Script
- Writing for Video Games
- Writing the Feature Film
- Writing the The Television Dramedy Script
- Writing the Sci-Fi Script