Playwriting and more…

In my first teaching job at Eastern Mennonite University, I applied for a grant to write a play. I had an idea, a conviction but wasn’t sure how I would do it. Most likely I would not recieve the grant, but it got me thinking. Well, I was awarded the grant and with a bit of terror and ferocity, I wrote my first full length play based on my friend Amy Gopp and the years she was a peace worker in the Balkans. I learned so much during that process. One being sometimes you do something before you are sure you now how and then you now how. And, two, writing plays based on the stories of others is a profoundly terrifying and powerful process. Plays teach us about the world, whether you write one or direct or stage manage or sit in the audience. And this play opened up a new world to me as a creative and since then I have been chasing stories worth telling and how to bring them to their feet.

My background in social work has been a foundation that deeply influences my approach to theatre. It brings a unique lens to my work—one that is grounded in empathy, advocacy, and the exploration of complex human experiences. Thankfully I have been awarded some writing grants through the years, which have supported the creation of bold, thought-provoking plays that invite meaningful dialogue. WhaChaGonnaDu? grew out of conversations with inner-city youth in the aftermath of 9/11. A Body in Motion was born from interviews with survivors of violence and inspired by Howard Zehr’s Transcending: Survivors of Violent Crimes—that piece toured prisons and communities with support from the Pennsylvania Prison Society. At JMU, I’ve been grateful to receive Provost Grants for new works like Hands of Clay and Walls. My plays Torba and Stained Glass were semifinalists at the Eugene O’Neill Playwriting Festival. I grew up as a preacher’s daughter and as a kid I loved testimony time at church when people shared their stories—there was always some drama, obstacle and there was always some hope. That upbringing with all its complications taught me about the power of gathering and storytelling and how light shines brighter when there has been some darkness. Though I have found my creative base in academia, for four years, I worked at a mega church outside Chicago, where I wrote many short plays addressing questions about life, relationship, faith and hope.
Most recently, I wrote and performed the things i forgot, a solo play based on my experience growing up as the preacher’s daughter and the scandal that upended my family and faith. I also just completed the play The Three of Us, a story of two sisters coming together as their mom dies, to be produced in kitchens, living rooms, and non-traditional spaces. Below I have listed some of the plays and projects I have written, co-written or devised.
If any interest you, please contact me and you may also read some on New Play Exchange.

Full Length Plays

A Body in Motion

A Body in Motion is a powerful exploration of resilience, healing, and humanity in the aftermath of violence. A small ensemble of actors portray a range of characters moving through the aftermath and finding a way through in different and complicated ways. Inspired by Howard Zehr’s profound book Transcending: Survivors of Violent Crimes, the play weaves together the real stories of individuals who have endured the unthinkable — and found a way forward. Through raw testimony, poetic movement, and unflinching honesty, the piece honors the strength of survivors and the complexity of recovery.

Developed with support from the Prison Society and the Victims Advocates of Pennsylvania, A Body in Motion has sparked dialogue and reflection across prisons, communities, universities, and national conferences.

A moving tribute to those who’ve been broken — and choose to rebuild.

Following a prison tour and following the first production at Grateford prison….a reflection I recorded:

After an extensive security check, the cast and I met with the prison guard in the cafeteria before the show. He gave us the facts: “They don’t have to stay. This is an optional activity and the last concert we had started with 500 inmates and ended up with 5. They don’t have to stay.” I looked at the actors, these brave, bold performers who were about to step onto a stage in an old gym knowing they may lose their audience. Wow. This is how the show started.

No one left.

When the inmates stood to their feet for a standing ovation at the end, the actors cried at their bow of gratitude. So did I. Not because of the bravery of the performers, but because of the bravery of the audience. To sit through it. Stories of violence, many of them had committed. Stories of transcendence, many of them had yet to know. Their humanity overwhelmed me. And the holiness of the moment shook me to my core.

“I’ve read about how victims feel and I’ve been through counseling,” one Pennsylvania prisoner told actors after they performed “A Body in Motion” at his medium-security state prison. “But this is the first time I’ve really felt it. This is the first time I felt the rage. This is the first time I’ve stopped thinking about my own victimhood.”

DoveTale

Co-written with Ted Swartz and Lee Eshelman.

DoveTale is a humorous and heart-rending take on the Christmas story, is a writing/performance collaboration between Ingrid De Sanctis and Ted & Lee TheaterWorks (Ted Swartz and Lee Eshleman),who have toured the production nationally since 1997. The play finds gentle humor and moments of epiphany as Mary (Ingrid), Joseph (Ted), and Gabriel (Lee) stumble through the gritty realities and humanity of the Christmas story. The cast members play many minor characters, also, to keep the laughter flowing. Included are: a couple of earthy Irish shepherds, a befuddled innkeeper, chatty Elizabeth and her mute husband Zechariah, and an inept wedding photographer. From Gabriel’s unexpected arrival (Mary mistakes him for the plumber) to the arrival of the baby, Mary and Joseph must come to terms with the bizarre news that the angel brings, which shakes both their relationship and their souls.

Hands of Clay

As her daughter Martina turns fourteen, Arden finds herself pulled back into the year that changed everything. Haunted by a violation she never fully faced, she hires a private detective to track down the man who shattered her innocence. How does Arden’s journey into the past impact her marriage with Michael, her relationship with her own mother and her daughter? But while Arden dives into the shadows of her past, Martina embarks on a secret journey of her own—navigating the blurred boundaries of adolescence, identity, and the digital world her mother fears.

Hands of Clay is a gripping exploration of memory, protection, and the invisible thread between mothers and daughters?

Orange Blossoms and Old Spice

dance/theatre piece in English/Spanish translations by JMU student Diego Salinas.

Every day, Anna walks her dog past the dance studio on Main Street—an ordinary routine in her quiet life as a fourth-grade teacher. She’s not a dancer, and she knows it. But one day, curiosity overcomes hesitation, and she signs up for a Latin dance class. There, she meets Carlos, her unexpected dance partner, and his cousin—their charismatic instructor with a gift for rhythm and storytelling. As Anna learns the tango, the mambo, and the history woven into each step, she is pulled into stories of border crossings, family, and resilience. Orange Blossoms and Old Spice is a gentle, stirring exploration of how movement connects strangers, how rhythm transcends language, and how dance can awaken us to the world just beyond our front door.

A heartfelt celebration of connection, culture, and the courage to step into the unfamiliar.

Sarah and the Dinosaur

Developed with Sarah Elizabeth Pharis

This is not your typical cancer play. Sarah & The Dinosaur is an unorthodox, funny, heartbreaking, and brutally honest journey through life with metastatic ocular melanoma. Sarah is a beloved kindergarten teacher, the play follows her as she learns to live with cancer—not die from it. Not yet. In Sarah’s world, the cancer that started in her eye and spread to her liver takes the form of a Dinosaur. It’s not purple. It’s not friendly. It follows her everywhere. It’s tired. It’s guilty. It’s hungry. As Sarah tries to hold on to her identity, her humor, and her joy, she must also contend with this surreal, ever-present creature that feeds off her life while insisting it means no harm. Interwoven with excerpts from Sarah’s real-life blog, Sarah & The Dinosaur blends sharp wit, raw emotion, and imaginative storytelling to explore what it truly means to live with terminal illness—and how laughter, honesty, and even absurdity can become lifelines in the face of the unknown. Based on the life and writings of the late Sarah Elizabeth Pharis.

A tribute to resilience, imagination, and the quiet bravery of choosing life—every single day.

Stained Glass

As a hurricane barrels toward New Jersey, Jewels returns home for her estranged father’s funeral—a once-revered Pentecostal pastor who lost his church and family in a sexual scandal twenty years earlier. But Jewels isn’t just here to mourn; she’s here to uncover the truth. Over the course of a stormy and surreal visit, she seeks out four women—victims, lovers, and friends of her father—each holding a piece of the past wrapped in silence and scripture. As Jewels breaks through their guarded stories, she enters a world where Bible verses echo like spells, childhood icons like Moses, Tinker Bell, Cinderella, and the Little Mermaid come to life, and the winds of grief and revelation swirl together. Stained Glass is a poetic and magical journey through faith, family, and the fictions we’re raised on. In the eye of the storm, Jewels must decide what to bury, what to believe, and what to become.

A haunting exploration of legacy, belief, and the sacred mess of coming home.

The Three of Us

Louie and Eddie haven’t spoken in over two years. But when their mother enters hospice, the estranged brothers must reunite and honor a promise they made long ago—to be there for her in her final days. Louie is a high-functioning attorney with a perfectly organized mind. Eddie is a children's book writer with a messy heart and a chaotic charm. As they navigate hospital schedules, old grudges, hospice nurses, and the slow, sacred unraveling of goodbye, they're forced to confront not only the looming loss of their mother, but the fragile, fractured bond between them. Will two weeks be enough to mend what's been broken? Or will Oreos and shared tears be just another pause in a lifelong pattern of misunderstanding? The Three of Us is a tender, surprising funny, and raw exploration of grief, forgiveness, and the strange, beautiful work of becoming family again.

The Three of Us is two characters and ideal to be performed in kitchens.

Because sometimes, the hardest goodbye is to the version of each other we thought we’d already let go.

the things I forgot

In this solo play, a preacher's daughter revisits her faith, her family and the victims of a sexual scandal, which tore her family apart nearly 40 years before. Inspired by Ingrid’s own Pentecostal roots, the things i forgot is a theatre experience that inspires and challenges audiences to think about their own journeys through faith and family. Sponsored by a grant from the Center for Art, Humor and Soul, reinvents Ingrid’s original play, Stained Glass, into a carousel of characters, stories, and memories written and performed by Ingrid De Sanctis, as part of her first full-length solo performance.

CONTENT WARNING: Contains adult sexual content and language, deals with traumatic experiences

TORBA

Torba follows Amy, an idealistic American peace worker, arriving in the war-torn Balkans just as the conflict draws to a close. Expecting to bring change, Amy soon discovers that she herself will be transformed by the people, the land, and the complex legacy of violence and survival around her. Structured as a poignant collage, the play unfolds through stories sparked by items people packed when fleeing their homes. Each object pulled from their “torba” (bag) brings the past vividly to life, revealing the human stories behind the headlines. Despite the unimaginable hardships of war and its aftermath, Torba celebrates resilience—showing how family, friendship, humor, and grace become lifelines. Weaving past, present, and future, the play explores the fragile balance between justice and mercy, and how forgiveness can rise from even the deepest scars.

Based on Amy Gopp’s four years as a peace worker and the extraordinary people she encountered, Torba is a moving testament to courage, compassion, and hope.

Walls

Inspired by alumni Paul Holland and written with assistance from students in Advanced Playwriting (2017–2018), Walls follows newly engaged Abigail and Carver as a DNA test sparks an all-night conversation.

They believed they had explored what it meant to be an interracial couple—but tonight, their histories resurface with unexpected force. The past invades their present moment, history seeping through walls and time, shaping their vows and the future they hope to build.

Though the scenes of the past remain invisible to Abigail and Carver, their impact is undeniable—challenging Abigail and Carver to confront where they came from and what story they will choose to tell together.

One Acts and Short Plays

Dinner With Pop

At a quiet cemetery on the edge of town in the middle of the night, two estranged sisters reunite at their father’s grave. Angela, the younger, comes bearing a Tupperware of his favorite spaghetti, hoping for peace, closure, and maybe one-sided conversation with the man who never really listened in life. But when Shannon, the ever-uninvited older sister, arrives unannounced—with opinions, and no regard for Angela’s ritual—the meal Agela hoped to have with her father spirals into a chaotic, bitter, and unexpectedly tender reckoning over grief, guilt, and garlic bread. A story about what we carry, what we bury, and the mess we leave behind.

First Five

You’ve set the perfect table, imagining the ideal five guests to share your space. But what if— instead of your preferred five—you invited the five people you least want at the table?

In First Five, a host wrestles with justifying why she shouldn’t invite those she disagrees with or considers enemies. With sharp wit and honest doubt, she confronts her fears and excuses. Following her closely is a mysterious guest, waiting to see if they’ll be welcomed.

Originally inspired by the essay “Extending the Table,” this intimate two-character piece challenges us to consider: What could happen if we extended our invitation beyond comfort and conflict?

A powerful meditation on inclusion, fear, and the courage to invite difference.

Devising Projects and Collaborations

Again and Again and Again

Developed with JMU Dance Professor Emeritus Kate Trammel

A movement and text piece featuring two women who explore the question: how do we begin again and again and again? This powerful work delves into the resilience of women as they face life’s profound changes—whether a new job, loss, birth, divorce, or the challenge of breast cancer. Through evocative movement and spoken word, the piece illuminates the ongoing journey of renewal, celebrating strength, vulnerability, and transformation.

DoveTale

Co-written with Ted Swartz and Lee Eshelman.

Esperanza Rising

A one act adaptation based on Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Creative Collaboration with UCF professors/co-directors Megan Alrutz and Vandy Wood

Esperanza is the daughter of a wealthy landowner growing up in Aguascalientes, Mexico. When her father dies, her life turns upside down. Esperanza and her mother must move to America and begin their life anew as migrant workers in California.

Lost in Wonderland

Music by Andrew Morrissey/Book by Ingrid De Sanctis

Lost in Wonderland invites audiences into the whimsical yet unsettling world of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass—but this time, through the eyes of Lewis Carroll himself.

As Carroll follows his beloved Alice through the fantastical realm he created, he begins to see that Wonderland is not as enchanting as he once believed. What was imagined as a playful escape reveals unexpected darkness and complexity.

A haunting, poetic journey that reexamines a classic tale from its creator’s perspective, exploring the fine line between imagination and reality.

Home on the Field

A one act adaptation based on A Home on the Field by award winning investigative reporter and author Paul Cuadros.

Paul Cuadros packed his bags and moved south and it became his goal to show the growing numbers of Latino youth that their lives could be more than working the poultry plants, that finishing high school and heading to college could be a reality. Knowing that devotion to something bigger than them would be the key to helping the boys find where they fit in the world. The answer was soccer.

Love Stuff

written with Ted Swartz

A theatrical exploration of human foibles around the themes of love and romance. Love Stuff. Stuff About Love explores what goes right, but mostly what goes wrong. What happens when some one wears a wedding dress to the first date or if there is a Bachelor show for the out of work but lots of potential bachelors or what if a box of chocolates are the real love in your life? Ted and Ingrid will poke fun at almost everyone, but especially themselves. A smattering of original scenes, monologues, and stories that will make you laugh until you cry or cry until you laugh.

{re}written

An original devised production created and performed by students in collaboration with faculty from the JMU School of Theatre and Dance.

What if you could change a single memory—alter it, recall it, or erase it entirely? The Lethe Memory Project invites a select group of individuals to experience a groundbreaking new product that allows them to manipulate their memories in ways never before possible. Through a dynamic blend of text, movement, and music, {re}written delves into the profound impact memory has on our identity and the way our past shapes who we are. What happens when we tamper with our memories? Can altering or removing them truly change us for the better? Or will we lose something essential in the process? Prepare for a thrilling journey of discovery. Contains adult language,

whachagonnadu?

Developed in 2002, this powerful production emerged from a collaboration with young people from the Bronx, responding directly to the profound impact of the events of 9/11. Born out of the urgency to understand and process a changed world, the play gave voice to a generation grappling with grief, fear, resilience, and hope.

From its inception, the work toured extensively, reaching audiences across New York, Virginia, Indiana, and Pennsylvania through January 2005. Each performance fostered dialogue, reflection, and community healing, marking it as a vital artistic response to one of the most pivotal moments in recent history.

This production stands as a testament to the courage and creativity of young artists confronting trauma and transformation, reminding us of the power of theatre to inspire empathy and connection in the face of adversity.

what we bring. what we take. what we leave.

Co-writer with Ted Swartz

what we Bring. what we Take. what we Leave. is a collage of stories capturing the rich, evolving experience of being a student at EMU over the past one hundred years. Through vivid snapshots of campus landmarks—from Lehman Auditorium to Oakwood and the Discipleship Center—this production explores how place shapes identity, memory, and community. But above all, it’s about the people: the friends, mentors, and strangers who leave lasting marks on our lives. Commissioned by Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) homecoming committee, we spent a year interviewing and gathering key moments in history to present this on Homecoming weekend celebrating EMU’s 100 year annniversaty.

A heartfelt tribute to history, connection, and the places we call home

Word on the Street

Written with Aaron Reynolds and music by Greg Ferguson

An imaginative adaptation of the Christmas story set in a modern cityscape where Joseph is a graffiti artist. As he and Mary navigate their extraordinary journey, traditional Christmas carols are reinvented with urban rhythm and soul, breathing new life into a timeless tale.

Word on the Street blends faith, art, and the spirit of the season in a fresh, edgy celebration of hope, creativity, and community.