Projects
Tess Rowan loves to work on original productions and explore new, relevant ideas through theater, film, and writing.
Your Carving Footprint
Playwright/Director/Music Accompaniment/Guitarist
Your Carving Footprint is an immersive one-act conservationist comedy about acting out against the inevitable. Teenage couple, Bobbi and Simon, have one hour left at their hideout until Bobbi’s parent’s construction company tears down Zone B of the South Valley Parkland Forest. Before sunrise dawns, Bobbi and Simon must discover if it’s best to sit and wait for fate to take over, or try and control the uncontrollable. This interactive play of petition signing, tree stabbing, and paper airplane projectiles brought a natural disaster to the Saxon Stage Black Box.
Tess turned a school black box into an intimate in-the-round forest junkyard for the first ever in-person production of Saxon Stage After Hours, the playwriting, directing, and student-run productions group that Tess co-founded and is co-captain of. On the way into the theater, audiences could pass by a donation booth, benefitting the Northern Virginia Conservationist Trust, as well as Sandy Hook Promise, relating to the themes of one-acts, Your Carving Footprint, and 26 Pebbles. Tess also put together an Earth Day ticketless live stream event, encouraging support and optional donations for the Virginia Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.
Saxon Stage After Hours ('21-'22.)
Featured in the NoVa Outside Student Environmental Action Showcase, along with a display of Tess's collection of original eco-friendly upcycled mosaic musical instruments. ('22.)
Break My Bones
Playwright
Break My Bones is about finding balance, as Lily fights to craft the perfect eulogy to heal all wounds and stitch together the broken bones. Patrick, Andrew, and Lily surpass worlds on an exploratory journey to bring back life.
The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Young Playwrights Festival ('20)
Mr. Stranger
Playwright/Director
Newly single Leah and her confidant, Maggie imagine whimsical ideals and fatal destinies that could ensue with the unidentifiable teenage enigma, Mr. Stranger. An odd day in the park may lead to young love or a strange family Friday game night in this upbeat ten-minute comedy.
Dramafest ('19)
Published and available for licensing through
Smith & Kraus Publishers ('20)
Static: Noise of a New Musical
Book/Music/Lyrics - Director/Actor/Musician
Radio Morse Code. The Appalachian Trail. A Teen Detective Mission.
WTOP Top Kid Award ('20)
Capital Fringe Festival ('22)
Pie from the Pattersons
Playwright/Director
Penelope and Sawyer Patterson struggle with saying "sorry," but this pair of twins must give an apology in the only way they know how: with pie. It's all up to cat-caregiver and cooking-connoisseur, Mrs. Margery to decide whether or not these Patterson twins can be redeemed for their fatal mistake. Eccentric characters, rolling dialogue, diverging alliances, and a kitchen-equipped bloodbath are baked into this offbeat one-act comedy.
Dramafest ('20)
Published and available for licensing through
Smith & Kraus Publishers ('22)
The Second Date
Co-Director/Sound/Music
A nostalgic romantic comedy short film about two teens, a failed performance troupe, and the stresses of young love.
After Hours ('22)
