Joe will play Michael in the Redtwist Theatre regional premiere of How to Transcend a Happy Marriage by Sarah Ruhl.
Joe's newest reel includes his recent work on NBC's Chicago Fire and Emperor of Ocean Park on MGM+.
Joe's script Hellmouth, a neo-medieval pageant play about the 1980s Satanic Panic, was featured in Red Theatre's Sundays at Red reading series. Previously, Hellmouth was workshopped at Invulnerable Nothings' Barn Lab 2.0 in coastal Maine.
Joe played Friar Laurence in Midsommer Flight's free production of Romeo and Juliet, touring to six different Chicago Parks.
Joe's short quarantine film Feed, written, shot, and edited in one weekend at his home in Ann Arbor during the initial lockdown, was a finalist in the Without Precedent 48-Hour Film Festival and most recently an official selection in Haven Theater's Festival Au Cinema.
Rondo à la Bongo", a three-character short comedy Joe wrote for young actors at Piven Theater, has been collected in the YouthPLAYS anthology And Hilarity Ensued (Pursued by a Bear).
Joe won a Wilde Award for Best Lead Actor in a Play for his performance as Watson in Open Book Theater's production of The (curious case of) the Watson Intelligence.
Principal Principle, nominated for the Non-Equity Jeff Award for Best New Work, is now available from Dramatic Publishing. If you are considering producing Principal Principle, please read this note about casting.
Joe on Actor's Access | Joe's Resumé
"I felt almost guilty for laughing so hard." Kym Reinstadler, Encore Michigan
"Zarrow's all-in performance was, for me, the true standout." Jenn McKee, We Love Ann Arbor
Winner, 2020 Wilde Award for Best Actor in a Play
"Mr. Zarrow does an excellent job of changing characters...Zarrow’s humanity in his role as artificial-intelligence guy is slightly eerie." David Kiley, Encore Michigan
"The three who deserve the most praise are the trio at the center of the story: Cyd Blakewell, Gabriel Franken, and Joe Zarrow, playing three small-minded but well-meaning small-town cops, each of whom wants desperately to turn the story of a young girl dying of a mysterious disease at Christmas into a heartwarming made-for-TV movie." Jack Helbig, Chicago Reader (Recommended)
"Zarrow displays a natural comedic timing and ease." Raymond Pierce, Chicago Stage Standard
"It's a testament to Zarrow's standout performance that Alan never feels like a trope, conveying with gentle smiles and a few barbs what a mixed blessing his perfect memory can be." Allison Shoemaker, Time Out Chicago
"The real standouts however, are Amy Rubenstein (Jane) and Joe Zarrow (Alan). Their complexities are so strong and unique, we can't help but latch on." Sean Margaret Wagner, Windy City Times
| Romeo and Juliet | Friar Laurence | Midsommer Flight | dir. Beth Wolf |
| Big Love | Piero | [producingbody] | dir. Amy Carpenter |
| Household Spirits | Leo | Theater Wit | dir. Eileen Tull |
| Remote | Joe | BoHo Theater | dir. Ruben Carrazana |
| The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence | Watson | Open Book Theater | dir. Krista Schafer-Ewbank |
| Comedy of Tenors | Max | Tipping Point Theater | dir. Angie Kane |
| The Totalitarians | Jeffrey | Theater Nova | dir. Carla Milarch |
| This | Alan | Windy City Playhouse | dir. Carl Menninger |
| No Wake | Teddy and Roger (u/s) | Route 66 Theater | dir. Kimberly Senior |
| Bulrusher | Schoolch | Congo Square | dir. TaRon Patton |
| Engines and Instruments of Flight | Tony Kushner | Goodman (workshop) | dir. Seth Bockley |
| Midsummer Night's Dream | Bottom | Sankofa | dir. Edgar Sanchez |
| Arcadia | Chater | New Leaf Theater | dir. Jess Hutchinson |
| Buddy Cop 2 | Officer McMurchie | Pavement Group | dir. Cassy Sanders |
| Walk Two Moons | Dad/Mister Birkway | Adventure Stage | dir. Matthew Reeder |
| Unwilling and Hostile Instruments | Joe | Theater Seven of Chicago | dir. Elly Green |
| The Hijabis | Enemble | Medina/Broken Nose | dir. Reza Mirsajadi |
| Hamlet | Gravedigger/First Player | Amber Gensterblum | dir. Amber Gensterblum |
| 200 Funny Things | Improv Ensemble | Collaboraction | dir. Steven Ivcich |
| Lies and Liars | Marcel | Theater Seven of Chicago | dir. Margot Bordelon |
| The Seagull | Treplev | Another Theater Company | dir. Michael Kier |
| As You Like It | Adam/Corin | Gorilla Rep | dir. Lauren Smith |
| Raskol | Detective Perfidy | Vintage Theater Company | dir. David Amaral |
| War of the Genies | Nigel the Evil Genie | Adventure Stage (workshop) | dir. Joanie Schultz |
| Hold Me, Drill Me, Kiss Me | Original Solo Show | Winnipeg, DC Fringe Fests | dir. Alix Sobler |
| Looptopia | Mad Scientist | Redmoon | dir. Seth Bockley |
Joe's profile on the New Play Exchange.
For many people since 2020, being together is harder than being alone. I was an only child, so it always has been. The neighborhood kids were up for hide and seek, but they never accepted my invitations to come play Risk (wisely; it’s tedious). I’d play all the armies myself, rooting for my favorite colors to win. Those games of Risk were my first plays. My parents, a born-again Catholic and a secular Jew, familiarized me with the dialectics of irreconcilable differences from an early age. I could tell from their marriage that life is full of perilous choices that change your life forever, often for the worse. That’s a pretty good metaphor for the drama I write: plays about insoluble problems, plays that attempt to teach us how to be together in one place. Also, the plays are funny.
Read the script at Dramatic Publishing
If you are considering producing Principal Principle, please read this note about casting.
Photo by Emily Schwartz
Armed only with her dreams of making the world a better place and six weeks of training, Kay Josephs quits her corporate job to teach English in an urban high school. She wakes up to harsh realities: the copy machine is broken, the system is broken, and the spirits of her fellow teachers are broken. Or are they? A dark comedy of academic intrigue.
"There are very few excellent plays about public education. This is one."
- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
"★★★★ This clear-eyed glimpse into the teachers' lounge makes hearty laughs part of an all too relevant lesson plan."
- Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago
"Former public school teacher Joe Zarrow achieves something remarkable...an entertaining play about education that re-creates all the quirks and craziness of modern education without lapsing into either cynical hopelessness or Hollywood-style superteacher fantasies. His dialogue feels authentic, and his characters are flawed but likable human beings, not mouthpieces for this or that ideology."
- Jack Helbig, Chicago Reader
"Engaging, intelligent, and important. Highly recommended."
- Peter Thomas Ricci, Chicago Theater Review
Barker and her ensemble of 'demon' actors are putting on a wild outdoor show called Hellmouth: a neo-medieval pageant retelling of the 1980s Satanic Panic through a wide array of vignettes, ranging from stand-up comedy to medieval pageant to intimate two-person scenes to puppet courtroom drama. Unexpectedly, Barker's born-again Mom shows up and gradually insinuates herself into the show in an attempt to reconnect with her daughter.
Princess Priscilla has died by suicide, and the King tearfully delivers her eulogy. After the funeral, Priscilla's ghost appears to the brave and hot-headed Sir Ambrose. Priscilla reveals to Ambrose that the King repeatedly sexully assaulted her through childhood. She wants Ambrose to 'set things right,' but with two requirements: no violence, and no dungeons. Give Up the Ghost is a revenge tragedy without revenge, examining how we can move society towards a more enlightened vision of justice.
A Chicago-based nonprofit director disappeared to a retreat in rural Wisconsin months ago, and in his absence the board has started firing staff left and right. One by one, they run to the woods to find new identities, new purpose, and new love. A modern update of Shakespeare's As You Like It.
A beloved comic book superheroine is finally getting her own feature film, but some fans are very unhappy with the casting. A universe-hopping play about geek culture, race, and keeping your story straight.
Domestic drone operator Boyd should be doing well: he has a loving wife, a supportive business partner, and a clean bill of health after a bout with cancer. Instead, he's so acutely desperate to escape his body that he turns to a mad scientist for help in this dark comedy about the mind-body problem.
a gentrification farce
Photo by Stephan Mazurek
"Without a doubt, one can arrive unprepared for Joe Zarrow's new play, The Pigeons, produced by Walkabout Theater, at Swim Cafe's space. It's easily the cleverest, foxiest and physically wildest farce I've seen since, well, forever."
- Paige Listerud, Chicago Theater Blog
"Very funny satire."
- Laura Molzahn, Chicago Reader (Recommended)
Captain Talosi attempts one last interstellar love connection as alien troops board the Starship Hieronymus. A monologue written to be performed via Zoom to an audience of one.
Photo by Shane Simmons
At a small town high school's active shooter drill, the backdrop of blank shots and bullet hole makeup inspires two teens and two adults to explore what is real in their world. Written for The Appetizer Plays speed playwriting festival.
A science-fictional exploration of the transformational power of karaoke. Includes robots, pandas, and the Gettysburg Address.
Sibling rivalry, a circle of vengeance-wreaking, and a cat named Bongo with an unfortunate haircut. A fun short play for young actors, commissioned for the Piven Theater Scene Study Class.
Film still by Francesca Pazniokas
"Kodak Shirley" was the colloquial term for the models whose faces were used to calibrate color film printers. This time-hopping exploration of race and photographic technology was commissioned for Broken Nose Theater's Bechdel Fest.
A Chicagoan confronts the city's parking violation bureaucracy.
Photos by Ian McLaren
Styling by Katherine Bourne Taylor
