Writing

I write a newsletter about creative growth and staying tender.

I've written non-fiction about 90s LiveJournal in The Toast and about loving a sibling with drug addiction in The Rumpus. I've written fiction published in places like Little Fiction, WhiskeyPaper, Sundog Lit, and Hobart.

I have an MFA from Lesley University and I first studied fiction at an Iowa Writers Workshop summer residency.

Essays

In Celebration of Old-School LiveJournal | The Toast
Also published in Re-Coded: A nonfiction anthology about our digital lives (pub. Little Fiction/Big Truths)
He Doesn’t Wanna Be Here | The Rumpus

Short stories

But Nobody Did | Little Fiction
Bring It On Home to Me *** | WhiskeyPaper
Number-One Earthly Reason | Sundog Lit
Love Me Tender | Counterexample Poetics
I Guess That Makes It Alright | Counterexample Poetics
A Very Tiny Bowl of Frosted Flakes | Hobart
Beetroot** | Sundog Lit
Monologue | Storm Cellar
Ants | Smokelong Quarterly
Shelter * | WhiskeyPaper
The Gulf | Bluestem
Night * | Necessary Fiction
Nightcrawler | Storychord

* Nominated for 2013 storySouth Million Writers Award
** Wigleaf’s Top 50 for 2014 longlist
*** Nominated for a Pushcart Prize

Recent voiceover work

I can narrate your ad, book, video: lindseymarkel@gmail.com

What do you wonder?

School of Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Illinois

About Biodiesel

Michigan Advanced Biofuels Coalition

Unique Illinois: Game Studies & Design

University of Illinois

Barb / Character voices

Saints Row (2022)

Innovation at Illinois

University of Illinois

Homecoming at Illinois

University of Illinois

Acting work

I love scenes that shift every night. I love being in heated familiar arguments and clear-eyed monologues and quiet scenes where barely anyone speaks and loud mayhem with slamming doors. I love quick changes barely offstage and when stage lights look like sunlight and I love the sound of the audience quieting when the play begins and I love all of it, all of it.

Film acting

Jennifer in Crop Dust by Thomas Nicol & Andrew Gleason
Susan in Super Amazing Man vs. Dr. Evil for Pens to Lens
Inquisitive fan in Writer's Block for Pens to Lens
Wanda in Wanda and Pickles Discover the Earth by Anne Lukeman for Pens to Lens
Theresa in Sister and Brother (web series) by Shut Up & Do It Productions
Liz in Sunshine by Andrew Gleason for Pens to Lens
Customer in Big Baby for Dallas & Co. by Sleepy Creek Studios
Mary (VO) in Dark Watch by QuantumCat Animation
Jess in David and Jess Are Jerks. They Also Have Superpowers. by Kill Vampire Lincoln Productions
Goo Servant (VO) in The Goo Party by AJ Christensen for Pens to Lens
Anderson in Office Lifeguard for Coppertone by Sleepy Creek Studios
Claire in The Thinking Molecules of Titan by Forced Perspective Entertainment
Janey in The Light by Tim Meyers
Georgette in Scary Normal by Hot Diggity Productions

Recent onstage acting

2022

Paul in 10 out of 12 by Anne Washburn / Parkland Theatre (Feb. 2022)

2020

Marjorie in The Moors by Jen Silverman / Station Theatre

2019

Pony in The Realistic Joneses by Will Eno / Station Theatre
Nina in Stupid Fucking Bird by Aaron Posner / Station Theatre
Emmy Helmer in A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath / Station Theatre

2018

Grace Kiefaber in Interior: Panic by Tennessee Williams (staged reading) / Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis
Karen Weston in August: Osage County by Tracy Letts / Station Theatre

2016

Aimee in The Night Alive by Conor McPherson / Station Theatre
Director, The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord by Scott Carter / Station Theatre

2014

Alex in A Kid Like Jake by Daniel Pearle / Station Theatre
Nina in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang / Station Theatre

See a long list of plays I did from 2003 through 2013

Hi hi hi

I was born in 1983. I grew up with my parents and little brother on a corn and soybean farm in rural Illinois.

I loved reading in the grass and watching the trees. I was a member of a small theatre where kids learned to put on theatre by doing Shakespeare and ancient Greek plays. I loved the internet. I loved driving fast in the country with the windows down and all the gravel dust swirling in.

I still love all the same things. I still get onstage to do Shakespeare. Still stay up late to read. Still roll down all the windows.

I make good Spotify playlists every month if you want to listen.