The story of two older women navigating the perils of aging in suburban Detroit. Virginia Campbell was a longtime housekeeper for Denise Miller and her family, helping Denise raise her children during a difficult divorce. But when she shows up for work, Denise is very confused. Especially since she thought she had let her go several months ago. When an accident in the kitchen keeps Virginia from being able to walk, Denise offers to care for Virginia until she has healed. Their roles suddenly reversed, they share memories of their lives over the course of Christmas Eve. Soon they learn secrets and bond in a way that they hadn’t been able to in the past.
Cast Size: 2
The Velveteen Rabbit: A Toy Story
Margery Williams’s classic toy story gets a vibrant retelling in this brand new adaptation. When the Child gets the Rabbit for Christmas, she is at first disappointed in her gift. But as the two quest and adventure through her storybooks, both Rabbit and Child grow and care for each other. And they discover that love is the greatest force in the Universe and can make impossible things Real.
The Two Kids That Blow Shit Up
Diana and Max meet at 9 years old, the day their parents start having an affair. In the ensuing decades, they see each other through highs and lows, trying not to make the same mistakes their parents did. A play about trying not to fall in love with your best friend so you end up hating them.
The Magician’s Daughter
The magician Prospero and his daughter Miranda dazzle their audiences until the day Miranda quits. This funny, bittersweet play dives deep into the ups and downs of a father-daughter relationship. Viewer discretion advised if you have a father or a daughter (or know anyone who does).
Off Peak
When two old flames run into each other on the evening commute, different views of the same past threaten to derail their connection. A new play about forgiving, forgetting, and the healing power of a good delay.
Scab
Gilda is a middle-aged American worker and life-long union member. After her factory moves to Mexico, she is tasked with training her replacement, a young Mexican man named Eduardo. The union stands firmly against this retraining but it is the only way Gilda can receive her small, but necessary payout. SCAB is a story of two mismatched workers struggling for survival in modern industrial America.
Hook’s Tale
Captain James Hook (née Cook), badly maligned by a certain play and despised by generations of Peter Pan fans, finally gets to clear his name. The good Captain, with the aid of his friend Smee, tells his life-story in this family-friendly play, recounting his friendship with and ultimate betrayal by Peter Pan, his romance with Tiger Lily, his familial relationship with the Darling family, and his adoption of a lovable crocodile named Daisy. In narrating his tale, he uncovers the hidden treasure of Neverland, discovers the identity of his long-lost father, and learns the importance of growing up and growing old.
A Hit Dog Will Holler
When racism and oppression manifest in a scary, physical form, a social media influencer and a boots-on-the-ground activist form a complex bond of friendship to help each other survive. The play explores the effects of a never-ending barrage of trauma on the women who are continually looked at to lead a movement of resistance and change. What happens when there’s no more outside space for the growing monster that is American racism?
8 Minutes, 20 Seconds
Late one night, a small disagreement erupts into a fight that threatens to end a decade-long marriage. In this 90 minute play, we watch in real time as Ruth and Bo try to get past their disappointments, in life and each other, to answer the question – can you ever really begin again?
Berta, Berta
After committing an unforgivable crime, Leroy is granted one final wish: a chance to make amends with his long-lost lover, Berta. Their reunion swells from a quarrelsome conjuring of the past to an impassioned plot to escape their impending fate.
The Burdens
Adult siblings Mordy and Jane have a problem. Their dreadful, centenarian grandfather is an emotional and financial tax on the family, and he just won’t die. Scheming almost entirely via text messages, the siblings hatch an outrageous plan to relieve themselves of their family’s burdens and their own.
Born With Teeth
“Oh Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!
And so I was, which plainly signified
That I should snarl and bite, play the dog.”
—Henry VI, Part 3, Shakespeare & Marlowe
An aging ruler, an oppressive police state, a restless polarized people seething with paranoia: it’s a dangerous time for poets. Two of them — the great Kit Marlowe and up-and-comer Will Shakespeare — meet in the back room of a pub to collaborate on a history play cycle, navigate the perils of art under a totalitarian regime, and flirt like young men with everything to lose. One of them may well be the death of the other.