NOT YOUR MOTHER’S GOOSE! is a high-energy, laugh-out-loud romp through Gooseville, where nursery rhymes come to life—and fall apart in the most delightful way! When Hickory the clock-mouse ditches his post, the enchanted Tickety-Tock Clock grinds to a halt, unleashing chaos: time unravels, day turns to night without warning, and rain refuses to fall. With the 100th Annual Peter Pumpkin Eater Harvest Festival at stake, it’s up to the ever-rhyming Mother Goose, the mischievous Itsy-Bitsy Spider, precocious Jack, contrary Mary, and a lovable cast of nursery rhyme characters to restore order. Full of clever wordplay, wild schemes, magical mishaps, and heartwarming lessons about friendship and community, NOT YOUR MOTHER’S GOOSE! is a fast-paced theatrical farce that turns childhood classics upside down—and right-side up again.
Cast Size: 6
Trespassers
When a progressive suburban attorney invites his son—freshly pardoned for crimes committed during the January 6th uprising—into the upscale home he shares with his African-American partner, the reunion explodes into a darkly comic battle over guns, race, and America’s fractured pride. Blending tense domestic realism with sharply satirical humor, TRESPASSERS creates a world in which menace and laughter live side by side. The result is an unsettling portrait of a nation in crisis, asking whether reconciliation is even possible when ideology, prejudice, and denial trespass into our most intimate spaces.
The Light and the Dark
Based on the true story of Artemisia Gentileschi, the most successful female artist of her era. At the height of the Italian Renaissance, Artemisia Gentileschi dreams of immortality—of changing humanity’s very image. She wants to become one of the truly great painters; a maestro—and she’s willing to fight to get there. But a series of brutal betrayals forever alters her life and art… kindling a flame that continues to astonish and inspire today.
Written by one of America’s most popular playwrights, THE LIGHT AND THE DARK is a “feminist primal scream”—a bold, deep-thinking examination of art’s ability to transcend trauma, the power of the feminist gaze, and the transformative power of female rage in reshaping societal paradigms.
Gravity
GRAVITY takes place in the rooms of Isaac Newton at Cambridge University in September, 1693, when Newton went through what subsequent biographers would call a “discomfiture of the mind.” Newton’s tragic past, conflicted sexuality, heretical religious beliefs, and alchemical experimentation had led him to lock himself away in his rooms in an attempt to complete his greatest work. It features Newton’s friend, the philosopher John Locke, and Newton’s nemesis, Dr. Robert Hooke, a brilliant polymath and devoted ladies’ man, whose jealousy of Newton unhinged him from time to time. Finally, the play features the mysterious woman with whom Newton became “embroiled.”
Diversion
Emilia is a devoted nurse in an ICU unit, highly regarded by her boss, Bess, and her peers: Amy, Mike, and the new hire Mandy, who Emilia has taken under her wing. When it’s discovered that someone on the unit is stealing medicine, the nurses are unsettled, particularly when an outsider shows up, effectively placing them all under a microscope. When the culprit is finally revealed, the nurses must fight to save themselves and the integrity of the unit.
The Name Jar
After her first day of school in America, a young, Korean, immigrant girl decides to change her name to something “easer to pronounce.” With the enthusiastic help of her new classmates, she soon has a jar filled with exciting new names. Will she choose a new name? Or will she find value in her own?
The Scarlet Letter
A visceral exploration of “original sin,” Kate Hamill’s highly-theatrical, vital reimagining of The Scarlet Letter follows strong-willed, intelligent Hester Prynne as she tries to find her own moral compass and raise her daughter in a society that harshly punishes women for independent thought, sexuality, or defiance. Hester and the other Massachusetts Bay colonists—including her guilt-ridden lover and her estranged husband—struggle with their own deeply-ingrained shame, as they debate what transgressions might truly be “unforgivable”… and learn how violence, superstition, repression, and uncomfortable truths may shape the land that will become America.
Paint Night
Imagine STEEL MAGNOLIAS with modern day issues, as six women gather for a much-needed girls’ night out. The plan is to eat, drink and create works of art at a local Paint and Sip night studio while celebrating a bride to be. But as the alcohol flows, so do their thoughts on motherhood and womanhood, and their carefully curated lives get hilariously and heartbreakingly real. PAINT NIGHT is about the powerful way women support each other in an unpredictable world and what happens when we put down our cellphones, truly connect, and paint outside the lines of our comfort zone.
Mr. Dickens’ Hat
On the darkest night of the year—December 21, 1865—a humble Victorian shop becomes the unlikely setting for a thrilling adventure. At its center is the real-life hat of Charles Dickens, once used to carry water to train wreck victims. When two thieves plot to steal the hat, young Kit embarks on an unforgettable journey to stop their scheme and rescue her father from debtors’ prison.
Set in the heart of 19th-century London, MR. DICKENS’ HAT is a witty and heartfelt play-with-songs that blends Dickensian storytelling with playful theatricality. Featuring nine original “Victorian carols” and a diverse cast of colorful characters, it offers a suspenseful, sentimental, and joy-filled tale perfect for winter programming. Not a Christmas show per se—but rich with the warmth, wonder, and generosity audiences seek each December.
Journey to the Poles of Inaccessibility
Indiana Jones meets Around the World in 80 Days in this fantastical romcom! Dylan likes his safe life, working at an insurance company and living with his wheelchair-bound aunt. Then he meets Chris, a young woman of boundless energy, who’s convinced magic is real and the last of it may be found at the world’s most remote places, the Poles of Inaccessibility. Fate intervenes and Dylan must circle the globe with Chris on an epic journey of discovery, comedy, danger, and love.
Funnyman
New York City, 1959. Fading vaudeville comic Chick Sherman, along with his long-suffering agent, tries to revive his career with a role in an avant-garde off-Broadway play. While his grown daughter searches for answers from her absentee showbiz father, a lifetime of private and professional struggles rise to the surface, cracking the polished public persona of the world’s favorite former “funny man.”
The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin
During the Chinese Exclusion Act, Harry Chin, a Chinese national, entered the U.S. by buying forged documentation. Like other “Paper Sons,” Harry lived the rest of his life keeping secrets—even from his daughter. Told through the eyes of a middle-aged Chin, THE PAPER DREAMS OF HARRY CHIN reveals the complicated loves and regrets of this Chinese immigrant. Through dreamlike leaps of time and space and with the powerful assistance of ghosts, the story of the Chin family reveals the personal and political repercussions of making groups of people “illegal”.