A play about family secrets, gossip, colorism, voodoo and the magic of the stories we grow up hearing.
Meet the Berrys, a multi-generational Black family living under one roof in the 1970s. Their lives orbit around Rose, a strong-willed matriarch whose superstitions and secrets drive her relatives nuts. Through pointed wit and playful sarcasm, the family elders share fantastical stories about their collective past that call into question the family hierarchy and inspire the youngest generation to take pride in their heritage (and physical appearance). Tender, comedic conversations between tight-knit relatives are interspersed with moments of intense drama that mirror the internal conflicts every family must face at some point.
Three times a day, every day, a group of young women have the opportunity to die for their country. They are Adolf Hitler’s food tasters. And what do girls discuss as they wait to see if they will live through another meal? Like all girls, throughout time, they gossip and dream, they question and dance. They want to love, laugh, and above all, they want to survive.
A comic-drama set against the bankruptcy of the Motor City. The Smith family doesn’t agree on much, but when their son Johnny comes home for the first time in four years, they reluctantly reconvene to celebrate the father (a failed painter) winning the Yoko Ono Lifetime Achievement Award for Non-Objective Art. In fact, tonight, Sean (the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono) is to come to their house and give the father the award personally. But when a Picasso goes missing from the nearby Detroit Institute for the Arts, the family is suspected and Johnny’s homecoming takes a dramatic turn.
WINNER of the 2021 Tennessee Williams One Act Play Contest
In the near future, a robot named Laura has joined a high school to see if it can learn as humans do. Two girls, Ruth and Teri, decide that the superiority of computers would make Laura the perfect class president. When Laura helps Madison, the school bully, with her math homework, she adopts Laura as her best (and perhaps only) friend, and joins the campaign. After a disastrous assembly ends their election dreams, Madison learns that loneliness can’t be answered by a machine.
Women and men in outrageous shorts! This fast-paced rollicking collection of short plays featuring fantastically funny females and madly misbehaving men is a laugh-out-loud adventure for all. You’ll encounter women who are brilliant, baffling and know a conscience is what hurts when other parts feel sooo good. And you’ll find men who are confident, strong and so brave they dare to drink water…just to surprise their livers.
In these short plays, you’ll meet a social media star on a quest to elevate the mediocre standard of American funeral food. You’ll witness two good ol’ Texas boys desperate to achieve the
impossible—an honest conversation about the meaning of life… and sports. You’ll spend time with two cousins struggling to write a eulogy for a family member—if only they could think of something
positive to say about him. And more!
These delightful short plays build to a rip-roaring climax. In short, you’ll experience the story of all out lives, which boils down to “we knew better, but we did it anyway.” Without a doubt, LICKETY SPLIT is side-splittingly hilarious!
Women in bodacious shorts! This sparkling and raucous comedy offers fast-paced tales about—and starring—strong and sassy females. Women who are intelligent, eccentric, mysterious, baffling, bullheaded and brilliant. As these short plays unfold, you’ll meet Vivacia, a Southern social media star, on a quest to elevate the mediocre standard of American funeral foods. Drop by a Christmas shop where the overworked proprietress unravels as she attempts to train a new crew of “elves” for the holiday tsunami. Spend an afternoon with theatre royalty on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where three theatre legends vie for “best friend” status in the hospital room of their lifelong colleague…and rival. And these are just a few of the unforgettable women you’ll meet in these joyous short plays.
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?
When your survival is at stake… will you be able to distinguish the monster from the man? Both terrifying and riotous, Kate Hamill’s imaginative, gender-bending “feminist revenge fantasy” is like no Dracula you’ve ever seen—exploring the nature of predators and reinventing the story as a smart, disquieting, darkly comic drama. Hamill’s signature style and postmodern wit upends this familiar tale of Victorian vampires—driving a stake through the heart of toxic masculinity.
Emma Woodhouse is clever, educated, and energetic… and in imminent danger of going mad with idleness. In a time when respectable ladies are expected to sit quietly at home, she desperately needs projects—and prides herself on matchmaking, much to the chagrin of her friend Mr. Knightley. But where Emma’s considerable energies focus, screwball comedy follows… A fresh feminist take on a treasured classic, this Emma breaks down convention, expectation, and even the fourth wall with vibrant comic flair—leading audiences “forward, onward, and upward!”
When a sweet-faced couple shows up on a suburban doorstep, an unsuspecting homeowner finds himself the victim of a surreal home invasion. Using wit and wordplay to mask a more sinister threat, the couple wages a battle over indigenous rights from the living room, and we are asked to examine the brutality that fuels our system of private property.
