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.
Genre: Drama
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.
Downstate
This title is currently restricted in the UK
In downstate Illinois, four men convicted of sex crimes against minors share a group home where they live out their lives in the shadow of the crimes they committed. A man shows up to confront his childhood abuser—but does he want closure or retribution? This gripping and provocative new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Bruce Norris zeroes in on the limits of our compassion as it questions what happens when society deems anyone beyond forgiveness.
Chlorine Sky
“Ok, so boom. / We ain’t friends anymore.”
Sky and Lay Li were always in sync. But now their rhythms are changing; Sky likes swimming, and Lay Li is all about beauty. Sky, basketball; Lay Li, boys. Things make more sense underwater and on the court. This adaptation of Mahogany L. Browne’s popular young adult novel, CHLORINE SKY, is an intimate coming-of-age story told in verse about two girls who are best friends—until they aren’t. Sometimes, growing up means growing apart.
12 Million Footsteps
January 28, 2017. An executive order signed by the President sends three complicated and lost individuals wandering on their own homebound odysseys. As one searches for his lost father, another searches for his detained uncle, and another searches for connection to her faraway home. Searching for hope and for home, their lives become entwined with Homer’s ancient text in beautiful and life-altering ways.
Hoopla!
The fifth-grade talent show is approaching, and everyone at Baldwin Elementary is abuzz. Winston wants to win the show with his cheerleading routine and prove he’s more than the awful nickname everyone calls him: Fishboy. Introverted artist Gina wants nothing to do with the show, and she knows the overzealous (and unpleasant) twins, Randy, and Brandy, will probably win anyway. But with the persistence of Elliott, the school’s new kid and resident rebel, these unlikely friends form “Hoopla,” a dazzling hula hooping trio and help each other navigate the pressures of being a kid.
The Last Wide Open
This 2-hander play with music explores the multiplicity of the immigrant experience through the lens of an earnest meditation on love and the metaverse. Lina and Roberto’s lives intersect and parallel as three alternate realities unfold. The play renders the near hits and misses of two worn out restaurant workers and the mystical ways the universe conspires to bring us all together. Think: Groundhog’s Day meets Frankie and Johnny.
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 Spoken Word
Germany in 1943. America in 2033. This charged play follows young adults separated by time and place, united by their resistance to the government oppression they’re surrounded by. In 2033, a group of protestors in hiding begin receiving cryptic text messages. Is it possible that they’re somehow being sent from 1940s anti-Nazi activist Sophie Scholl and other members of the famed White Rose resistance group? And if they are receiving these messages, why?
UnResigned
Alejandro has revolutionized student government at his Pennsylvania high school and changed it for the better, so when he unexpectedly resigns from being student body president halfway through his senior year, the entire school is shaken. Who will take over? Who should take over? This exciting play looks at the ways we contribute to our community, the power of the vote, and what it means to be a United States citizen.