A writer agrees to help an incarcerated man with his parole statement and embarks on an unexpected journey confronting her own grief.
Length: Full-Length
A full-length play or musical, in one act or two, that is 75 minutes or longer.
Grace’s Land 2.0
Grace is a teenage Spoken Word champion, but can’t seem to complete a simple poetry homework assignment. Accompanied by her piano playing, hip hop dancing and visual artist girlfriends, she designs a virtual land of her own, Grace’s Land 2.0, where they’re free of fixed identities, of the pandemic, of micromanaging parents, and the need to fit into the boxes assigned by others.
Franklinland
The story of growing up as the only son of Benjmain Franklin: the greatest scientific mind in the world, inventor of the lightning rod and the urinary catheter and the glass harmonica and bifocal glasses and, oh yeah, in his spare time the United States of America.
Fairycakes
What happens when those woodland fairies aren’t busy with the business of A Midsummer Night’s Dream? Why, it seems they all have jobs in some of our favorite fairy tales and have very sad love lives—that is, until Puck finds the famous flower touched by Cupid’s arrow. It’s all about love and kindness and accepting change. And it’s funny. Oh, and it rhymes.
Frankenstein
This new, fully faithful stage version of Mary Shelley’s horror classic proves that the novel wasn’t merely ahead of its time, but that it’s as relevant as ever in the 21st Century. Opening and closing in the arctic and telling the full story, not only of Victor Frankenstein, Elizabeth, Henry, and his family, but that of The Creature as well, including the exiled Parisian family and their savior, Safie. As the epic story unfolds and Victor and his Creature go to battle, Shelley’s themes — the responsibility of creation, obsession and revenge, love and hate, and, ultimately, devotion and abandonment — emerge, and as The Creature, bit by bit, destroys Victor’s life, we see that the monster knew more about being human, from the beginning to the tragic conclusion, than its human creator ever did.
Good Hair
At a small Catholic school in 2017, Florence has just been banned from all school related activities thanks to her hair, and is forced to decide how she will make her stand. Inventor Annie Malone’s hair products at the turn of the 20th century revolutionized mobility for Black women, but her biggest supporter and critic, Sarah Breedlove, believes they are only scratching the surface of success. In a fantasy universe, a struggling leader decides to make a deal with a demon to battle against a foe that she will never be able to tame—western beauty standards.
Told through three entangled timelines, Good Hair weaves together the lives of women and the central question: Does the cost of beauty outweigh the proof of science?
Ibsen in Chicago
The world premiere of Ibsen’s controversial play Ghosts took place in Chicago, performed by a group of Scandinavian immigrants: a little known fact. Grimm’s play spins a yarn based on this ‘great reckoning in a little room’ and explores the immigrant experience and opportunities for self re-invention against the backdrop of changing artistic and social mores.
In The Upper Room
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.
H*tler’s Tasters
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.
Foxes
Foxes follows Daniel, a young black man trying to keep up with his life in London’s Caribbean community while balancing his own goals with his family’s expectations. When his relationship with best friend Leon brings an unexpected change it creates turmoil, bringing a taboo into his family home that has the power to tear the closest and most loving relationships apart. A deeply moving and complex story of family, community, and sexual identity.
Shortlisted for the 2018 Alfred Fagon Award, Dexter Flanders’s debut play Foxes explores masculinity and identity within London’s Caribbean community and Black street culture.