At their 10-year college reunion, Aisha and Holly meet by chance. Aisha is a Black, successful playwright; Holly is a white, struggling stand-up comedian. Aisha’s most successful play bears a striking resemblance to a tragic event in Holly’s life. Is it a coincidence or is it theft? They both have a story that they’ve been telling themselves about what happened years ago and they’re both willing to fight for the truth in the present.
Length: Full-Length
A full-length play or musical, in one act or two, that is 75 minutes or longer.
Ernest Shackleton Loves Me
ERNEST SHACKLETON LOVES ME is a critically acclaimed new musical comedy with a tongue-in-cheek script by Tony Award®-winner Joe DiPietro (MEMPHIS and ALL SHOOK UP). In this wildly inventive and romantic adventure, a sleep-deprived single mom who makes her living as a video game music composer is contacted across space and time, via a crossed connection on her mobile phone, by the famous early 20th century polar explorer Ernest Shackleton while he is stranded on an iceberg in the Antarctic in the early 1900s. Inspired by her music, he shares his epic journey with her and, together, they overcome the odds in a timeless, and very funny, musical romance for the ages.
The Unbelieving
We often see stories of people who go from non-believer to believer. We seldom see the opposite journey. The Unbelieving takes a penetrating look into the lives of practicing clergy members—Mormons, Catholics, Jews, Episcopalians, Muslims, Fundamentalists—who have stopped believing in God. Using their actual words, obtained during a groundbreaking study by philosopher Daniel C. Dennett and qualitative researcher Linda LaScola, the play explores the struggles, courage, and great humor of these “unbelievers” as they face the hardest decision of their lives—whether to continue living in secret or to risk everything by telling the truth.
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.
The Past, A Present Yet To Come
An ambitious young family man plans an elaborate trick on his old miser of an uncle, Ebenezer Scrooge. To help, he enlists a sarcastic and morally suspect female theatrical producer, and a mumbly writer, who hasn’t had a hit since Nicholas Nickleby.
Possessing Harriet
In 1839, Harriet Powell, a young, mixed-race, enslaved woman, slips away from a hotel in Syracuse, New York, and escapes from the white Southerner who owns her. With the aid of a worker at the hotel, a mysterious free black man named Thomas Leonard, Harriet finds temporary safe harbor in an attic room at the home of impassioned abolitionist Gerrit Smith. With the slave catchers in pursuit, Harriet spends the hours before her nighttime departure on the dangerous journey to Canada in the company of Smith’s young cousin Elizabeth Cady, an outspoken advocate for women’s equality. Confronted with new and difficult ideas about race, identity, and equality, and with confusion, fear, and desperation multiplying, Harriet is forced to the precipice of radical self-re-imagining and a reckoning with the heartrending cost of her freedom.
A Texas Carol
The Dinkel family is headed to Mee-Maw Jane’s East Texas ranch for what might be her last Christmas. The only problem? When the first two grandchildren arrive, they discover that Mee-Maw is already gone! Now how to keep that fact (and her body) from a family on the edge and salvage what remains of Christmas? A TEXAS CAROL is a hysterical and heart-warming take on all things Christmas and all things Texas.
The Happiest Man On Earth
Eddie Jaku’s story is one of unimaginable grief and tragic loss, yet it is also a testament to the indomitable spirit of the human soul. Defying all odds, he declared himself “The Happiest Man on Earth,” a testament to his resilience and determination to find light even in the darkest circumstances.
Bridge
Frances, Mary Todd and Janie, intelligent, sociable ladies, learn that Sally, the urbane new “fourth” in their bridge club, is transgender. The revelation prods Frances to address painful memories. Mary Todd, wrestling with moral issues, is challenged by her specially-abled son J-Pat. With wisdom and wit, Janie puts it all in perspective. And J-Pat provides a poignant unexpected insight. The bridge club survives: the three remaining members must search for a “fourth”—again. BRIDGE is a compassionate dramedy, that examines how people react when they encounter the new, the unknown or the misunderstood.
Apostrophe
At a prominent private high school, in the wake of a problematic encounter between a legendary teacher and her star student, what’s “best” for the girls is a matter of debate. One father believes in the healing power of dialogue, while the Headmistress is hell-bent on protecting the vulnerable with silence. Meanwhile, two friends lurch toward adulthood, interrogating the absent, searching for healing, and asking the question: How can we protect ourselves from the people we love?