Season 11 (2022-23)
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Sister, Braid My Hair
a new play by Sarahjeen François
Directed by Melissa Coleman-Reed
Featuring:
Eboni Alexander, Tamara McMillian, Tyree Marshall, Dionne Robinson, Naïma Hebrail Kidjo
Djembefola - Mizan Willis"Sister, Braid My Hair" is about four sisters who exist as figures in a living tableaux but find reasons to escape the monotony of their frame… for a good time in the real-world. However, the sisters quickly discover that the real-world ain’t as pretty as their picture, and that their real-world Black and Brown counterparts are being over policed.
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O: A Rhapsody in Divorce
a new play by Jami Brandli
Directed by Jessica Hanna
Featuring:
Amielynn Abellera, Ann Noble, Alexis Genya, Jacqueline Misaye, Andrew Brian Carter,
Shirley JordanThe Odyssey reimagined as a rhapsodic dramedy.
O, a childless female neurobiologist in her 40s, is blindsided by her husband who wants a divorce, but he refuses to leave the house. With that, her life is upended and she’s thrown into an epic couch-hopping odyssey. As O hops from one couch to the next, we’ll not only learn about the science behind love and heartbreak, O discovers unconventional and magical ways to reassemble the blown-up pieces of her life while she struggles to find her way back toward a “new home.” -
The Taste of Emeralds
a new play by Amy Dellagiarino
Directed by Carly DW Bones
Featuring:
Kathleen Leary, Dana DeRuyck, Zachary Bones, Veronica Tjioe
Sisters Margot and Caitlin meet up at their mother’s small, decrepit apartment to go through her possessions after her recent death. As the day slowly turns into night, they begin to unpack the secrets of their past until the haunting influence of their mother throughout the years begins to look a lot like an actual haunting.
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Two Stop
a new play by David Johann Kim
Directed by Alberto Isaac
Featuring:
Suzen Baraka, Tristina Lee, Albert Park, Shirley Jordan
On the verge of the ’92 LA Riots.
A Korean market.
A murder scene.
A store owner and a neighborhood teenaged girl face off.
When her wild card mother arrives, secrets from the past explode in this tiny store.
History and histories go head to head, as LA starts to burn.
Together they reach back decades and across the globe through war, strife, love and life, finding connection and even hope…but will it be enough? -
Human Resources
a new play by Daniel Hirsch
Directed by Annie McVey
Featuring:
Christine Dunford, Luke Medina, John Lavelle, Sharon Freedman
Kate is having a rough Monday. On top of the fact that she has a chatty, emotionally needy new coworker named Alan who won’t shut up, she’s realizing that her job in the User Systems QA team might be utterly devoid of meaning. Also, she’s probably going to die… As the Mondays accumulate, Kate’s small world is upended when Alan wrangles her into an unexpected friendship. However, neither can predict how the forces of late-stage, techno-capitalism or one’s impending mortality might muck up their non-romantic, workplace romance.
Season 10 (2021-22)
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WAITING (4.380,000 HOURS AND COUNTING)
a new play by Aja Houston
Directed by Susan Dalian
Featuring:
Carlis Shane Clark, Cherish Monique Duke, Mihara India, Rickey Junior, Geri-Nikole Love, Portland Thomas, Inger Tudor, E.E. Williams
When Proctor passes into the afterlife, she finds herself a captive of “The Middle” — a place where Black souls killed for the sin of being “Spooks” are held until they earn their redemption. Proctor pushes back against the other members and the omnipresent system that governs them so she may be released into the promised paradise of “The Away.”
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LET.HER.RIP.
a new play by Maggie Lou Rader
Directed by Randee Trabitz
Featuring:
Alexis Genya, Kaitlin Huwe, Portland Thomas, Kay Wilson
Live Original Music performed by Michael FlemingLET. HER. RIP. is the story of camaraderie, activism, and ferocity which lies within the crosshairs of the Match Women labour movement and the Ripper murders in White Chapel, 1888
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here comes the night
a new play by Lisa Kenner Grissom
Directed by Melissa Coleman-Reed
Featuring:
Madelynn Fattibene, Erika Soto, Paige Taylor
When Olivia (mid-40s) invites her old friend, Maggie (mid-30s), to spend the weekend to provide support as Olivia goes through an at-home abortion, their opposing worldviews lead to unexpected insights and consequences for both of them. What happens when a woman’s right to choose becomes a litmus test for all of her life choices?
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Into The Sky
a new play by Matt Schutz
Directed by Kimberlea Kressal
Featuring:
David J. Cork, Felipe Figueroa, Noelle Romano
Aboard the spacecraft Passage, Roderick and Johann tend to caterpillars while journeying towards a habitable planet. The long journey allows the two to simply drift through space – and towards each other.
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Poolside Glow
a new play by Luis Roberto Herrera
Directed by Claudia Duran
Featuring:
Timothy Mark Davis, Zamara Jimenez, Julie Peralta Reyes
Afraid of her true desires, Serena searches for what she believes is love and whether she deserves it. Through a series of late-night swims, she explores how much she is willing to sacrifice and endure in the pursuit of it.
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Firewater
a new play by Samantha Marchant
Directed by Lauren Campedelli
Featuring:
Sara Acevedo, Max Faugno, Alexandra Hellquist, Jully Lee, Sierra Santana, Miebaka Yohannes
A reimagining of the Prometheus myth told from the point of view of fire and her sister.
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A Witness
a new play by Jordan Elizabeth Henry
Directed by Hannah Wolf
Featuring:
Robyn Cohen, Sol Marina Crespo, Jimmy Jo, Hailey McAfee, Susan Louise O’Connor, Geri-Nikole Love, Kacie Rogers
Billie, an end-of-life nurse, begins working with Chuck, a woman in the final stages of ALS, as the one-year anniversary of the death of Billie’s brother, Kosmo, approaches.
Season 9 (2020-21)
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Gertrude
a new play by John Lavelle
Directed by Randee Trabitz
Featuring:
Keliher Walsh, Sandi McCree, Kacie Rogers, Deborah S. Craig, Parvesh Cheena, Tony Abatemarco
After the death of Hamlet, the Nordic invaders were hoping for a bloodless transition of power. What they got, was Gertrude.
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Long Division
a new play by Aja Houston
Directed by Melissa Coleman-Reed
Featuring:
Geri-Nikole Love, David J. Cork, Nardeep Khurmi, Alexandra Grossi, Cherish Monique Duke
Long division is hard. In Jo’s world dividing up years of marital memories with her ex-husband is even harder. When he sends someone to be his stand-in, Jo is forced to sift through intimate moments with a stranger, who challenges her to solve the problem of moving on.
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Gone
a new play by Lolly Ward
Directed by Hannah Wolf
Featuring:
Cherish Monique Duke, Alexandra Hellquist, Peter James Smith, Mitchell Bisschop, Tyree Marshall, Shirley Jordan
A will provides peace of mind as four stepsiblings divide their anticipated inheritance with generosity…with suspicion…with greed. Gamble the night away, but whatever you do, don’t leave the house – your family is watching. “Gone” is a dramedy that tests whether blood is thicker than wine.
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The String's the Thing
a new play by Veronica Tjioe
Directed by Lisa Sanaye Dring
Featuring:
Susan Lucas, Vico Ortiz, Alexandra Hellquist
The String’s the Thing uses the framework of the Minotaur myth to explore the complexities of being mixed-race, specifically half-asian. This play is for anyone who has ever felt lost and a profound sense of “in-betweenness” and would please like to know which way is out, thankyouverymuch. It is also good for lovers of cheap wine, close friends, and the merits of a nice ball of string.
(Originally written for the SF Olympians, a mythology adaptation festival of staged readings,) -
Teen Dad
a new play by Adrienne Dawes
Directed by Claudia Duran
Featuring:
Krysta Gonzales, Brandon Curry, Elena Sancho, Kelvin Morales, Anna Maria, Tyler Rainer
Abby, a precocious emo-goth teenager, orchestrates a surprise reunion for her mother Tanya, and birth father, Tom, with the help of her mom’s fiancé/healer John. Hoping to provoke long-lasting reconciliation between her parents before her high school graduation, Abby’s plans completely derail when Tom arrives with his new girlfriend Alisha. Can this family confront their past traumas, “deal and heal?
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Day of Saturn
a new play by Leviticus Jelks
Directed by Melissa Coleman-Reed
Featuring:
Moe Irvin, Rickey Junior, Brandon Rachal, Geri-Nikole Love
For Achilles Jones, the reality of his son, Icarus’, attempted suicide still haunts him a year later as he works tirelessly to repair his run-down hardware store. His plans get more complicated, however, when he hires a charismatic young volunteer with a painful past of his own. Through Achilles’ recovered memories and Icarus’ journal entries, the secrets about his son and the truth about their relationship come to light. ‘Day of Saturn’ is a planetary collision of loss, humor, Black masculinity and the generational scars that follow us through life.
Season 8 (2019-20)
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Original Tenants
a new play by Carole Braverman
Directed by Randee Trabitz
Featuring:
Helen Duffy, Sharon Freedman, Kathe Mazur, Bruce Nozick, Noelle Romano
A middle-aged woman returns to the Brooklyn neighborhood where she grew up to care for her ailing mother, and encounters some formidable ghosts from the past: an old friend with the seemingly perfect life, a candy store owner who was once her teenage boyfriend, and the shocking power of old grievances, the kind that can explode on you like long-buried minefields. "You've always been a joker, Nina" her old friend tells her, but mortality is no joke. Or is it?
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The Sister House
a new play by Stephanie Alison Walker
Directed by Randee Trabitz
Featuring:
David Adler, Carrie Barrett, Leandro Cano, Aidan Elyse McCollough, Paula Weston Solano
When Ramona decides to rent out her deceased husband’s office to a mysterious stranger, her daughter Ryan rebels. Three women and one imaginary vampire collide in a historic Victorian home with a past of its own, in this play about immortal love, mothers and daughters, and redemption.
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Abigail
a new play by Sarah Tuft
Directed by Jessica Hanna
Featuring:
William Salyers, Christine Dunford, Meg Cashel & Eddie Goines
A masterpiece of the American Theater, “The Crucible” would be the perfect comeback for blacklisted film director Ben Meyers after allegations of sexual harassment nearly derailed his career. So perfect, that Ben’s wife – the renowned stage actress Savannah Wainscott – arranges for him to helm the Broadway production in which she stars as Goody Proctor. But when Ben casts YouTube star Ashley Hart as Abigail Williams, Ashley’s objections to the play’s portrayal of women bring everything to a grinding halt. ABIGAIL looks at our post-#MeToo culture and asks: Has anything really changed?
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Space Available
a new play by Jennie Webb
Directed by Judith Moreland
Featuring:
Cherish Monique Duke, Alexandra Hellquist, Tamika Katon-Donegal, Beth Lane, Peter James Smith
This is the story of Jane, a woman who’s managed to survive an absurd litany of profound misfortunes, but ends up taking a closer look at her own life choices – and what it means to have options – when faced with a surreal future no woman should have to live with. ‘Space Available’ is a play about a woman’s place and what (& who) we let define us.
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Geneis
a new play by Leenie Baker
Directed by Rosie Glen-Lambert
Featuring:
Sutton Arabe, Nadege August, Jonathan Cho, Noah James, Hailey McAfee, Ammy Ontiveros
In a time-bending journey from the Garden of Eden to modern-day, we follow God, envisioned as a young woman, in her quest to discover herself. ‘Genesis’ explores issues of faith, love, and power as God develops personal relationships with her creations. ‘Genesis’ asks, what does it mean to succeed—or fail–as a creator?
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Broken
a new play by Aaron Braxton
Directed by Susan Dalian
Featuring:
Elisa Perry, Brandon Rachal, Derek Shaun, Celestial, Pamela Shaddock, Mihara India, Patricia Belcher, Eddie Goines, James T. Lawson II, Yvans Jourdain
A witty two-act dramatic play centered on the traumatic experiences of a woman rejecting psychological help while suffering hallucinations, pathological guilt, and addiction, “Broken” centers around the stigma of mental illness in an African American family.
Season 7 (2018-19)
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No Place Like Gandersheim
a new play by Elizabeth Dement
Directed by Randee Trabitz
Featuring:
Marguerite Moreau, Meeghan Holaway, Nicole Erb & Tyree Marshall
Roz is a nun and newbie playwright in medieval Gandersheim, Germany. When she and her fellow nuns present her brazen, feminist comedy for the Holy Roman Emperor, his rejection of her work catapults Roz on a journey of millennial proportions to Hollywood and beyond. No Place Like Gandersheim reimagines the never-ending question, “Can women have it all?”
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Inhalation
a new play by John Lavelle
Directed by Melissa Coleman-Reed
Featuring:
Ronald Auguste, Frank Faucette, Felipe Figueroa, Chet Grissom, Noah James, Devere Rogers, Graham Sibley
In 1978, Brooklyn was on fire. This is the story of the Soul Patrol, the firemen who tried to put out the flames. Through laughter, brotherhood, and psychedelic war stories, this haunting, disco dancing dark comedy asks us all: “How much wreckage can one man breathe in before they become a ghost?”
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The Last Croissant
a new play by Veronica Tjioe
Directed by Rosie Glen-Lambert
Featuring:
Taylor Bennett, Brandon Blum, Tyler Bremer, Meg Cashel, Kat Devoe-Peterson, Julia Finch, Luke Medina, Conor Murphy, Victoria Ortiz
A one-act farce that replaces the rooms and doors of a traditional farce with the great outdoors, The Last Croissantemploys magical realism, clowning, and whimsy to tell the story of nine crowded campers who hope to find what they’re looking for in the woods.
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Ollie & D
a new play by Ilana Turner
Directed by Jessica Hanna
Featuring:
Marguerite Moreau and Joseph Will
Driving an endless loop of New England country road, two long-time friends-with-benefits discover they are stuck in a Maserati prison — and that only dealing with their relationship will break them out. OLLIE & D takes a darkly comedic look at the intersection of love and the long-term relationship.
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Not A Monster
a new play by Susan Josephs
Directed by Diana Wyenn
Featuring:
Madeline Fair, Rachel Kann, Solomon Shiv & Ivy Strohmaier
On the heels of sexual abuse allegations, a controversial New Age guru welcomes a veteran journalist into his backstage greenroom so she can interview him for a retrospective piece about his transformation from obscure Orthodox Jewish rabbi to celebrity spiritual leader. As their conversation unfolds, revelations emerge about a shared past and the truth becomes a slippery, malleable tool in this timely drama about sexual and spiritual abuse, male privilege, and female agency.
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Chickenheads
a new play by Ruth Fowler
Directed by Rosie Glen-Lambert
Featuring:
Leo Oliva, Emily Reas, Bart Tangredi
Porn is hard. Relationships are harder.
Season 6 (2017-18)
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Motherland
a new play by Lisa Kenner Grissom
Directed by Laura Stribling
Featuring:
Abigail Marks, Jayne Taini, Alexis Genya, Ross Kramer, Schoen Hodges
With her life in crisis, Lizzie returns home to hide from the world, but when her Russian grandmother Bella starts telling “stories” and her mother Sarah tries to meditate the past away, Lizzie goes down a rabbit hole of discovery. This time-bending drama features four generations of women and asks us all, can you reclaim your life without knowing your roots?
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Match
a new play by Jennifer Maisel
Directed by Dianna Wyenn
Featuring:
Carolina Hoyos, Josh T. Ryan, Ilana Turner, Ray Xifo, and Miebaka Yohannes
Leo has a wife and needs a kidney. Leyla needs Leo and wants a baby—or is it the other way around? Ben needs a kidney and desperately longs for human connection. Maddy needs redemption—will donating a kidney give her that? Moss deals in flesh, seeking the highest bidder. As a bromance flourishes and organs are harvested, as faith is tested and baked goods are devoured, these five New Yorkers find themselves asking: Can there really be such a thing as a gift with no strings attached? Match is an audacious new dramedy from award-winning playwright Jennifer Maisel about failing kidneys, delicious muffins, and the lengths we will go to to save the people we love.
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Last Stop
a new play by Katherine Cortez
Directed by Rosie Glen-Lambert
Featuring:
Tyler Bremer, Ronnie Clark, Marian Gonzalez, Ammy Ontiveros, Victoria Ortiz, Kevyn Richmond, Deborah Strang, Julian Yuen
Society has changed. Fear has de-civilized. A new underground railroad arises for those oppressed peoples seeking freedom. ‘Last Stop’ looks at the world as it could become and the resilience of “ordinary” people, asking the question: what will you do when push comes to shove?
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Journey to Alice
a new play by Aja Houston
Directed by Annie McVey
Featuring:
Shirley Jordan, Sola Bamis, Alma Collins, Nadège August, and Leonard R. Garner Jr.
Flying with her mother to a wedding, Lynè encounters the unexpected and inexplicable, threatening her struggle to hold her own world together. ‘Journey to Alice’ grapples with family, loss, as well as the weight and power of inheritance.
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Friends With Guns
a new play by Stephanie Walker
Directed by Randee Trabitz
Featuring:
Arianna Ortiz, Joe Fria, Justin Huen, and Paula Weston Solano
Two sleep-deprived moms meet at a West LA park, and it’s instant sisterhood. Their husbands hit it off, too, and it seems as though they’ve found their ‘tribe’ — until the issue of guns comes up. Friends With Guns explores the question of what we can compartmentalize…and what we can’t.
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Ascent
a new play by Henry Ong
Directed by Diana Wyenn
Featuring:
West Liang, Kara Wang, Bart Tangredi, and Russell Edge
Born in China. Trained by America. Ascent is the story of how one promising Chinese immigrant shaped the rise of not one, but two, world nuclear powers.
