JULY 10 – AUGUST 2
BEST LINE WINS: THE IMPROVISED LIVES OF ELAINE MAY & MIKE NICHOLS
By Beth Kander
“Modesty hasn’t done much for women, historically speaking.”
Nichols & May were one of the greatest comedy duos of all time, but when they parted ways, Mike Nichols soared while Elaine May struggled. The system wasn’t built for “difficult” women, but it endlessly rewarded “charming” men. Decades later, when Mike approaches Elaine with a new opportunity, she must wrestle with what matters more: succeeding on her own, or reuniting with the partner who knows her true worth. Set in the complex intersection of creativity, competition, and gender disparity, this split-second-timed, laugh-out-loud play imagines the power of lifelong friendships, thorns and all.
Refugee Rhapsody
By Yussef El Guindi
“Because love will always carve you up eventually.”
Jealous love sears the skin of this darkly comic play like lava seeping down a hillside, inevitable and all-consuming. A chance meeting of a pair of young Arab-Americans framed by their refugee experience and an impossibly rich patroness sets in motion a chain of events that leads to a violent crime. As tensions mount and relationships are shattered, a therapist (who’s grappling with her own marital issues) is hired by the defense to determine culpability. Award-winning playwright Yussef El Guindi explores immigrant lives in plays praised for “insightful, open-hearted…humor, warmth and all-around compassion” (Seattle Times).
The Smoker
By Lisa D’Amour
“Breath. Precious Life. Love. We can’t hold it and yet, we must hold it.”
What makes community? For this unlikely gathering of under-employed, under-insured dreamers on a New York street corner, it’s the communal need for a cigarette. As different as different can be—in gender and sexual orientation and relationship status, in their aspirations, vocations and avocations, they gather outside an apartment building to consume the chemicals that unite them–nicotine and the endorphins produced by friendship.
¡VOS!
By Christina Pumariega
“Every day, I look my daughter in the eye and tell her the truth.”
Annie returns to her estranged birthplace of Buenos Aires to undergo IVF treatments from the famed Dr. Cossi. But her motherhood journey brings to light the lives of two women lost to the Dirty War decades ago. ¡VOS! is an exhilarating hunt for home, family, and the Disappeared, inspired by Las Madres—past, present and hopeful. A heart-pounding, hilarious, heartbreaking tour de force told by two Latinas spinning as fast as they can, this cyclone of a drama comes from Edgerton Foundation New Play Award winner Christina Pumariega.
My Favorite Sociopath
By Aurin Squire
““What good is shame in a shameless world?”
This fast-paced, darkly witty play centers on three budding journalism grad students in the ‘90s whose investigative reporting is as focused on their own identities as on the stories they cover. At the eve of the rapacious social media-fueled, 24-hour news cycle, each encounters opportunities to do the write thing, even as they make up their own lives in lieu of fact checking. The newest work from award-winning playwright, reporter, and multimedia artist Aurin Squire, My Favorite Sociopath is a troubling tonic for today’s can’t-look-away, content-addicted world.