2021-2022
SEPTEMBER 2021
Resurrection
by Jordan Elizabeth Henry
Riley, who is living with PTSD, navigates the loss of her grandfather/father-figure, Dougie, while her older sister, Shae, imagines a new life for herself outside of her marriage. Dougie left a surprise for them in his will: a huge sum of money that they can only access if Riley chooses to live in his house for at least a year. Shae is desperate for the money, but Riley has serious reservations — all of which can be explained by a mysterious envelope that Riley urges Shae to open. But Shae is reluctant to be pulled into another of Riley’s “dramatic stunts.” As they clear out their childhood home, the sisters try to navigate each other’s needs and how to mend their fractured relationship.
Content Warning: Adult language, drug use, self harm, sexual violence, mental illness
CAST & CREW
Jordan Elizabeth Henry is a playwright and novelist currently living and writing in Cincinnati, Ohio with her hugely creative husband and her hugely boisterous cattle dog. Her plays have been developed by the William Inge New Play Incubator, Wordsmyth Theatre, Elephant Room Productions, The Bechdel Group, and New Normal Rep. You can read her work on the New Play Exchange and find out more about her current projects at www.JordanElizabethHenry.com
OCTOBER 2021
Modern Blood
by Ryan Stevens
A re-imagining of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla. Laura Potter is a college drop-out, living on her father Clint’s farm, unsure about the future, and struggling with her depression and dissociative episodes. When Laura and Clint go to a local bar and meet the mysterious new bartender Carmilla, Laura makes a deep connection with her. As Laura and Carmilla’s relationship develops, Laura discovers Cami has killed a man, and later discovers Cami is in fact a centuries-old vampire, who has had to kill men who harass her to stay alive.
CAST & CREW
Ryan Stevens (He/They) is a playwright/director currently based in Chicago. They received an MA in Theatre from USC and an MFA in Playwriting from UCLA Stevens has worked with Silver Spring Stage, MeetCute LA, Inkwell Theatre, St. Croix Falls Festival Theatre, Retrograde Reading Series, New American Theatre, Whiskey Radio Hour, Theatre Viscera, Festival D’Avignon, Broken Slate Productions, The Plagiarists Chicago, Philadelphia Dramatists Center, T. Schreiber Studio, Seoul Players, and an upcoming commission with Theatre Above The Law. They have also had their script Player King published through Stagescripts, Ltd., and participated in the 2019 Great Plains Theatre Conference. They co-host the cartoon book club podcast and run the tabletop rpg anthology podcast Blank City, Nowhere.
Find out more about Ryan’s work at www.ryangstevens.com
NOVEMBER 2021
Sapo’s War
by William Costanza
Sapo’s War follows the life of Army Special Operations medic Vincent “Vinny” Sapo as he tries to rebuild the relationship with his teenage son while fighting off the demons of war accumulated during his 20-year career. Devotion to duty. Devotion to family. Where is the balance? What price does a “professional warrior” pay in service to his country? Is it worth it? For the individual? For society? Is a normal family life more of a dream than a reality for this special breed of warrior? These are some of the questions that form the backdrop in a story that is still in its bare essence a story about a father trying to reconnect with his son.
Watch Sapo’s War on our YouTube Channel!
Content Warning: Adult language, Suicide
CAST & CREW
William Costanza is a playwright whose plays have appeared in Chicago, New York City, San Diego, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Texas, and Maryland. His play Lily’s Gift won the Backdoor Theatre National Award and was a semi-finalist for the Panowski Award. He has also written four screenplays and a TV pilot. He is currently working on a novel. He is a Chicago native who now lives in Leesburg, Virginia.
DECEMBER 2021
Service Industry
by Ezra Brain & J. Andrew Norris
How do you know when to quit? “Service Industry” follows Lily, an aspiring stand up comedian, as she starts a new job at a sports bar in NYC. She must balance her personal, artistic, and professional life as she navigates the endlessly complicated world of the service industry and ponders what to make of her career.
Watch Service Industry on our YouTube Channel!
Content Warning: Adult language, Sexual Innuendo
CAST & CREW
Ezra Brain (they/them) is a trans multi-disciplinary artist activist, and teacher based in NYC. As a theatre artist, their writing has been performed at the Tank, Literacy Theatre, Stop Pretending Theatre Project, Passaic Preparatory Academy, the New Masculinities Festival, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the Studio Theatre at Tierra Del Sol, the Art Garage, Dixon Place, and Stay True Theatre. Their play Something’s Coming (co-written with J. Andrew Norris) was a 2020 Finalist for the Jewish Playwriting Contest from the Jewish Plays Project. Ezra’s essays and articles have been published in 10 countries and 6 languages. As a filmmaker, Ezra’s work has been accepted into multiple festivals around the world. They are an award-winning teaching artist, a proud member of Ring of Keys, the Dramatists Guild, and the Editorial Board of Left Voice.
www.EzraBrain.com
J. Andrew Norris (he/him) is a writer, director and actor. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he received his BA in Drama, with a minor in Musical Theatre. Since his graduation, he has worked with theatres such as Florida Studio Theatre, Triad Stage, NC Summer Rep, Literacy Theatre, and The Studio Theatre at Tierra del Sol. He was recently part of Florida Studio Theatre’s Apprentice Program, serving as the Artistic and Directing Fellow. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, reading biographies, and looking at pictures of dogs on the internet.
@drewlockholmes
JANUARY 2022
Jr.
by Jordan Noble
Gracia is a Latina entrepreneur using her chemistry undergrad degree to run a small cleaning business specializing in rare animal messes. Her fiancé is Jason, a young politician who’s gearing up for a run at the state senate, trying to stay independent. In the world of Jr., birth is a genetic roll of the dice. A couple can have poisonous snakes for children. You might have an orangutan brother, or an uncle who’s a cockatiel. And they’re just that – animals. They don’t break into Disney songs or even talk, they just make a mess. Most people hope for Juniors – human children. Newly pregnant, trying to grow her business and feeling the pressure of uncertainty surrounding her impending motherhood, Gracia discovers that her family history isn’t what she was told, and the identity she’s always grown up with is false.
Watch Jr. on our YouTube Channel!
Content Warning: Adult language
CAST & CREW
Jordan Noble was born and raised in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, where he studied English and Theatre at Old Dominion University, and where his first play, The Shivers, was produced. After performing in local theatre and working as a technician and writer for an illusionist for several years, he moved to northern Virginia to teach theatre in secondary schools. While teaching, he led workshops at the Virginia Theatre Association’s annual conferences, and traveled to London to study contemporary and Shakespearean acting at The Guildhall School. His passion in teaching has always been guiding students through the process of theatre from idea, through scripting, and into production. It was his students’ own passion that inspired him to return to writing, and his play Taste was produced during lockdown by JaYo Theatre in Washington DC. He now lives in Tuscany, Italy with his wonderful wife of thirteen years.
Instagram and Twitter: @Elbonadroj
FEBRUARY 2022
Halfway to the Middle
by Bridget Grace Sheaff
Jessie and Logan are in a long distance relationship. Over the first year of their relationship, we see them struggle with the distance, their insecurities, and the outside world from inside a little motel room halfway between their two cities.
Watch Of All the Places in the World on our YouTube Channel!
CAST & CREW
Bridget Grace Sheaff is the Director of Audience Services and Community Engagement at Maples Repertory Theatre. She is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab 2019. BA 2014 summa cum laude, The Catholic University of America.
www.bridgetgracesheaff.com/
MARCH 2022
Of All the Places in the World
by Daphny Maman
After finding disturbing pictures on her son Adam’s computer, Margo and her new playboy lover Vince arrive at his home in Cambodia to confront him. Adam, who strongly maintains his innocence, is a long-time victim of Margo’s toxic motherhood; she was, and still is, controlling and manipulating. Soon enough, Adam realizes that if Margo senses he might be dangerous in any way she will take his newborn away from him, to protect them both. Will Adam be able to convince her he is innocent?
Watch Of All the Places in the World on our YouTube Channel!
Content Warning: Adult language, Sexual situations, Implied harm to children
CAST & CREW
Daphny Maman is a screenwriter, playwright, lyricist, and pizza orderer, living in Brooklyn, NY along with her two noisy boys, a tired husband, and a shedding dog. She holds an MFA from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU, and a BFA in Film from Tel Aviv University. Daphny has more than 15 years of experience as a screenwriter and lyricist for television and film in Israel. Together with her collaborator Sujin Kim-Ramsey, she wrote a full-length musical comedy titled Wait!. Their short pieces A Good Morning for Coffee, Congratulations and Little Italy have been produced in New York. She currently works on Sugar Rush – a family musical comedy, in collaboration with Sujin Kim-Ramsey and Aden Kent Ramsey, and was a resident of the 92Y Musical Theater Development Lab for this piece. Her work has been performed at 54Below, the Laurie Beechman Theatre, HERE Theatre, The Playroom Theatre, Berklee College of Music, and more.
www.daphnymaman.com
APRIL 2022
The Taste of Emeralds
by Amy Dellagiarino
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 their years begins to look a lot like an actual haunting…
Watch The Taste of Emeralds on our YouTube Channel!
Content Warning: Adult language, Sexual Abuse, Suicide
CAST & CREW
Amy Dellagiarino is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter whose work has been produced across the country. Her play “From the Perspective of a Canoe” won the Playwriting Script Competition at the 2021 Austin Film Festival. Her play “The Value of Moscow” was nominated for a 2019 Stage Raw Award for Best Playwriting and was published through Stage Rights. Her comedy feature film “Freelancers Anonymous” won the 2018 NCGLFF Audience Award for Best Women’s Feature, was a recipient of the Frameline Completion Fund Award, and earned the Reframe Stamp for gender balanced media along with such films as “The Favourite”, “Can You Ever Forgive Me”, and “Crazy Rich Asians”. Her short plays have garnered the Best Comedy award in various festivals. She has participated in developmental readings of several of her plays with noted LA theatre companies such as Sacred Fools, Theatre of Note, Rogue Machine, and The Blank Theatre Company, and was a 2020 participant of Moving Arts Theatre’s MADLab Play Development Series. She was a participant of the 2021 Kennedy Center Summer Playwrights Intensive as well as the resident playwright with Dark Horse Theatre Company in Virginia and a founding member of Walking Shadow Readers Theatre which focuses on new playwrights and new play development. She earned her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
www.amydell.com
MAY 2022
An Imperfect Storm
by John Scavone
Cliff Hale is preparing to leave the hospital, waiting for his wife, Joan, to come pick him up. Only Cliff doesn’t quite remember why he’s in the hospital, how he got there, or how long he’s been there. Dr. Reyes must guide him along a torturous path through changing memories, his fears and prejudices, to the horrifying truth of what really happened one dark and stormy night.
Watch An Imperfect Storm on our YouTube Channel!
Content Warning: Adult language
CAST & CREW
John Scavone was born in New York, grew up in New Jersey and came of age in Chicago’s Off-Loop theaters. Following a thirty year career as a stage manager, technical director, prop master and carpenter, he is now living and writing in Wisconsin. John is a member of the Dramatists Guild. Find more of his work on The New Play Exchange.
2020-2021
AUGUST 28, 2020
Abraham and God Play Ping Pong
by Erin Gruodis-Gimbel
In the wake of the biggest betrayal of his life, Abraham’s faith in God is shaken forever. In the wake of a delicious snack, God’s faith in himself may not be what it seems. In an exploration of faith, the stages of grief, and the rules of cards, the story of Abraham and his infallible God takes a left turn from the Torah and veers into territory that no one ever thought to chart.
Watch the Reading on YouTube
Content Warning: Adult Language
PRESS:Drew Student’s Play to Get a Virtual Staged Reading
CAST & CREW
Erin Gruodis-Gimbel is a playwright, actor, and dramaturg currently pursuing her BA in Theatre Arts at Drew University. She has recently worked with GlimmerGlobe Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (where she just finished her tenure as an acting apprentice), Alliance Theatre, Everyman Theatre, and the Virtual Theatre Collaboration. She would like to offer her most sincere thanks to WSRT for this amazing opportunity!
Play Updates:
God and Abraham Play Ping Pong (Name changed) premiered at the Pittsburgh Virtual Fringe Festival in May 2021.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2020
Closing Argument
by John Scavone
The Woodwards’ adopted daughter, Elizabeth, is missing; Paula has hidden her away. The girl’s original family wants her back, and a court hearing has been ordered to decide the issue, but Paula isn’t taking the slightest chance that she could lose the case, and thus, her daughter. As an attorney for the State, Alan is deeply devoted to his job and the letter of the law, but now finds he must choose between that devotion and his family. Legal arguments and procedure mesh with a domestic battle, in which morality, the law and their marriage are put on trial.
Watch the Reading on YouTube
Content Warning: Adult Language
CAST & CREW
John Scavone was born in New York, grew up in New Jersey and came of age in Chicago’s Off-Loop theaters. Following a thirty year career as a stage manager, technical director, prop master and carpenter, he is now living and writing in Wisconsin. Other plays include Unto Dust, Nor Iron Bars a Cage, An Imperfect Storm, The Weed Garden, Fortune’s Fools. They can be found at The New Play Exchange.
OCTOBER 30, 2020
The Girl Who Lived
by David Meyers
Anna Larsen is a 25-year old ballet dancer who refuses to give up on her dreams of career, love, and a fairy-tale ending. But when she becomes paralyzed in a car accident, Anna is forced to consider whether those dreams are still possible – or if they were ever possible to begin with.
As she learns how to adjust to the physical realities of her new life, Anna is also forced to re-examine the relationships with those closest to her – and herself. A play about independence, resilience, and Harry Potter.
Watch the Reading on YouTube
Content Warning: Adult Language, Sexual Content
CAST & CREW
David Meyers’ plays have been produced regionally across the country, and his pilots have been pitched at Netflix and Paramount. As an actor, he’s worked with FOX, BET, Lifetime, Danny DeVito, and more.
www.Bloomywood.com
NOVEMBER 20, 2020
Deer Island
by Brian David Walker
Six lives converge over the future of a stretch of highway that may have a unique and highly intelligent deer population living within its borders. A dark play about friendships, identity and the encroachment of the little bit of land that our wildlife have left.
Watch the Reading on YouTube
Content Warning: Adult Language, Sexual Content, Infant Loss
CAST & CREW
Brian David Walker’s plays include Deer Island, American Coot (2018 O’Neil
semi-finalist, 2018 Roots of the Bluegrass New Play Award), High Tide (2017 O’Neil semi-finalist, Orlando Shakespeare’s PlayFest semi-finalist and PlayPenn finalist), POST, dirty sexy derby play, Great American Sex Play, Shot Me Down and The Kings. Brian’s plays have been seen in theatres across America and Australia. His play DOG was the winner of the 2013 Roots of the Bluegrass New Play Award and his play CPR on the Lost Continent was the winner of the 2015 award. His ten minute play Hero Worship was a finalist for the 2014 Heideman Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville, his play Gamers4Life was a finalist for the 2015 prize. Brian was a member of Nashville Repertory Theatre’s 2012-2013 Ingram New Works Lab residency with mentor Theresa Rebeck and his full length play The Friend Factory was part of their New Works Festival in May 2013. He has also had plays developed at Cincinnati Lab Theatre (2020), Actors Workshop Louisville (2016), Theatre [502] (2014/2015), UP Theatre Company (2014), Capital Stage’s Playwrights Revolution (2014), Last Frontier Theatre Festival (2012) and Great Plains Playwrights Conference (2009). He was awarded the Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship Emerging Artist Award for playwriting by the Kentucky Arts Council in July 2010. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild and is the founder and co-director of Derby City Playwrights, a new play development lab for Louisville playwrights. He currently serves as the Kentucky Regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild.
www.derbycityplaywrights.org
Play Updates:
2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semifinalist
DECEMBER 18, 2020
Die, Mr. Darcy, Die!
by John Morogiello
A young woman gives up on men because they can never live up to the hero of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, particularly his embodiment by Colin Firth.
CAST & CREW
John Morogiello is the artistic director of Best Medicine Rep in Gaithersburg, Maryland. His plays include Engaging Shaw (Old Globe, American Players, Vienna’s English Theatre, Abingdon Theatre Company off-Broadway, et al), Blame It On Beckett (Abingdon, Colony Theatre in Burbank, et al), Men and Parts (Actors Theatre of Louisville, et al), Play Date (Oldcastle Theatre Company, Best Medicine Rep), and The Consul, The Tramp, and America’s Sweetheart (Oldcastle, Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills, Jerusalem Khan Theatre, et al).
www.johnmorogiello.com
Play Updates: Die, Mr. Darcy, Die! is being staged by Best Medicine Rep during their 2022 season! Additional information can be found on their website.
JANUARY 29, 2021
Atlas, the Lonely Gibbon
by Deborah Yarchun
A dark comedic thriller set in the future. Irene, a former journalist, struggles to find autonomy in a now mindless job editing AI-generated articles, an increasingly challenging marriage, and in an apartment potentially being targeted by hacker.
CAST & CREW
Deborah Yarchun‘s plays have been developed with the Civilians, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The New Harmony Project, Jewish Plays Project’s OPEN Festival, The Great Plains Theater Conference, Jewish Ensemble Theater, Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, The Playwrights’ Center, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, TheatreSquared’s Arkansas New Play Festival, the William Inge Center for the Arts, WordBRIDGE, and Workhouse Theater Company, and produced at places including Amphibian Stage Productions, Fusion Theatre, Theater Master’s National MFA Playwrights Festival, EstroGenius Festival, the Minnesota Fringe, the Philadelphia Fringe, The Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival, Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theater by Young Playwrights Inc., and Williams Street Repertory Theatre. Deborah’s honors include two Jerome Fellowships at The Playwrights’ Center, a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, an EST/Sloan Commission, Dartmouth’s 2020 Neukom Literary Arts Award for Playwriting, The Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, the Kernodle New Play Award, the Richard Maibaum Playwriting Award, and Women in the Arts & Media Coalition’s 2019 Collaboration Award. Her play GREAT WHITE was an Honorable Mention for the Relentless Award. She was recently a playwright-in-residence at the William Inge Center for the Arts and a member of the Civilians’ R&D Group. Deborah earned her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow. You can learn more about her work at DeborahYarchun.com.
Play Updates:
2022 World premiere at Spreckels Performing Arts Center
2021 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist
2021 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference Finalist
FEBRUARY 26, 2021
Dorm #5
by Amy Dellagiarino
A nihilistic look at college life, Dorm #5 follows the misadventures of a group of college students after the sudden death of one of their own. Did one of them do it? Or, more importantly… does anyone even care? A dark comedy about grief, loss, and ghosts.
Watch the Reading on YouTube!
Content Warning: Adult language
CAST & CREW
Amy Dellagiarino is an award winning playwright and screenwriter whose work has been produced in LA, New York, Chicago, and her home state of Virginia. Her play The Value of Moscow was nominated for a 2019 Stage Raw Award for Best Playwriting and was published through Steele Spring Stage Rights. Her comedy feature film Freelancers Anonymous won the 2018 NCGLFF Audience Award for Best Women’s Feature, was a recipient of the Frameline Completion Fund Award, and earned the Reframe Stamp for gender balanced media along with such films as The Favourite, Can You Ever Forgive Me, and Crazy Rich Asians. Her short play The Misfit Mantra won Best Comedy at 2Cents Theatre’s 2018 INK Fest. She has participated in developmental readings of several of her plays with noted LA theatre companies such as Sacred Fools, Theatre of Note, Rogue Machine, and The Blank Theatre Company, and has currently developed her seventh full-length play, Hello, My Name Is… with Moving Arts Theatre as part of their MADLab Play Development Series. She is the resident playwright with Dark Horse Theatre Company in Virginia. She earned her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Visit www.amydell.com for more information.
MARCH 26, 2021
Finding the Girls
by Cris Eli Blak
Nia and Sierra are sisters. Sierra is a celebrity and Nia is her assistant. creating a clear rift between the two. When a family tragedy strikes, the two learn more about where they come from and more about each other. Meanwhile, in the past, their father must reckon with his decisions and the way in which he chose to live. This is a story about people having to decide whether they are good, and if it is too late to change. It is a story about family, about pain, about regret, about shame, about the people we are and the people we try to be. It is a story about then, and it is a story about now. It is a story about finding ourselves and what happens when we are lost..
Watch the Reading on YouTube!
Content Warning: Adult language, drug use, self harm, sexual violence, mental illness
CAST & CREW
Cris Eli Blak is an award winning and internationally produced writer for the page, stage and screen. His work has garnered him a Bronze Remi from the Worldfest Houston International Film and Video Festival, the Christopher Hewitt Award in Fiction, a Pushcart Prize nomination and honors from Vectis Radio, Negro Ensemble Company, Clocktower Players and A is For. His work has been produced, performed and/or published around the world, from Off-Broadway (Urban Stages), Regional (Cleveland Public Theatre), Collegiate (Columbia University, Academy of Arts University and Wellesley College), London (The Quean’s Theatre), Australia (Melting Pot Theatre), and Ireland (Eva’s Echo). He continues to strive to create work that reflects the world that we live in, with all of its different and diverse colors, creeds and cultures.
Follow Cris on Instagram: @criseliblak
APRIL 30, 2021
Touch the Moon
by Arianna Rose
Spring Break, 1994, on an island far from teenage Miranda’s home. Her mysterious disappearance lays bare a mess of secrets and lies. Her mother Becca frantically searches for Miranda and the truth of what happened that night from the only people who might know – Miranda’s best friend Emily, and Stefan, a young man who is the last person to have seen her. Through an ever-widening circle of past, present and future vignettes, a fuller picture of Miranda emerges, showing a young girl on the cusp of womanhood, healing from a broken family dynamic and exploring the boundaries of her sexuality. Stefan’s father Dirk wearily protects his son, and a guilt-ridden Emily is haunted by the thought it may be her fault. A play about the need to know, and of motherly love and determination in the face of the unthinkable.
Watch the Reading on YouTube!
Content Warning: Adult language, sexual violence
CAST & CREW
Arianna Rose is the recipient of the MAC Song of the Year Award, the York Theatre NEO Award, and various best play/playwright awards from Theatre Odyssey, Tree City Playhouse, Mixing It Up Productions, the Know Theatre, Studio 1 Theatre, South Baldwin Theatre and Clocktower Theatre Company. Her plays and musicals have been presented to date in twenty-three states and seven countries. She is a four-time winner of Theatre Lab at FAU’s New Works Festival competition, a two-time winner of Theatre Three’s One- Act Play Festival, a 2020 finalist for the Edward Kleban Lyric Writing Award and one of three finalists for the 2020 Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing in the UK.
Arianna is an Adjunct Theatre Professor at Broward College. M.F.A., NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program; B.A. in Theatre from Bucknell University; BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Writing Workshop. A proud member of ASCAP, Musicians Local 802, SEIU, New Play Exchange, The South Florida Theatre League, and the Dramatists Guild of America, where she serves as a Regional Ambassador. She is the founder and moderator of the Plays on Purpose/Miami New Musicals weekly writers group.
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