Z, a gay teenager, and his father live together in a crumbling old house in rural Georgia. When Z discovers a trove of mysterious love letters among his late grandfather’s belongings, he goes on a journey of self discovery that just may have the power to wake the dead. THE MAGNOLIA BALLET is a Southern Gothic fable about a Queer Black boy, his father, and the ghosts that live in the walls of their old family home.
Genre: BIPOC
At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen
Courtney Berringers would like to welcome you to her wake! But—make no mistake—this ain’t your grandma’s funeral. AT THE WAKE OF A DEAD DRAG QUEEN is an imaginative one-act play that uses magical realism, mythology, drama, and drag to tell the story of a pair of drag queens living (and dying) in rural Georgia in 2004. From African Gods and Goddesses to Trina and Whitney Houston, AT THE WAKE OF A DEAD DRAG QUEEN explores identity, illness, and the celebration of Black, queer life in the rural south. Come party at the wake. Bring your own heels!
Desdemona’s Child
Desdemona’s child comes back to the town in which they were raised, haunted by the ghost of Beautiful D, and with a desire to come to terms with trauma from their past. In this town, trouble rages, as a climate of hate threatens to overtake all. A flood and a whole lotta honest witnessing may start to turn the tide of human darkness. This play is set in modern-day US, freely inspired by and set in the wake of Shakespeare’s Othello.
Detained
Winner of four NAACP Theatre Awards, DETAINED offers a heart-wrenching and in-depth look at the human lives behind U.S. immigration policies and a concise history of the legislation that got us here. Based on interviews with longtime U.S. residents held in immigration detention, their family members, advocates, attorneys and representatives of ICE, DETAINED explores how families fight to stay together as increasingly cruel U.S. immigration legislation keeps them apart, delivering a poignant, timely reflection on human dignity in the face of dehumanizing systems. Perfect for producers seeking socially relevant plays, DETAINED sparks conversation about the intersection of immigration, race, and the flawed U.S. justice system.
Goat Blood
Pablo and Owen thought they were in for a simple double date with two women they’d just met at a bar. Instead, under the cover of night, something ancient is watching them. Something hungry.
For Pablo, the darkness hides more than just nerves—it holds a past he’s spent years trying to outrun. When the Chupacabra emerges from the shadows, the night turns to terror, and their evening spirals into a desperate fight for survival. But this is no ordinary monster. It is hunger and grief. It is guilt and memory. It is the thing Pablo has feared facing ever since the night he lost his little brother.
As the creature closes in, the men must confront not just the beast, but their own buried truths—about where they come from, what they want, and what they are willing to do to stay alive. Because sometimes, the most relentless monsters are the ones we carry inside.
Mrs. Harrison
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.
The Name Jar
After her first day of school in America, a young, Korean, immigrant girl decides to change her name to something “easer to pronounce.” With the enthusiastic help of her new classmates, she soon has a jar filled with exciting new names. Will she choose a new name? Or will she find value in her own?
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.
La Caída de Rafael Trujillo
LA CAÍDA DE RAFAEL TRUJILLO explora los últimos cinco años de la vida del dictador dominicano Rafael Trujillo. Gobernó la República Dominicana con mano de hierro durante 31 años. La obra comienza con el infame secuestro y asesinato del profesor Jesús Galíndez, y sigue las consecuencias resultantes, que conducen a la caída del régimen de Trujillo. Es la historia de un hombre cuyo deseo de poder absoluto envenenó su humanidad y aterrorizó a toda una nación.
Bees & Honey
Johaira and Manuel meet in a Washington Heights club. As they dance to the hypnotic rhythms of Bachata, they can’t help but fall in love. Fast forward eight years to the present where Johaira is tasked with a career defining case, and Manuel is on the verge of a business expansion. With the pressures of familial duties, and their work responsibilities, the pair finds themselves out of sync with each other. As time and expectations wear on, Johaira and Manuel are at a crossroads. When tragedy hits, they are left with the age old question, is love enough?
Finding Voice
Conceived and Created by The Educational Theatre Association and The Cincinnati Black Theatre Artists’ Collective
Featuring Monologues by Candice Handy, Ariel Mary Ann, Derek J. Snow, and Torie Wiggins
Finding Voice: New Works for Young Theatre Artists of Color features newly created monologues and works from four dynamic Cincinnati Ohio Black playwrights written for use exclusively by High School and Middle School aged students of color.
Created through a partnership between the Educational Theatre Association and artists from the Cincinnati Black Theatre Artists’ Collective, Finding Voice brings the authentic voices of Black youth to a series of monologues perfect for use in monologue competitions and educational settings to add to a young actor’s repertoire.
New Voices. New Truths. New Discoveries. – Volume 2
The Next Narrative™ Monologue Competition, Vol. 2 features newly created works from eleven of America’s leading contemporary Black playwrights that engage students in artful exploration of 21st century themes, while instilling confidence in all to find their voices. The program objectives are to introduce students to today’s leading contemporary Black writers, expose students to acting techniques that enhance their knowledge of the art and skill of performance, utilize the arts to support students in making co-curricular connections, investigate how history and culture influence personal perspective through artful exploration, and embolden students to use their voices to inspire social action.