Renee and Dani are expecting. Ann and Jamie are also expecting. And a Giant Stork suddenly starts talking. Set in the near future, Babel paints the picture of a society where embryos must be pre-certified. When each couple faces the test results, things take a complicated turn. This dark comedy begs the question, “How far will we go to create the ‘perfect’ world?”
Length: Full-Length
A full-length play or musical, in one act or two, that is 75 minutes or longer.
Antebellum
ANTEBELLUM focuses on themes of social injustice as it intercuts between two alternate stories throughout the play: one which takes place in Atlanta in 1939, the other in Germany in 1936. The Atlanta plot-line centers on a young Jewish couple living in the South who dress up in Civil War era attire to attend the premiere of Gone with the Wind. In Berlin, a Third Reich officer at a Nazi death camp is in love with his prisoner, a Black, male cabaret performer, yet still allows him to be tortured.
That Summer in Sumner
THAT SUMMER IN SUMNER is the middle drama in The Till Trilogy, a three-play cycle exploring the epic saga of Emmett Till. While the first play, The Ballad of Emmett Till, is the story of the boy, That Summer in Sumner explores the 1955 trial of his killers. While drawing upon trial transcripts, contemporaneous news accounts, and the abundant photographic and media imaging, the play is not a docudrama, but my imagined interpretation of behind the scenes events from the perspective of three African American journalists covering the trial and from Emmett, himself, his ghost, his cipher, his Kah, coming to grips with what has happened to him.
This is the second play in The Till Trilogy, a three-play cycle which includes BENEVOLENCE and THE BALLAD OF EMMETT TILL, exploring the epic saga of Emmett Till and the birth of the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Another America
A cross-country pilgrimage on bicycles from Venice, CA to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. ANOTHER AMERICA is a free-wheeling portrait of the country itself as well as a journey of self discovery for two brothers and their best friend.
Benevolence
BENEVOLENCE explores the impact of the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Chicago youth Emmett Till on two families in the Mississippi Delta, one white (the family of his killers), one black (their neighbors). When the daily routine of a country storekeeper is disrupted by a group of buoyant teens, one of whom whistles at her, from that chance encounter, she is swept into a whirlwind of violence, prosecution, deceit and delusion that pursue her till the end of her days. In a nearby town, an auto mechanic and his wife struggle to hold their family together after his infidelity, but when he witnesses evidence of Till’s murder, the incident tears at the very fabric of their lives. Based on actual events, the third play in Bayeza’s THE TILL TRILOGY grapples with the enduring legacy of American racial violence through this intimate story of two women in quest of love and redemption.
Asking Strangers the Meaning of Life
In the opening scene of this comedy, a writer meets the ghost of Franz Kafka, which sets off an existential chain of events forcing the cast to confront the meaning of life. Through a series of hilarious random encounters, the play questions whether we can understand our existence or is life just one long Zoom meeting interrupted by Amazon and DoorDash deliveries. Designed to be simply staged, ASKING STRANGERS THE MEANING OF LIFE can use a cast as small as five or as many as ten. The cast can be any race, ethnicity, physicality, and sexual orientation/identity.
Musings of a Crazy Texican
Imagine witnessing 500 years of Aztec history in 10 minutes, a commercial for menudo popsicles, auditions for Pancho Villa: The Musical or a jillion texts from a psycho gringa. This “crazy” collection of eight short plays contains works that have entertained, inspired and sometimes offended. Playwright Alvaro Saar Rios showcases new work, commissioned pieces as well as those developed with the performance troupe The Royal Mexican Players. To be enjoyed by Texicans & non-Texicans across the country.
Carmela Full of Wishes
It’s Carmela’s birthday, and she’s finally old enough to accompany her big brother on his errands. On their way to the laundromat, past fields of what her Mamí calls “flores de cempazuchitl”, Carmela finds a puffy white dandelion to blow, but her brother asks “Did you even make a wish?”
The Newbery award-winning team behind Last Stop on Market Street portrays Carmela’s migrant community as a vibrant place of possibility. Full of touching and funny fantasies, Carmela must decide what her deepest wish is and she must do it before her birthday is over.
A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes
A Thanksgiving play called by sports announcers. Every family holiday is full of tradition. Every family holiday is full of strife and joy. Where do our traditions come from? Why do we hold so tightly to them? Join the family at Wembley Stadium as they play the game called Thanksgiving Day: a day of gratitude in which we watch some people knock some other people down in order to get the ball over the line.
Barbecue
The O’Mallery’s have gathered in their local park to share some barbecue and straight talk with their sister Barbara, whose spiral of drugs and recklessness has forced her siblings to stage an open-air intervention. But the event becomes raucous and unpredictable as familial stereotypes collide with hard realities, and racial politics slam up against the stories we tell—and maybe even believe—about who we were and who we’ve become.