Sanctuary City
Martyna Majok
In post-9/11 Newark, NJ, two teenagers who were brought to America as children become one another’s sanctuaries from harsh circumstances. When G becomes naturalized, she and B hatch a plan to marry so that he may legally remain in the country and pursue the future he imagines for his life. But as time hurtles on and complications mount, the young friends find that this act challenges and fractures the closest relationship either has ever had.
Pony
Sylvan Oswald
When Pony, a formerly incarcerated trans guy, moves to a small rural town to start a new life, he quickly becomes entangled with its isolated community. He starts to fall for a waitress named Marie who is obsessed with a recent local murder; His butch social worker doesn't get him; and a young trans guy from the city is inexplicably following him around. Pony is a seminal work of trans theater exploring questions of generational difference, class and gender on an epic scale. Director Jess Barbagallo's production crackles with pop, noir, and 90s influences.
Pass Over
Antoinette Nwandu
Moses and Kitch stand around on the corner – talking shit, passing the time, and hoping that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space with his own agenda and derails their plans. Emotional and lyrical, Pass Over crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, exposing the unquestionable human spirit of young men stuck in a cycle just looking for a way out.
A provocative riff on Waiting for Godot, Pass Over is a rare piece of politically charged theater by a bold new American voice.
Body Awareness
Annie Baker
It’s Body Awareness Week on a Vermont college campus and partners Phyllis and Joyce are hosting one of the guest artists in their home: Frank, a photographer famous for his female nude portraits. His physical presence, along with his chosen subject, threatens to unravel the home order. Phyllis is furious at his depictions, while Joyce is intrigued, going so far as to contemplate posing herself. Meanwhile, Joyce’s adult son, who may or may not have autism spectrum disorder, struggles to express himself physically – with heartbreaking results.
Body Awareness is a gentle and hilarious examination of intimacy, self-expression, and the human body.
The Aliens
Annie Baker
Annie Baker’s “The Aliens” follows the lives of two angry, disregarded young men who loiter each day behind a Vermont coffee shop discussing music, Bukowski, and the past. An unexpected friendship ensues when the boys meet Evan, a misfit coffee shop employee, and the three struggle together to find connection and meaning.
Dry Land
Ruby Rae Spiegel
A tender, acerbic, and eerily prescient play. Set largely in the girl’s locker room of a Florida high school, DRY LAND follows a group of teen girls on the threshold of adulthood. They grapple with uncertainty about the future, and test the mettle of their bonds with each other as major life experience begins to take hold. An unexpected pregnancy raises the prospects of abortion.
Wolf Play
Hansol Jung
This off-Broadway sensation crackles with exuberant theatricality and visual splendor. It deftly combines satire, family drama, puppetry, and slapstick humor to mine thorny questions ranging from adoption and non-traditional family-rearing to boxing and Darwinian evolution. Oh—and the protagonist is a little boy and a puppet.