Thursday, July 7, 8:00PM PT
TUNE IN by Carlos Lacámara
Directed by Meeghan Holaway
A young female psychology professor struggles against the patriarchy and her own bipolar disorder to conduct LSD experiments in 1963.

Friday, July 8, 8:00PM PT
THE BINDING by Douglas Hill
Directed by Taylor Nichols
A gruff, old summoner in southern Ohio agrees to bind a protective spirit to a stone for one week at the request of a high school graduate who is trying to escape his abusive father.

Saturday, July 9, 2:00PM PT
SPEAK LINES ALL GARBLED by David Liu
Directed by Jacqueline Misaye
Seated next to each other in this darkened theater, two strangers have watched the first act of the play. Now the lights come up for intermission, and they have fifteen minutes to read the program, to check their phones…or to go off-script and devise their own dialogue. The theatre may bring people together, but the rest is silence up to them.

Saturday, July 9, 8:00PM PT
GREATER ILLINOIS by Steven Strafford
Directed by Andre Barron
Greater Illinois is the story of the decisions we make to fight, flee, or freeze. It is the
story of the ramifications of those decisions.

Sunday, July 10, 2:00PM PT
HECUBA by Amanda L. Andrei
Directed by Sara Guerrero
Inspired by Euripides’ Hecuba and the peak of the eugenics movement in 1970s Los Angeles, this surreal drama focuses on a Philippine-born baker and mother, Hecuba, as she struggles to remember and reconcile with the past violence done to her and her children – who may or not be imaginary but are very real.

Sunday, July 10, 8:00PM PT
THE ROMEO AND JULIET SENIOR CITIZENS PROJECT – A Comedy by Jami Brandli
Directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky
Lucas, a recent MFA graduate of Yale (and barely 30 years old), creates and directs his adaptation of Romeo & Juliet for a local Seniors Retirement Facility. During rehearsal and opening night, complications arise from conflicts and a budding romance between Rich and Rose, the two star-crossed lovers/residents at the facility. As Lucas juggles the play and real-life drama, his creative vision is truly tested by one regal resident, 90 year old Nina Sallinen, who interjects with her unsolicited advice and why the tragedy should have a happy ending.

Monday, July 11, 8:00PM PT
THAT MUST BE THE ENTRANCE TO HEAVEN by Franky D. Gonzalez
Directed by Denise Blasor
Four Latino boxers with world title aspirations try to make a better life for themselves and find the entrance to Heaven. To reach Heaven, however, requires they fight each other and the very universe itself before being allowed a chance to live their dreams.

Tuesday, July 12, 8:00PM PT
THE WAKE by Tammy Ryan
Directed by Christina Carlisi
In life, Colleen was a force of nature. Six months after her death, her sisters Maggie and Rosemary rent a beach house in Florida to scatter her ashes, only to find themselves and their respective partners staring down a hurricane. As the strong winds and rainbands begin, strange encounters with wildlife signal something more is going on. Filled with humor and heart, The Wake explores grief, family, and America’s shifting cultural and environmental climates.

Wednesday, July 13, 8:00PM PT
BROKEN by Aaron Braxton
Directed by Gregg T. Daniel
A witty, Two-Act dramatic play about mental illness in an African American family revolving around a woman’s compulsive guilt, drug addiction, alcohol abuse and multifaceted visual and auditory hallucinations regarding the accidental death of her 17-year-old son.

Thursday, July 14, 8:00PM PT
SINKHOLE by Alison Minami
Directed by Margaret Shigeko Starbuck
When a giant sinkhole hits a small town in Florida, Paul, the prodigal son, goes missing. His sister Naomi believes he’s fallen into the hole, but his mother believes he’s used the hole to fake his own death, thereby shirking his obligations to the family-owned sushi restaurant. In his absence, the two must face themselves and each other. The play jumps back and forth between pre-sinkhole and post-sinkhole times as well as enters the liminal space where characters explore the hole itself.

Friday, July 15, 8:00PM PT
TILLY BIRDBONES by Leah Annia Plante-Wiener
Directed by David Gianopoulos
An adult fairytale about grief, isolation, motherhood, and autonomy, Tilly Birdbones tells the story of a family’s final year with its youngest daughter, as recounted by the tutor who bore witness to her metamorphosis into a bird.

Saturday, July 16, 2:00PM PT
ACCORDING TO THE CHORUS by Arlene Hutton
Directed by Christopher Goutman
According to the Chorus is a funny, nostalgic behind-the-scenes look at a pivotal period in the history of Broadway where women’s issues and the AIDS crisis play out through the everyday lives of Equity performers and union dressers.

Saturday, July 16, 8:00PM PT
BODY + BLOOD by Shannon TL Kearns
Directed by Ru Kazi
A fever dream, a man caught in Limbo. In the midst of a crisis, what do we remember and how? Joshua is a bartender who feels a calling to be a priest. Oh, and he also happens to be transgender. Caught between worlds, caught between his trans friend Peter and the guys at the bar and the stuffy church warden, can he make a difference in anyone’s life or is he just not enough of anything to count? What does it mean to choose visibility in a world where the visible often lack safety?

Sunday, July 17, 2:00PM PT
THE ORDEAL OF WATER by Stephanie Alison Walker
Directed by Randee Trabitz
1978. The first two female longshoremen at the Port of Los Angeles are trapped by their male co-workers in the cargo hold of a container ship just as it is heading to Shanghai. As they struggle to survive, they are visited by witches, who both help them and test them. This play is inspired by the first women to work at the Port of Los Angeles as Longshoremen.

Sunday, July 17, 8:00PM PT
NIGHT OF FIVE ONE-ACT PLAYS
This is an evening of short, one-act play readings

THE DAMAGE DONE by Robbi D’Allessandro
Directed by Suzanne Hunt
The Damage Done is the result of over a year of interviews with Jane and Dick Doonan – the parents of children swept up in the scourge of opioid addiction.

DATE by Amy Goddard
Directed by Nancy Fassett
Two people meet for a first date post pandemic. It isn’t easy.

GLORIA AND HER DRAGONS by Elizabeth A. Dudak
Directed by Avery Clyde
A daughter grieving the death of her husband seeks comfort from her aging mother struggling with dementia.

I CAN CRY IF I WANT TO by Natalie Camunas
Directed by Daphnie Sicre
After losing her older sister in 1968, Cecilia and her family are trapped in cycles of grief. More than 50 years later, finally ready to feel something other than sadness she begins therapy, unearthing painful memories. But how do you move forward when healing means cutting the ties that bind you to your family?

PRESENT BLACK FATHERS by Somebody Jones
Directed by Justin Lord
A love letter of sorts. This collection of interviews challenges the stereotype of the “absent Black father.” Four Black dads and one surrogate Black dad spend forty-five minutes getting real. Police brutality, dating, having a child with autism . . . No topic is off limits. And there are, of course, plenty of dad jokes.

Each play reading will be followed by a moderated discussion with the playwright, director and cast.

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More details on the readings in the festival, like Playwright bio, Director bio, Cast list and more, will be posted shortly.