runners up of the 2021 submission period
Black Girl Joy by Phanesia Pharel
It isn’t too often when we’re reading plays that a piece will straight up make us cry, and Pharel did that with this script. Her characters are at the heart of the wonderfully performative art piece, and they will make you love them. At the Black Girl Joy Housing Center for Vulnerable Youth in Miami, Trina, JT, Squeaks and Donna come together to share their story. Black Girl Joy shifts between memory, choreo poems and a juicy plot. It is a ritual play for black girls/women to heal from intimate partner violence, a loss of girlhood, and the death of our friends.
It isn’t too often when we’re reading plays that a piece will straight up make us cry, and Pharel did that with this script. Her characters are at the heart of the wonderfully performative art piece, and they will make you love them. At the Black Girl Joy Housing Center for Vulnerable Youth in Miami, Trina, JT, Squeaks and Donna come together to share their story. Black Girl Joy shifts between memory, choreo poems and a juicy plot. It is a ritual play for black girls/women to heal from intimate partner violence, a loss of girlhood, and the death of our friends.
Frozen Fluid by Fly Jamerson
This very powerful piece is performance heavy and extremely evocative. Reading it we found the colors of the phytoplankton dancing around our minds while we grappled with the questions Jamerson presents about the truth of gender. Somewhere in Mythic Antarctica, three scientists at a research facility live and conduct research out on the ice, continuously becoming and unbecoming themselves as they play out the creation of the world. Through a series of fables, Frozen Fluid chronicles the arrival of phytoplankton scientist Tay and the unraveling of the fantastic Antarctic world in which they find themself. Together, the scientists construct and deconstruct notions of gender, identity, religion, climate, and time itself.
This very powerful piece is performance heavy and extremely evocative. Reading it we found the colors of the phytoplankton dancing around our minds while we grappled with the questions Jamerson presents about the truth of gender. Somewhere in Mythic Antarctica, three scientists at a research facility live and conduct research out on the ice, continuously becoming and unbecoming themselves as they play out the creation of the world. Through a series of fables, Frozen Fluid chronicles the arrival of phytoplankton scientist Tay and the unraveling of the fantastic Antarctic world in which they find themself. Together, the scientists construct and deconstruct notions of gender, identity, religion, climate, and time itself.
Meet You Downstairs by Katy Copeland
Copeland’s piece excited us from the beginning because of how real the story felt, authenticity at its heart. This play isn’t afraid to be messy. Meet You Downstairs is a one act play divided into four scenes that follows Kit, our young, queer heroine as she navigates three different yet crucial relationships over the course of ten plus years. Ferociously trying to come up with any label that appropriately defines her sexuality, we see Kit stumble through her 20s and 30s attempting to unpack the integral complexities of love, sex, relationships, infidelity and what it means to be queer in a heteronormative world.
Copeland’s piece excited us from the beginning because of how real the story felt, authenticity at its heart. This play isn’t afraid to be messy. Meet You Downstairs is a one act play divided into four scenes that follows Kit, our young, queer heroine as she navigates three different yet crucial relationships over the course of ten plus years. Ferociously trying to come up with any label that appropriately defines her sexuality, we see Kit stumble through her 20s and 30s attempting to unpack the integral complexities of love, sex, relationships, infidelity and what it means to be queer in a heteronormative world.
The Eleventh Star by Brynn Hambley
This piece opens with a ritual and takes us through incantations as we watch its characters deal with insurmountable problems. The Eleventh Star follows two generations of women in a non-linear fashion as they deal with their depression and mental illness, while hopefully finding more healthy ways to cope. A no-holds-barred exploration of the various ways that depression can creep into a person's life, this piece dives deep into genetics, environments, relationships, and unhealthy coping mechanisms that often cause or perpetuate depression in modern day life. In the end, The Eleventh Star strives to show that with hope and love recovery is possible. Inspired by Mieko Shiomi's "Star Piece".
This piece opens with a ritual and takes us through incantations as we watch its characters deal with insurmountable problems. The Eleventh Star follows two generations of women in a non-linear fashion as they deal with their depression and mental illness, while hopefully finding more healthy ways to cope. A no-holds-barred exploration of the various ways that depression can creep into a person's life, this piece dives deep into genetics, environments, relationships, and unhealthy coping mechanisms that often cause or perpetuate depression in modern day life. In the end, The Eleventh Star strives to show that with hope and love recovery is possible. Inspired by Mieko Shiomi's "Star Piece".
The Visible by Samantha Walsh
We fell in love with the characters in this piece as soon as we met them. This play is very grounded and tells a very human story of family and reckoning with your past. At an isolated rural gas station during a nasty winter storm we meet Estie, a trans woman in her 60's, who is right at home. Jen, a cis woman in her 30's arrives for her first shift and seems unprepared for the harsh realities that come with a job like this. As the storm intensifies, the emotional guard-walls of these two women begin to erode, revealing surprising vulnerabilities and strengths.
We fell in love with the characters in this piece as soon as we met them. This play is very grounded and tells a very human story of family and reckoning with your past. At an isolated rural gas station during a nasty winter storm we meet Estie, a trans woman in her 60's, who is right at home. Jen, a cis woman in her 30's arrives for her first shift and seems unprepared for the harsh realities that come with a job like this. As the storm intensifies, the emotional guard-walls of these two women begin to erode, revealing surprising vulnerabilities and strengths.
