Art House Productions is pleased to announce the Virtual INKubator New Play Festival from Monday, May 3 – Wednesday, May 19 online via Zoom.
The festival will feature playwrights from the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 cohorts, including Kev Berry, Andrea Coleman, Izzi D’Esposito, Madeline Dennis-Yates, Nathaniel Foster, Alyssa Haddad, Aja Nisenson, SMJ, Christopher-Rashee Stevenson, Leila Teitelman, and Colin Waitt.
Audiences who attend the festival will also have the opportunity to participate in conversations with the writers, directors, and actors during each performance.
All public readings are free for audiences and begin at 7 p.m. Registration is required to receive the Zoom link. Donations will be accepted towards supporting the INKubator Program at Art House.
Registration for single tickets (suggested donation $5): http://bit.ly/INKubatorFestival2021
Registration for Festival Pass (suggested donation $50): http://bit.ly/INKubatorFestivalPass2021
Art House is working remotely at this time. If you are unable to reserve tickets or make a donation online, please email [email protected] to set up a time for the box office to call you to assist over the phone.
The events will feature Closed Captions using Zoom’s autotransciption service. To request ASL interpreters, please email [email protected] at least 72 hours before the event. For questions about accessibility and patrons services, please email [email protected].
INKubator is a year-long generative process for a select group of 6 playwrights in residence at Art House Productions. During the program, playwrights meet on a monthly basis alongside program director Alex Tobey to share new work, receive feedback, and develop a first draft of a new play. The program culminates in a New Play Festival, where the playwrights work with professional directors and actors to hear the play read aloud for the first time. Due to the pandemic, the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 cohort festivals have been combined. Casting will be announced at a later date.
“Working with these brilliant playwrights has been an incredibly rewarding journey,” says INKubator director Alex Tobey. “I’m constantly inspired by their creativity, their resilience, and their unique visions for what the art of playwriting can achieve. The past year has presented a lot of challenges for theatre, both in how we develop new plays and how we present them, so I’m thrilled to share a first look at the plays alongside an incredible group of actors and directors.”
Monday, May 3 at 7:00pm
We’re Just Redoing the Kitchen by Madeline Dennis-Yates
directed by Kat Yen
After a career-threatening injury forces pro athlete Skyler to move back in with her parents, she is confronted with the weirdness of newfound wealth, her physical fragility, and her childhood home getting literally hacked to bits in service of a home makeover. (But is there even a plan for the new kitchen?) We’re Just Redoing the Kitchen is about what happens to a family when the child becomes an enormous success and everything – finances, home, and family dynamics – must change.
Tuesday, May 4 at 7:00pm
Oh God by Colin Waitt
directed by Alex Tobey
A man who may or may not have been visited by God who may or may not have tasked him with saving us in these troubled times may or may not create a new religion that may or may not destroy us all. The road to hell is paved with good intentions in this comedy about belief, truth and Dolly Parton.
Wednesday, May 5 at 7:00pm
Away From Keyboard by Izzi D’Esposito
directed by Graham Miller
A group of longtime online friends meet up to play a video game together over voice chat. When one of them unexpectedly doesn’t log on, the group tries to look for clues about his disappearance in his offline life. Away From Keyboard is an audio play about gaming, ghosting, and camaraderie on the internet.
Thursday, May 6 at 7:00pm
OUR CHILDHOOD SUCKED by SMJ
created and developed by Ezra Brain, Ludmila Brito, Stephanie Fongheiser, Talia Frank-Stempel, Daniel Kunkel, Alizae Powell, Danielle Truss, and SMJ
directed by Ludmila Brito
Five former teen stars are invited to tape a Disney+ reunion special and the pilot for the reboot of the show they made famous, Dating Academy. However, through s’mores, script readings, trips to the past, and dead bodies, the stars discover that something more sinister and exploitative may be awaiting them.
Saturday, May 8 at 7:00pm
Secrets by Andrea Coleman
directed by Emily Moler
Secrets is a comedic farce about three Brooklyn couples, their friends, and the secrets they’re all trying to keep from each other during a dinner party. Every couple is interracial, woke, and nuts. You’ll laugh, and they’ll cry, while all secrets get revealed.
Monday, May 10 at 7:00pm
Wild George or Mad For You by Christopher-Rashee Stevenson
directed by Andrew Willis-Woodward
The President of an unnamed country is struck suddenly with an “illness” causing him to make strange speeches, run about at night naked imagining himself a new hybrid of “boar and mammoth,” and to generally make mayhem for everyone who encounters him. Will the First Lady find a doctor competent enough to heal her husband before the country falls headlong into chaos, before he is written out of the story, before his scheming son is elected in his place? Medicine. Music. Domestic intrigue. And Games all await you in this farcical political tragicomedy.
Tuesday, May 11 at 7:00pm
Vincent van Gogh by Kev Berry
directed by Alex Tobey
Vincent and Paul are lovers, though history would tell you otherwise and call them post-Impressionists. Vincent’s sick, Paul’s kind of a prick, and then one night, Vincent cuts his own ear off. Vincent van Gogh effervescently remixes history with a disco beat to examine what stands the tests of time and what is erased into the annals of queerness, despite being mighty, mighty real.
Sunday, May 16 at 7:00pm
Where We Lie by Leila Teitelman
directed by Kimille Howard
When a mother and her two daughters move into a new house to start fresh, it doesn’t take long for them to realize that the past can follow and haunt a family for generations. Where We Lie explores homelessness, helplessness, and the repercussions of inheritance.
Monday, May 17 at 7:00pm
Autopay by Aja Nisenson
directed by Victoria Gruenberg
Emilie, an 85 year old woman, discovers her caregiver, Katrina, is stealing from her and seeks revenge. Setting up a live stream video in her house, Emilie begins documenting the disturbing and abusive behavior of her caregiver, igniting a viral YouTube channel that receives more likes than anyone thought possible. Autopay is a story about the lies we tell each other and ourselves.
Tuesday, May 18 at 7:00pm
Moondance Rick by Nathaniel Foster
directed by Raz Golden
Retired wrestler Rick is forced to reckon with his past when his son Isaac shows up unannounced wanting to train at his professional wrestling school. Moondance Rick explores the intricate and messy relationship between a father and son and the impact our legacy can have on those who come after us, through the theatrical lens of professional wrestling.
Wednesday, May 19 at 7:00pm
The Ancestry Dot Com/Family Tree/23andMe…Play by Alyssa Haddad
directed by Ryan Dobrin
When a group of friends takes a DNA test, they grapple with how it affects their identity, specifically Samia, an Arab-American who never knew her father.
This event is part of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance 2021 Stages Festival, made possible by support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts; Bank of America; The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey; OceanFirst Foundation; the George A. Ohl, Jr. Trust; New Jersey Historical Commission; and Fund for the New Jersey Blind. www.njtheatrealliance.org/stages
Zoom is an online video conferencing software that allows you to virtually interact when in-person meetings and events aren’t possible. Participants must have wifi, download the application on a computer or smartphone, and sign up for a free Zoom account to participate. The Art House staff are available to help troubleshoot registration and download; please email [email protected] for assistance.
Art House Productions is generously supported by The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, MACK-CALI Realty, SILVERMAN, Manhattan Building Company, and CoolVines.
Art House Productions is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to the development and presentation of the performing and visual arts in Jersey City, NJ. Art House Productions presents theater, performing and visual arts festivals, arts events, visual art exhibitions, and adult and youth art classes. For more information about our programs, please visit our website at www.arthouseproductions.org. Follow us on social media @arthouseproductions @arthouseprods To sign up for Art House’s mailing list, please click here: http://eepurl.com/hd1FCj.
