Developing Fresh Voices and PRODUCING THEATRE for the 21st Century
ALL PLAYS ARE FREE
We are grateful for donations from those who are able/choose to contribute. Suggested amount $5-10
Your contribution will enable us to support the development and production of new works from TPS with collaboration by Destiny Theatre Experience and SistaStyle Productions. We very much appreciate your generosity.
DON'T LOOK BLACK by Preston Crowder
Directed by Kari Lebby
A group of white friends are enthused after being given a chance to participate in a "Black Immersion Experience". What they figure will be an opportunity to play in their harmful stereotypes quickly turns into a house of nightmares as they are shown the true magic of blackness.
Cast: Gabe Atchley, David Chattam, Caroline Conner, Preston Crowder, Vida Finley, Ryan Link, Cameron L. Mitchell, Candace-Omnira, Andre Patton, Taryn Pray, Jay Rudolph, Elliott Winston Robinson, Fiona Soul
Some comments from our virtual audience:
“Fully desperate to produce this."
“Need to see this all over again."
"This is so hard to watch in all the right ways."
“This is DEEP and I love IT!!!”
“This just keeps twisting!”
“I am FLOORED.”
“Crying in Australia. SOOOO powerful. Thank you.”
“A masterpiece!"
“Stunning show.”
“We cannot forget the name Preston Crowder.”
SANDBAGS by Caitlin Myers
Directed by Adam Hughes
Years ago, Gloria, Rosie, Bugs, Tex, and Little Bird found meaning in an anti-pipeline protest camp in rural Louisiana. But when the camp disintegrated, so did their relationships. Now, they've all gone their separate ways, and the hurricane of the century is heading for the Gulf. Their tensions and the intersections of their past, present, and branching potential futures drive this story somewhere between memory and reality, between love and resentment, within the buildup to a coming, inescapable storm. And, Gloria forgot to buy groceries.
Cast: Liggera Edmonds-Allen, Tony Nappo, Wesley Paine, Miranda Pepin, Melinda Sewak, Ted Welch
Some comments from our virtual audience:
“That was beautiful!! thank you all for all your work and artistry
actors were all INCREDIBLE.”
“..writing is so real and vibrant and vivid. the emotion and the community.”
“I see themes from life, the intense passion for action, the equal and intense personal complexities, the wondering perhaps about the effectiveness of action and belief.”
“Stylistically it brought up feelings similar to Frank Galati's stage adaptation of THE GRAPES OF WRATH -- epic in scope. This is kind of a modern Joad "family" with the tragic events they encounter.”
“Every character felt dead-on. I could see every one of them. so nuanced but still bold."
SINS OF THE CITY by Shawn Whitsell
Directed by Alicia Haymer
A popular and successful politician is propositioned by a young, aspiring campaign manager on the eve of an election. What starts out as a seemingly ordinary run for office culminates in a moral reckoning.
Cast: Jack E. Chambers, Milton Jackson, Terry Occhiogrosso, Brittany Nelson, Candace-Omnira, Jamil Parrish, Will Robbins, Elliott Winston Robinson
Some comments from our virtual audience:
“I audibly gasped!!!"
“I’m rung out.”
“Amazing"
“Riveting!!”
“Welp…surpassed our expectations like always... and I'm speechless."
AMERICAN MALADY by Brooke Bryant
Directed by Carolyn German
As strange dreams and even stranger physical symptoms begin sweeping the United States, a frustrated business professional travels with a one-of-a-kind doctor to a mysterious, enchanted island to unlock the cure. But when they realize the cure itself is more complex than they thought, they must escape powerful opposing forces on the island and decode the cure in time to help America avoid the island’s fate.
Cast: Kathleen Allen, Daniel Brewer, David Ian Lee, Beth Henderson, Ethan Jones, Josh Kiev, Jenny Norris, Maggie Pitt, Fiona Soul, Pat Taber, Lane Wright
Some comments from our virtual audience:
“I love the island and the characters there. I'm entranced by them...like a kid watching the best mixtures of Star Trek, LOTR and Land of the Lost. Very intriguing…"
“…the message about the memes. I think it is so powerful. I have seen people literally use memes, gifs, and pictures to express what they are feeling now. One, because they are too overwhelmed to find the words, and two, because they are afraid of others ripping them apart for using their own words and expressing opinions at all. I really appreciate this.”
“So much to think about here! Thanks for a truly insightful evening.”
JUMP THE LINE by Greg Morneau
Directed by Galen Fott
Lena didn’t spend her life managing the circulation department of her city's newspaper just to let it slip away. But as she nears retirement and hopes to hand the job over to her wayward son, circulation numbers are in free fall. To save her department, Lena pins her hopes on an ambitious journalist. Does it matter that the journalist’s career might be in a tailspin and his home life is imploding? As rumors spread that the paper is going solely online, Lena's newspaper carriers face an uncertain future as they reckon with expectation, failure and desire.
Cast: Robert Chambers, Rachael Hip-Flores, Gregory D. Hicks, Sabrina Moore, JR Robles, Ronald Román-Meléndez. Special thanks to Elle Wesley (Voice of Young Alice) and Jalen Walker (Voice of Young Adam).
Some comments from our virtual audience :
"Great message... nicely delivered! “
“Wonderful work everyone and great direction”
“Artfully enthralling…”
EQUINOX by Christopher R.C. Bosen
Directed by Lauren Berst
Living on dialysis with a rapidly failing kidney, veteran Ray Bolton is guided by a strict code of self-sufficiency, even at the expense of his relationships with his adult daughter, estranged son, and granddaughter Charlie who wants to celebrate her 13th birthday with her whole family together for cake -- and fireworks. Ray now confronts once in a lifetime decisions as he excavates the moments both big and small, happy and traumatic, that brought him and the entire Bolton family to this moment. Charlie's birthday is bound to be memorable -- and explosive.
Cast: Jack E. Chambers, Darci Nalepa, Tony Nappo, Evelyn O’Neal, Brian Russell, Abby West, Ayla Williams
Some comments from our virtual audience:
“Beautiful work! Love the play!”
"That was wonderful... no tears... at all…"
“Well done everyone, playwright and cast.”
UP NEXT for TPS!
THAT WOMAN: A VIRTUAL WORKSHOP READING
TICKETS ARE FREE BUT MUST BE RESERVED IN ADVANCE FOR ACCESS
TPS has partnered with Angela Gimlin (Founder and COO of Nashville’s own Inebriated Shakespeare Company) for a virtual workshop reading of the to-be-produced-after-the-pandemic play, THAT WOMAN, comprised of a series of monologues from the perspectives of women who were involved (or rumored-to-be involved) with President John F. Kennedy. Monologues for this production were written and will be virtually read by:
Molly Breen (as Mimi Alford)
Megan Dianne DeWald (as Mary Pinchot Meyer)
Angela Gimlin (as Blaze Starr)
April Hardcastle-Miles (as Inga Arvad)
Alicia Haymer (as Jill Cowan)
Nettie Kraft (as Priscilla Ware)
Ang Madeline-Johnson (as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis)
Mary McCallum (as Ellen Rometsch)
Elizabeth Turner (as Judith Exner)
Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva (as Marilyn Monroe)
February 24, 2021, at 7:30 p.m. CST
With special guests Erica Ciccarone and Amy Stumpfl from The Nashville Scene.
