One Year Later — Two performances added due to popular demand! Open Fist Theatre Company’s “political pop-up” features 13 short plays by writers from across the country that explore our nation’s current social and political climate and how the past year has affected us. Finding it hard to get off the couch and get to the theater? Open Fist has brought the couches to Atwater Village Theatre, creating a cozy, speakeasy setting where patrons can arrive early or stay late to have a drink and a chat with the cast and fellow audience members.
“RECOMMENDED… STAGE RAW TOP 10… gets right what a lot of other productions have gotten wrong” —Stage Raw;
“EXCELLENT… serious, comic, and deeply thought provoking” — Theatre Notes
THE PLAYS:
• Sunset in Chappaqua by Myra Slotnick, directed by Chris Cappiello — When Laine convinces her partner Constance to spend Thanksgiving hiking in the woods around Chappaqua, rare birds are not the only thing she is hoping to encounter.
• The Trouble with Cashews by David MacGregor, directed by Amanda Weier — A 4th of July gathering presents siblings with a unique opportunity to save the world.
• Elevator Repair by Steve Apostolina, directed by Judith Scarpone — A man and his brother-in-law try to hash out their differences during an elevator repair. Buttons will be pushed.
• The Contributor written and directed by Ron West — Politics divides a family. Art unites it. Sort of.
• Here to Serve You by Barbara Lindsay, directed by George Caleodis — Airport security runs amok when two weary travelers find a lone shoe on the terminal floor.
• I Saw What You Said by Steven Korbar, directed by Martha Demson — Two women who’ve had a fight on social media run into each other at their local grocery store.
• Dreaming by Diana Burbano, directed by Laura James — an intimate and poignant look at the lives of a mother, living in Mexico but hoping to return to the U.S., and her daughter, a DACA recipient living in the U.S. who is facing deportation.
• Boxes by Jen Huszcza, directed by Jan Munroe — Anthropomorphized boxes tell a timeless tale about bullying. Performed without words.
• Razing the Statue by Marilynn Barner Anselmi, directed by Amanda Weier — A confused Confederate statue finds himself in a scrap yard.
• Darlene’s Resistance Monologue by Jonathan Joy, directed by Martha Demson — A straightforward young woman from a small town in West Virginia discovers what it means to “Resist” and “Stay Woke.”
• Changing Hats by Abigail C.K. Lill, directed by Amanda Weier — Barney has just graduated from the college where he’s worked as a janitor for decades; who will change the toilet paper during the post-graduation reception?
• Empire Dreams, written and performed by Caroline Klidonas, directed by Barbara Schofield, with choreography by Tony Testa — A rousing anthem that bluntly calls out our current socio-political climate, urging audiences to continue waking up from the seductive delusion of the “American Dream” in order to continue building and fighting for a world that is inclusive of all.
• 1 in 5 by Lane Allison and Company, directed by Lane Allison — No matter their age, ethnicity, size, or occupation, women play Russian Roulette with their lives everyday.