The All New Festival is designed to help playwrights get their work seen with the hope of it being picked up for a full-scale production either at the Alley or at other theater venues in the country. Saying these are works in progress, the Alley says these readings are not available for review.
Hilary Bettis who writes for the television show The Americans has written Queen of Basel which is set during Miami's annual Art Basel. Another playwright from TV land, Eliza Clark who is a writer and producer on TNT's Animal Kingdom has written Quack about a doctor with a TV show who is implicated in a national health crisis.
Here's the complete lineup:
Tender Mercies
Adapted for the stage by Daisy Foote
Based on Tender Mercies written by Horton Foote
And by Special Arrangement with STUDIOCANAL
Directed by Michael Wilson
Daisy Foote adapts her father’s Oscar-winning screenplay Tender Mercies for the stage. Mac Sledge was the King of Country married to the Queen, Dixie Scott, but the bottle and jealousy tore their family apart. Rosa Lee Wadsworth lost her young husband in Vietnam and now she and her boy Sonny live quietly alone. By the time Mac turns up drunk at Rosa Lee's three-cabin Texas roadside motel, he is a divorced has-been who hasn’t seen his daughter in years. Rosa Lee’s and Mac's dare for a second chance together tests their faith and love in this powerful story of human endurance and forgiveness.
Queen of Basel by Hilary Bettis
It's Art Basel, Miami's week-long festival where the rich and famous party with impunity.
Julie reigns queen at the South Beach hotel owned by her real estate mogul father. Tonight he’s thrown a decadent blowout but when her fiancé breaks up with her in front of the crowd, Julie hides out in the storage kitchen, humiliated and devastated. She is comforted by Christine, a cocktail waitress from war-torn Venezuela, whom her father has paid to get her home discretely. Christine calls her fiancé, John, an Uber driver from the Miami slums. But Julie refuses to let the night end unless it’s on her terms…A bold and contemporary take on Strindberg’s Miss Julie from a writer of the Emmy-nominated “The Americans.”
Cinched and Strapped by Selina Fillinger
Directed by Leslie Swackhamer
Corsets become armor, the sewer is salvation, lives are gambled on parlor games and sacrificed in war. From the posh guests of a 19th century dinner party in Cinched to the hardened warriors of a dystopic future in Strapped, these paired plays explore gender and rebellion by playfully examining the past and boldly imagining the future. A thrilling new voice in the American theatre, Fillinger questions what makes a man, what makes a woman, and who will make the rules in a fast-approaching new world.
(end of message) by Laura Jacqmin
Directed by Monty Cole
When the milestone date on their new video game is suddenly moved up – the week before Thanksgiving – a diverse team of game developers must camp out at the office for seven days straight, crunching to meet an impossible deadline. Exhaustion sets in, tempers flare and modern day work place grievances rise to the surface in this timely new drama with both humor and heart. Jacqmin has written for the theatre (winner of the 2008 Wasserstein Prize), television (“Get Shorty” and “Grace and Frankie”) and video games (The Walking Dead, Season 3 and Minecraft: Story Mode).
Put Your House In Order by Ike Holter
Directed by Matt Hune
Just outside of Chicago. Fall. In only 24 hours, a first date turns into a life shaking adventure against the clock as two people are thrust into circumstances outside of their control. Equal parts romantic comedy and old school thriller, this new play from the author of Hit the Wall (Chicago’s Steppenwolf Garage Rep and New York’s Barrow Street Theater) and Sender (recently seen at Houston’s Rec Room) explores new beginnings at the end of the world.
Quack by Eliza Clark
Directed by Brandon Weinbrenner
Irving Baer is America’s doctor. His daytime health and wellness show is watched by millions of women. When enterprising young blogger River Thumbolt publishes an article implicating Dr. Baer in a national health crisis, America begins to turn on him. But Dr. Baer adores being adored. With his career suddenly hanging in the balance, his marriage on the rocks, and his carefully maintained public persona in peril, one thing becomes clear… If Irving Baer is going to fall from grace, he’s bringing River Thumbolt with him. Quack is a play about when happens when good people forget their best intentions.
