Monday October 3rd, 2016 @ 8PM
Mollye Maxner’s STILL LIFE WITH ROCKET

From the team that brought you the critically-acclaimed Occupied Territories, comes a new play about female boxing in the 1950s, interracial adoption, and the power of memory. Still Life with Rocket will be developed over the course of the season with the ensemble and the Theater Alliance staff and will challenge and explode your notions of motherhood, mortality, and theater itself.

Mollye Maxner is the artistic director of Kicking Pig Productions (Mass.). Festivals include: KO Festival (Amherst, Mass.), Pangaea Project (Washington, D.C.), WAC Fest (Taiwan), Assos Festival (Turkey), QUEST Fest (D.C.) and SOURCE Festival (D.C.). New York City performances include Joyce SoHo, Cunningham Studios, Danspace Project and PS 122. Ms. Maxner spearheaded Silicon Dance Project and collaboration with Turkish State Opera’s Modern Dance Turkey. She received her BA summa cum laude in Choreography and Playwriting from Mount Holyoke College, and her BFA in Drama/Directing from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. During 2009-10, she was a Kenan Fellow at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Monday October 10th, 2016 @ 8PM
John Bavoso’s BLIGHT

Can a home be haunted by the actions of its owner? In Bavoso’s Blight, Silvia and Cat Henson have just moved from a small apartment in Washington, DC, into their sprawling dream home in the small town of Greenville, Delaware. But the house only happens to be in their price range because it was most recently the home of a teenaged mass shooter and his single mother. Within days of moving in, they’re confronted by a mayor who wants to erase their house from the map, a neighbor who wants to turn it into a museum, and an alarmingly chipper consultant who specializes in the macabre. Is this the right time and place for Silvia and Cat to bring a new baby into the world, or will the house create a rift between them and their new community?

John Bavoso is a Washington, DC-based playwright, marketer, and book and theatre reviewer who ‘s deeply grateful to be participating in the 5th Annual Hothouse New Play Development Series with such a talented group of playwrights and phenomenal theatre company! He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and a Pinky Swear Productions company member, and his first full-length play, Olizzia, premiered at the 2014 Capital Fringe Festival, prompting DC Metro Theatre Arts to dub him “a playwright to watch out for.” His 10-minute plays have been produced by the 2015 DC Queer Theatre Festival and 2016 Source Festival in DC, and the 2016 Short + Sweet Theatre festival in Sydney, Australia. He returned to Capital Fringe this year as a co-writer of Pinky Swear’s Over Her Dead Body, which won two Fringe Audience Awards (Best Musical and Best Overall Show). His work has been seen on websites like Jezebel.com, Lambda Literary Review, and DC Theatre Scene and in magazines such as the Diplomatic Courier, the G8 Summit Magazine, and Metro Weekly.

Monday October 17th, 2016 @ 8PM
Lindsay Adams’ HER OWN DEVICES

In an eerie yet stirring reality, 12 year old Madeleine was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder and has spent her  life in isolation as a pharmaceutical company’s test subject. As her doctors continue to test and watch her without finding the answers they so desperately seek, Madeleine’s paranoia and fear of germs is growing. She enlists the help of her only friend, the Robot she built herself, to fight them off. When she finally discovers the truth about her young life, she must decide whether to stay or to leave the only home she’s every known.

Lindsay Adams is a teaching artist and nationally produced playwright. She is an MFA Candidate in Playwriting at the Catholic University of America. Her Own Devices is the 2016 recipient of the Judith Barlow prize. Her stage writing was most recently featured at The Women’s Project Theatre, The One Minute Play Festival, and the American College Theatre Festival. Her plays have been performed in New York, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Kansas, and Missouri.

Monday October 24th, 2016 @ 8PM
Annalisa Dias’ TO DEFEND FREEDOM

On August 29, 2013, two Algerian detainees were released from Guantanamo Bay Detention Center after being held captive for 12 years without charge. In 1845, a French military unit was instrumental in the occupation of Algeria. Centered around the lives and histories of one of the detainees and his American lawyer, and drawing connections between instances of cultural and political trauma in the past and present, To Defend Freedom blends past with present, poetry with political rhetoric, and bears witness to the struggle for both men to retain a grasp on their humanity amid the vast complexity of the American system.

Annalisa Dias is a performer, director, and playwright. Her work has been staged in DC, New York, London, and Glasgow. She is a Producing Playwright with The Welders, a DC playwright’s collective; and is Co-Founder of the DC Coalition for Theatre & Social Justice. Recent collaborators include the Gulfshore Playhouse, Signature Theatre’s SigWorks Program, the Mead Theatre Lab Program, WSC Avant Bard, the Atlas Intersections Festival, Convergence Theatre, Forum Theatre, and Longacre Lea. Annalisa frequently teaches theatre of the oppressed workshops nationally and internationally and speaks about race, identity, and performance. More information at http://annalisadias.weebly.com. @ajdm

Monday October 31st, 2016 @ 8PM
Audrey Cefaly’s ALABASTER

When noted photographer Alice arrives at the home of undiscovered folk artist June  to take photographs of her for an upcoming series called “Scars,” the chemistry between them is electric and immediate. What follows is a three-day spiritual convergence on June’s family farm near Alabaster, Alabama. Cerfaly’s intimate portrait explores the meaning and purpose of art and the struggle of the lost and tortured souls that seek to create it.

Audrey Cefaly is a Southern writer whose work draws inspiration from her home state of Alabama and the Gulf Coast region. Her work is finely tuned to the colorful voices and stories of working class people and seeks to explore the human condition through intimate character‐driven vignettes expressly designed and edited to effect a cathartic release for the viewer. Cefaly is a recipient of a grant from the Boomerang Fund for Artists as well as the Maryland State Arts Council. Her play THE GULF won the 40th Annual Samuel French OOB Festival (full-length world premiere: Signature Theatre, Arlington, VA, Sep. 2016 – directed by Joe Calarco).  Cefaly’s collection LOVE IS A BLUE TICK HOUND was recently published by Samuel French (world premiere: Terrific New Theatre, Birmingham, AL, Dec. 2016). In Oct. of 2015, Cefaly directed the world premiere of her Southern drama MAYTAG VIRGIN as part of the inaugural Women’s Voices Theatre Festival. Cefaly is a member of the New Play Exchange and the Dramatists Guild.