The Morgan Jenness Experiments in Playwriting Fellowship Readings | June 8
June 8, 2026
FREE EVENT
5pm
Cul-de-Sac
by Leslie Gauthier
What happens to the people who live on land where there was once a massacre? In Cul-de-Sac, three women’s lives unfold and intertwine as they’re haunted by the same ghosts. Based on a real-life traffic circle in Mystic, CT, the men responsible for a violent past shape the relationships of the women they haunt – until they’re exorcised by time, nature, and the resurrection of lost language. In this ghost-story-meets-memory play, the reverberations of a massacre, a deadly mistake, and an ever-sprawling casino eventually dissipate, and its language and story that remain. Cul-de-Sac spans across centuries to expose unmet desires, wasted talent, and missed connections—but also to expose what endures.
7:30pm
House Gyalz
by Abigail Onwunali
House Gyalz is a fierce, darkly comedic thriller inspired in part by The Maids, set inside the lavish home of a Nigerian socialite whose world begins to unravel overnight. As Sorochi and Chidi, two housemaids, spiral deeper into dangerous roleplay, buried desires and impossible loyalties erupt into chaos. Blending razor-sharp satire with explosive theatricality, House Gyalz reimagines Jean Genet’s classic through a contemporary Nigerian lens, examining class, power, womanhood, and what it costs to finally break free.
