MANIFESTATION: La MaMa Umbria 2022 Playwrights Reading Series

Friday March 10th

4:00pm: The Water We Buried

By Eryn Diehl
Directed by Aliya Hunter
Performed by Aiden Chalfonte, Oona Hutchman and Andrea Yagher

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/516774946777

Summary: In 2054, in anticipation of a city-destroying hurricane, young New Yorker Scout must face demons from her past and present as she evaluates how to spend her final days.

Run Time: 80 minutes

‍6:00pm: roller rink death kink sex cult

Written and Directed by Skylar J. Beirne
Stage Managed/Assistant Directed by Kat Sloan Garcia
Performed by Carl Bindman, Christina Cotignola, Allie Donnelly, Tessie Herrasti, Rose Meehan and Daniel Oakley

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/516760142497

Summary: It's exactly what it sounds like - but wait, there's more!

Emma, mourning the “death of her fiancé,” picks up a book called Death: The Final Orgasm. She meets the author, falls in love, and decides to follow him to a community he has created as a safe-space for those with misunderstood kinks.

Run Time 90 minutes

‍8:00pm  The Peacoat

By Heidi Carlsen
Directed by Tom Bentley-Fisher
Performed by Heidi Carlsen

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/516777885567

Summary: A child - the internment of voice. A woman - the rescue.

Run Time: 50 min

Saturday March 11th

Noon: A Very Very Korean Play

By Elaine Jiwon Kim
Directed by Eileen Tucci
Performed by Karina Cowperthwaite,  James Caven, Caron Kim, and Natalie Choo

Tickets:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/516795879387

Summary: On a dead stage, a woman turns into a peach tree. In this play, we burrow under the human characters’ feet, beneath the floorboards of the lifeless and claustrophobic set, and into the curious world of PLAY that unsettles the boundaries between humans and their environment; rational and sensible matter; as well as our conception of the self and the other. This new play hopes to create a feast of metamorphoses that encourages its players and audience members to celebrate our capacity to transform: how can your imagination shape you and the world you inhabit? How do we disturb our conception of our environment such that nature has a chance to be unnatural/supernatural? What part of our identities should we hold on to as we inevitably change into different iterations of ourselves?

2:00pm: Feedback

Written and Directed by Katherine Boorstein
Assistant Directed by Annie Kefalas
Dramaturg: Maren Flessen
Performed by  Mia McClain and Colin Prato

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/feedback-katherine-boorstein-tickets-516793391947?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Summary: A modest college freshman and a reclusive upperclassman form an unlikely creative partnership. When their relationship begins to step over the line between literary and physical intimacy, they must cope with the fallout of their shared ignorance about consent. Intimate Collaborators reckons with coming-of-age, creativity, and what we learn (and don’t learn) about sex growing up in rural America.

Run Time: 75 minutes

4:00pm:  Pennies for Forgotten Words

By Zoe Stanton-Savitz
Directed by Michelle Cowles
Performed by Eryn Diehl, Valeria Clayman, and Gil Dominguez-Letelier

Tickets:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/516786060017

Summary: The summer after she graduates college, 22-year-old aspiring writer, Piper, moves in with her eccentric 49-year-old best friend, Rebecca, a real estate broker, failed artist, and current psychic medium, and the two develop an unlikely friendship over their shared aimlessness, romantic trouble, and a shared sense of humor. However, when Rebecca's nephew visits, Piper begins seeing Rebecca in a new light and, starting to feel stifled by their relationship, must decide whether or not to stay.

Run Time: 75 minutes

6:00pm: And Other Things

Written by Georgina Escobar
Directed by Anne DeMelo
Performed by Florencia Lozano*, Sara Ornelas*, Nelson Avidon*, Maki Borden*, Carlos Saldaña, Maria Fernanda Diez, Mindy Escobar-Leanse, and Rafa Perez

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/516780824357

Summary: After a scandal devastates her life and career, Professor Catterina Emit relocates to a West Texas abandoned vineyard where she sets out to help the landowners make a new blend of wine. When she discovers a room full of diaries by its previous tenant, a Mexican Professor who signs only as J.A.E., she becomes obsessed and the two find each other intertwined by an omnipresent Watcher who webs them in and out of each other’s Time. A historical and pseudo-hysterical fiction about unlocking the mind, the past, and the questions about time including if it can, indeed, heal all wounds.

Run Time: 75 Minutes

8:00pm:  Uzume Whozume

A comedic screenplay by Glory Kadigan
Directed by Kristen Lowman
Stage Managed by Hollyanna Mathews
Performed by Ramiro Batista, Fig Chilcott, Veronica Dang, Maura Donohue, Cary Gant, Matt Giroveanu, James Kennedy, Kailah S. King, Vin Kridakorn, Amanda Nichols, Kathleen O'Neill, Nicky Paraiso, and eugene the poogene

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uzume-glory-kadigan-tickets-516743893897?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Summary: Crows are taking over a smalltown in the Pacific Northwest where Gwen, a small-time public accountant resides with her husband Chester. Mayor Stubbs has implemented a town crow patrol. But Bert, an animal rights activist has plans of his own to defend the crows. Torn between her failing marriage and the quirky town activist Bert, Gwen embarks on a comedic journey of self discovery, love and friendship.

Run Time: 90 Minutes

Sunday the 12th

Noon: Punchnama

Written and Directed by Fatima A. Maan
Performed by Vidisha Agarwalla, Sara Haider, Manjari Mukherjee, Prreeti Tiwari and Sushmita Udoshi

Tickets:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/516796782087

SUMMARY: When 5 Pakistani wmnx gather in a fancy apartment in the beautiful hills of Murree for some vacation time, debilitating secrets from the past unravel and force them to reconsider their values and loyalties.

Run Time: 90 Minutes

2pm: Mother:Knife

By Derick Edgren Otero
Directed by Britt Berke
Performed by TBA

Tickets:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/516790092077

After her mother and sister disappear without a trace, Beth is left to a life of solitude—until a friendly stranger appears, prepared to convince her that the key to finding her family lies in the books she once read as a child.

Run Time: 70 minutes

4:00pm: Daniel’s Law

By Joan Kane
Directed by Bruce A! Kraemer
Performed by TBA

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/516788256587

Summary: She is a federal judge. He shot her husband and murdered her only child, how can she go on?

Run Time: 80 minutes

6:00pm: 474 Days

Created & directed by Alisa Matlovsky

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/517073188827

Summary: What was it like for those who braved the "front lines" during the early days of the pandemic in New York City? "474 Days" draws directly from interviews with workers at a well-known grocery store who remained on their jobs throughout the terrifying early days of lockdown.

Cast: Charles Black, Christina Germaine, Ginger Grace, Kara Green, Katherine Alt Keener, Jon  Krupp, Evan Maltby

Run Time: 75 Minutes