The Ensemble Studio Theatre's 32nd annual Marathon of One-Act Plays. This year's festival includes ten World Premiere plays from the country's finest established and emerging playwrights.

Matthew and the Pastor's Wife
by Robert Askins*

directed by John Giampietro*
with Geneva Carr*+ and Scott Sowers*+

Matthew is a small town sinner. Dorothy is the pastor's wife. She's trying to save his soul. He's trying to let her. Then he forgets his bible. Then she leans in. When they kiss the world starts to fly apart and it's gonna take something awful to put it back together.

Safe
by Ben Rosenthal*

directed by Carolyn Cantor
with Gio Perez+ and Danny Mastrogiorgio+

Halloween night. A recently widowed rug salesman must bail his stepson out of jail after the boy assaults a girl at a party. In the aftermath the two must get to the bottom of it all before it is too late - for both of them.

Turnabout
by Daniel Reitz*

directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel*
with John-Martin Green*+, Haskell King*+ and Lou Liberatore*+

An actor in trouble summons the courage to invite his bitter ex-boyfriend for coffee, not in search of closure or rekindling but to ask a tremendous favor of his ex's newfound wealth. What dire circumstances would push him to such an act, and if the favor is granted, what strings will be attached?

Where the Children Are
by Amy Fox*

Based on an original story by Caitlin Shetterly and Amy Fox

directed by Abigail Zealey Bess*
with Barbara Andres*+, Denny Bess*+, Bill Cwikowski*+, Frederick Lehne+, and Melanie Nicholls-King*+

Where the Children Are interweaves the voices of five parents who have children serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The play tracks these parents as they pack hot sauce and snuff into care packages, watch hours of CNN, and take responsibility for grandchildren, somehow managing to support their children and hold onto hope.

Wild Terrain
by Adam Kraar*

directed by Richmond Hoxie*
with Jack Davidson*+, Marcia Jean Kurtz*+, and Catherine Curtin*+

At an outdoor sculpture garden, a retired professor and his dreamy wife battle over love, art and the relativity of memory. In the uncharted territory of later life, Henry and Marion lose their way - yet persist in navigating their fiery relationship.

* denotes EST Member +appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association

Video

Airborne
by Laura Jacqmin

directed by Dan Bonnell*
with Edward Boroevich*+, W. Tre Davis+, Brynne Morrice, Amy Staats*+ and Megan Tusing*+

During Private Margaret Jensen's airborne training, something goes horribly wrong - and she won't let her CO forget it. A play with a parachute.

Amateurs
by David Auburn*

directed by Harris Yulin*
with Debbie Lee Jones*+, David Rasche*+ and Diana Ruppe*+

A young woman confronts the political operative whom she believes destroyed her father's career.

Anniversary
by Rachel Bonds

directed by Linsay Firman*
with Edward Boroevich*+, Julie Fitzpatrick*+, Jerry Richardson+ and Claire Siebers

While grappling with a significant loss, Penelope attempts to function in a world that seems to speed ahead without her; as she embarks on the beginnings of a new relationship, she confronts the promises of time pushing forward and the persistent tug of memories left behind.

Interviewing Miss Davis
by Laura Maria Censabella*

directed by Kel Haney
with Delphi Harrington*+, Claire Siebers and Adria Vitlar+

NYC, mid-1980s. Bette Davis--Miss Davis to you--is post-stroke and recovering nicely, thank you. She's even acting again. But all goes south when she discovers her beloved assistant Jacqueline is leaving her for good, and a new girl has the audacity to take her place. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night...

They Float Up
by Jacquelyn Reingold*

directed by Michael Barakiva
with William Jackson Harper*+ and Kellie Overbey*+

A white woman of a certain age, buys a young, African-American man a drink, or two, then asks if he'll pay a dollar to see her tits. Will he? A funny-sad play about topless dancing in New Orleans, getting old in the Finger Lakes, and how to move on after you've lost what you most love.

* denotes EST Member +appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association

Marathon 2010 Series B is an Equity-Approved Showcase.

Video

When a new telescope focused on the heavens becomes operational, the initial image it sees are called First Light. For twelve years, the EST/Sloan Project has led a pioneering nationwide effort to commission, develop and present hundreds of new plays that challenge and broaden the view of science in the popular imagination. Each play's life onstage begins with the First Light festival. Join us for this year's discoveries.

Presented by the Ensemble Studio Theater and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Beautiful Night
by Tommy Smith

directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel

Thursday, April 8 at 7pm

Set in depression-era New York City, Beautiful Night follows the Stateside exploits of Leon Theremin, Soviet inventor and father of electronic music. When Theremin marries a whipsmart black prima ballerina, their expatriate romance shocks society and attracts the looming shadow of foreign terror.

Cecilia and the Universe
by Adrienne Campbell-Holt and Emily Conbere

directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt

Tuesday, April 13 at 7pm

It's 1920s America and flapper girls are just starting to kick up their heels as Cecilia Payne, a 21-year-old Brit, arrives at the doorsteps of Harvard. Working alongside Annie Cannon, Antonia Maury and and several other of the greatest astronomers of our time, Cecilia and the 'computers' embark on a quest for understanding the nature of the cosmos while simultaneously navigating the perils of what it means to be a young woman and a scientist in the early 20th century.

Gustie Returns
by Jane Chotard Wheeler*

directed by Billy Hopkins*

Thursday, April 15 at 7pm

A renowned conservation biologist trying to return to her island home off the coast of Chile is snowed in at a hotel in New York on Christmas Eve. The arrival of her ex-husband and now-grown son forces her to confront her long-ago choice to send her son to live with his father.

Isaac's Eye
by Lucas Hnath

directed by Linsay Firman

Friday, April 16 at 7pm

Isaac Newton was willing to go to extreme lengths in his quest for scientific discovery. From a modern perspective, one of his most mind-boggling experiments was to stick a needle in his own eye to learn more about the physics of light and of optics. Hnath imagines the mindset and motivation which enabled Newton to take such a risky step for science.

Great Eastern
by Anna Moench

directed by RJ Tolan*

Monday, April 19 at 7pm

Every 17 years, Baltimore is swarmed with millions of periodical cicadas that molt, fly, and sing in a desperate mating ritual of apocalyptic proportions. And every 17 years, the Entomology department at a Baltimore university echoes with the not-quite-forgotten secrets of the past.

The Telephone Caveat
by Adam Gwon and Justin Werner

Tuesday, April 20 at 3pm - by invitation only

Although the public imagination considers Alexander Graham Bell the father of the telephone, he was in a neck-and-neck scientific race with Elisha Gray, a scientist in the employ of telegraph giant Western Union. The Telephone Caveat tells the story of how Bell may have used (or stolen) some of Gray's work, and explores the ambitions and emotions which motivated this possible theft.

Notes Toward The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs
created and performed by Mike Daisey

directed by Jean-Michele Gregory

Thursday, April 22 at 7pm - SOLD OUT!

In our 21st century technological wonderland, Apple stands alone as a peculiar, idiosyncratic company that embraces simplification, minimalism, convergence and industrial design. Simultaneously it is also renowned for stubbornness, blindness, willful ignorance and arrogance. The wedding of these traits into a unified aesthetic comes from the mind of one person whose profound effect on our way of life cannot be underestimated: Steve Jobs. From the graphical user interface to the iPod, from iPhones to buttonless mice, Apple's footprint on our world is almost immeasurable-and Steve Jobs is the rarest of creatures, a Willy Wonka-esque showman whose obsessions have fueled and shaped the entire landscape of technology. Winner of the EST/Sloan Galileo Prize. Join us as monologuist Mike Daisey develops this work for the first time in front of a live audience. Click here to learn more about Mike Daisey.

Dark Energy Stuns Universe
by Leah Maddrie

Monday, April 26 at 7pm

An ex-slave, a pioneering pilot, a TV star, an astronaut and a research scientist. What do they have in common? They are all characters in a quintet of monologues about black women, astrophysics and sex-not necessarily in that order. They each want to transcend the kinds of limitations that people of all backgrounds try to conquer every day: roles imposed by outside forces that would assign each of us to a predetermined fate, or position in society. Featuring OBIE award-winner Stephanie Berry*

Progress in Flying
by Lynn Rosen*

Thursday, April 29 at 4pm

In a defunct steel town on the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan, Lois and her mother grapple with a father gone AWOL, the legacy of forgotten aviation pioneer Octave Chanute who flew in their backyard a hundred years before, and a talent contest that must be won. A play about losers, winners, and those in between.

Youngblood's Mystery Science Brunch 2010

New Plays by Robert Askins, Jon Kern, Anna Kerrigan, Patrick Link and Erica Saleh

Sunday, May 2 at 1pm

Join the playwrights of Youngblood as they merrily push past their complete ignorance of science to ponder the really big questions: can science get us laid? Can science create an ice cream that tastes like a bagel? And when you're dumped by a scientist is it different from the way you usually get dumped? These and other grand queries of the universe will be answered at Mystery Science Brunch 2010, with a bonus buffet of pancakes, bacon, and (young) bloody Marys at Youngblood's fiscally questionable, morally reprehensible open bar.

* Denotes EST Member

Lenin's Embalmers by Vern Thiessen*

Directed by William Carden*

March 3 - 29, 2010

Lenin's Embalmers is a production of the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project. Celebrating its twelfth anniversary, the EST/Sloan Project is designed to stimulate artists to create credible and compelling new theatrical works exploring the worlds of science and technology, and to challenge existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in popular culture. Each season the EST/Sloan Project commissions and develops new works, and presents the results, at various levels from first readings to fully mounted productions, in the FIRST LIGHT Festival. Since its inception in 1998, the EST/Sloan Project has commissioned, developed and produced more than 200 playwrights, choreographers, composers and theatre companies.

Cast

Zach Grenier*, Richmond Hoxie*, Polly Lee*, Peter Maloney*, James Murtaugh*, Scott Sowers* and Michael Louis Wells* with Steven Boyer*.

* EST member

Reviews

"A First-Class Production! Original, engrossing and entertainingly theatrical."  – Backstage

Video

EST/Youngblood presents

Princes of Waco

Written by: Robert Askins*
Directed by: Dylan McCullough

January 8-30, 2010

In darkest Texas, an old man teaches a fatherless boy to drink, fight and steal by a code. But when they love the same girl, that brings killing and dying into the picture. That's where the trouble starts. A fierce, viciously funny journey into a bloody, forgotten West.

Cast & Creative

Featuring: Evan Enderle, Christine Farrell*, Scott Sowers* and Megan Tusing*

Stage Managers: Jason Weixelman and Michal V. Mendelson
Set Design: Maiko Chii
Lighting Design: Ji-youn Chang
Costume Design: Danielle Schembre
Sound Design: Hillary Charnas

Presented with Youngblood

* Denotes member of EST

ASKING FOR TROUBLE is Youngblood’s annual speed-theater freakout.

TWENTY-ONE playwrights draw a director, a cast and a costume piece from a hat, and then have one week to write a script for that director and cast. Inspired by (and utilizing) that costume piece.

To see a video by YB member Anna Kerrigan, dramatically interpreting this inspiration process, clickHERE.

ASKING FOR TROUBLE will be performed in two series.

Series B Performance Schedule:

Thursday 10/8 @ 9pm
Friday 10/9 @ 7pm
Saturday 10/10 @ 9pm (with party to follow!)

Written by: Robert Askins, Lucy Boyle, Delaney Britt Brewer, Eliza Clark, Mira Gibson, Jon Kern, Anna Kerrigan, Courtney Brooke Lauria, Patrick Link, Eric March, Erica Saleh

Directed by: Eliza Beckwith*, Web Begole, Abigail Zealey Bess*, Snehal Desai, Christine Farrell*, Dylan McCullough, Alexa Polmer, Jamie Richards*, R.J. Tolan*, Gerritt Turner, Daniel Winerman

Featuring: Robert Askins, Eddie Boroevich, Steve Boyer, Kelly Ann Burns, Chris Ceraso*, Paul Coffey, Alaina Dunn, Bjorn DuPaty, Helen Farmer, Nancy Franklin*, Maria Gabriele*, Abigail Gampel*, Graeme Gillis*, Jenny Gomez, William Jackson Harper*, Kelli Lynn Harrison, Marcia Haufrecht*, Helen Highfield, Dave Hurwitz, Ilene Kristen*, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Jared McGuire, Allyson Morgan, Jacob Murphy, Alfredo Narciso, Johnny Pruitt, Shawn Randall, Claire Siebers, Mike Smith-Rivera, Amy Staats*, Teresa Stephenson, Megan Tusing, Nitya Vidyasagar, Martina Weber, Susan Willerman*

* Denotes member of EST

ASKING FOR TROUBLE is Youngblood’s annual speed-theater freakout.

TWENTY-ONE playwrights draw a director, a cast and a costume piece from a hat, and then have one week to write a script for that director and cast. Inspired by (and utilizing) that costume piece.

To see a video by YB member Anna Kerrigan, dramatically interpreting this inspiration process, click HERE.

ASKING FOR TROUBLE will be performed in two series.

Series A Performance Schedule:

Thursday 10/8 @ 7pm
Friday 10/9 @ 9pm
Saturday 10/10 @ 7pm

Written by: Jesse Cameron Alick, Nikole Beckwith, Joshua Conkel, Meghan Deans, Michael Lew, Anna Moench, Kyoung H. Park, Sharyn Rothstein, Michael Walek, Emily Chadick Weiss

Directed by: Linsay Firman, John Giampetro, Wes Grantom, Kel Haney, Sarah Malkin, Lila Neugebauer, Robert Ross Parker, Tom Rowan*, Rachel Slaven, Moritz von Stuelpnagel

Featuring: Nikole Beckwith, Denny Bess*, Lucia Brizzi, Tim Cain, Jackie Chung, Kevin Confoy*, Curran Connor, Cathy Curtin*, Dane DeHaan, Lucy DeVito, Helen Farmer, Julie Fitzpatrick*, Kristen Harlow, Delphi Harrington*, Frank Harts, Debbie Lee Jones*, Ryan Karels, Shane Kearns, Haskell King*, Mordecai Lawner*, Julie Leedes*, Jason Liebman, Thomas Lyons*, Bobby Moreno, Ayesha Nguajah, Patricia Randell*, Devere Rogers, Joel Rooks*, Diana Ruppe*, Risa Sarachan, Scott Sowers*, Ann Talman*, Michael Louis Wells*, Audrey Lynn Weston, Nate Whelden

* Denotes member of EST

Truth Be Told
by Melody Cooper

directed by Petronia Paley*

Dialectic
by Kia Corthron

directed by Chuck Patterson

Hot Methuselah
by J.e. Franklin

directed by Imani Douglas

Jesse
by P.J. Gibson

directed Lydia Fort

Sloppy Second Chances
by Mrinalini Kamath

directed by Kel Haney

Spirit Sex: A Paranormal Romance
by Desi Moreno-Penson

directed by Adam Immerwahr

His Daddy
by Cori Thomas*

directed by Stephen Fried

Featuring readings of brand new full-length plays by the members of Youngblood.

All readings are at 7pm and are hosted by Dog Run Rep at @SEAPORT! – 210 Front Street

Weds May 6 – MIRA GIBSON

Weds May 13 – DOROTHY FORTENBERRY

Tues May 19 – SHARYN ROTHSTEIN

Weds May 20 – MICHAEL LEW

Tues May 26 – COURTNEY BROOKE LAURIA

Weds May 27 – ERICA SALEH

Tues June 2 – ANNA MOENCH

Weds June 3 – JON KERN

Tues June 16 – NIKOLE BECKWITH

Weds June 17 – JESSE CAMERON ALICK

Tues June 23 – PATRICK LINK

Weds June 24 – JOSHUA CONKEL

Tues June 30 – ELIZA CLARK

Weds July 1 – ROBERT ASKINS

Risen From the Dough
by France-Luce Benson

directed by Holli Harms*

The Kitchen, or 9 1/2 Minutes of Subcontinental Absurdity
by Naveen Bahar Choudhury

directed by Jamie Richards*

Ladybug Gonna Getcha
by Kara Lee Corthron

directed by Pam Golden

The Step-Mother
by Ruby Dee

directed by Chuck Patterson

Angels in the Parking Lot
by N.N. Ewing

directed by Seret Scott

Banana Beer Bath
by Lynn Nottage

directed by Talvin Wilks*

Rally
by Bridgette Wimberly

directed by Clinton Turner Davis