Region 2 Festival 52 Invited Productions
Music & Lyrics by Adam Gwon
Directed by Tommy Iafrate
Binghamton University
From one of musical theatre’s most exciting new composers, ORDINARY DAYS tells the story of four young New Yorkers whose lives intersect as they search for fulfillment, happiness, love and cabs. With equal doses of humor and poignancy, it celebrates how 8.3 million individual stories combine in unexpected ways to make New York City such a unique and extraordinary home.
by Emma Goidel
Directed by Len Kelly
West Chester University
High school chemistry genius Diskit needs some friends who aren’t her dad. High school burnout Riley needs a new screamer for her metal band. The Zombie Fuel Energy Drink Wreak Ruckus Battle of the Bands could transform them both from high school losers into rock gods. But will that be enough to get them out of Tucker, Georgia? This provocative new work is playwright Emma Goidel’s scream rock fantasia about searching for big-time glory in a small-time town.
by Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Andy Head
Rochester Institute of Technology & National Technical Institute for the Deaf
One afternoon, Anthony arrives unexpectedly at classmate Caroline’s door bearing a beat-up copy of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”, an urgent assignment from their English teacher. Homebound due to illness, Caroline hasn’t been to school in months, but she is as quick and sardonic as Anthony is athletic, sensitive, and popular. As these two let down their guards and share their secrets, this seemingly mundane poetry project unlocks a much deeper mystery that has brought them together. I AND YOU is an ode to youth, life, love, and the strange beauty of human connectedness. Utilizing two rotating casts, this production is performed simultaneously in American Sign Language and spoken English. Both the Deaf cast and the hearing cast will perform during each show, however, one cast will be the “primary” cast and one will be the “secondary” cast. To provide equal language accessibility, for each performance the actors will rotate who is primary and who is secondary.
a devised play
Directed by Anjalee Hutchinson
Bucknell University
A group of college students come together during a writing workshop under the guidance of a whimsical professor to reflect on how their different family structures and upbringings have created feelings of anxiety, loneliness and miscommunication in their college experiences. Unheard/Unspoken an inside look at the inner and outer worlds of current day students and an exploration on how undergraduates struggle to understand where they come from, who they are and how those two identities connect. UNHEARD/UNSPOKEN is a devised production created in the fall of 2019 as a collaboration between 27 students and 1 director.
by Anna Ziegler
Directed by Richard Kemp
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Two Princeton freshmen spend a night together that will alter the course of their lives. With lyricism and wit, Anna Ziegler’s ACTUALLY investigates gender and race politics, our crippling desire to fit in, and the challenging nuances of consent when there is more than one side to every story.
by Simon Stephens & Mark Haddon
Directed by Jeffrey Lentz
Albright College
Fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone has an extraordinary brain; he is exceptionally intelligent but ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. When he falls under suspicion for killing his neighbor’s dog, he sets out to identify the true culprit, which leads to an earth-shattering discovery and a journey that will change his life forever.
A NEW play by Susan McCully
Directed by Eve Muson
University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus
In keeping with UMBC’s vision of New Ways and New Plays, GIRLS ON A DIRT PILE tackles events ripped from the headlines. The myth of Demeter and Persephone is a frame on which McCully hangs the tough questions: Are we doomed to repeat the sins of misogyny, or is equality possible? Equal parts low comedy and dystopian drama, McCully sends up patriarchy with her trademark irony and wit.
by Aaron Posner
Directed by Frank Kuhn
The College of Brockport
What’s with the fowl language? Posner has written a modernist take on a classic play – If you think “The Seagull”, great. If you don’t, that’s fine, too. Either way, you you’ll appreciate the family, friends, and lovers taking on life’s age-old contradictions: Old vs. New. Old vs. Young. Truth vs. Fiction. Show-biz vs. Reality. Parents vs. Children. Life vs. Death. And, of course, all caps. LOVE. All the while learning about LIFE, how to remain connected, and the passage of time.
