2023
The Dust People
by Catherine Trieschmann
June 9 & 11, 2023
In The Dust People, Johanna is a woman of the land, farming the same plot that’s been in her family for generations. When a young, idealistic couple with big ideas about sustainable energy and wind farms buys the farm next door, she’s convinced they and their ambitious eco-friendly plans won’t last. Their rural community is thrown into chaos by a murder, forcing every resident to reckon with the winds of change.
Directed by Shelley Butler
How Can I Help You?
by Kaaron Briscoe
June 10 & 11, 2023
When busy, working mom; Monica reaches out to her family to help her take care of the household duties, her husband (Greg) instead opts to outsource their contribution. Set in a sci-fi world where corporations touch every part of one’s life, How Can I Help You? explores what it means to be a “strong” Black woman.
Directed by Lanise Antoine Shelley
Will It Go Round
by Matthew Ivan Bennett
June 10, 2023
Will It Go Round is a cycle of short stories in civil rights from 1964 to 2020, each a snapshot of people’s lives in Utah. A mixed race couple is sent to the principal’s office. LGBT students fight for an after-school club. Old estranged classmates reunite after the murder of George Floyd and see how far apart—but still close—they are. A tapestry of scenes showing how far we’ve come, how far we haven’t, and why politics are always personal.
Directed by Alexandra Harbold
2022
The People Before the Park | June 17-June 18, 2022
In 1856, African-American and Irish immigrants lived peacefully and away from the corruption of downtown New York City in the area which eventually became Central Park. However, when the City decides to build the park their quiet hamlet becomes the target of demolition.
Keith Josef Adkins – Playwright
Timothy Douglas – Director
The Machine | June 16-18, 2022
An acclaimed poet-turned-professor with a severe case of writer’s block, is approached by the CEO of a tech company wanting to design an artificially intelligent computer program that will create works replicating her poetic voice – a machine that can write her poetry. This sends her through a journey of self-discovery, as she struggles with her identity as an artist and wonders what it means to lead a creative life?
Matthew Libby – Playwright
Julie Kramer – Director
Looks Like Pretty | June 10-11, 2022
Charlie the photographer is in love with “Shirley,” the Kodak Color Girl, with her fair skin and auburn hair, who is the basis on which all photographs are color balanced. But when Gloria, an African-American employee, asks for his help after the disappearance of her daughter, they question the limitations of technology as they explore how we perceive light, color, and beauty.
Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder – Playwright
Paul-Jordan Jansen – Director
macbitches | June 9-11, 2022
At the end of audition week, the cast list for a theatre school’s production of Macbeth is posted, and the lead role of Lady Macbeth is given to a perky freshman newcomer—not to the star actor of the program who expected it. The night then follows five of the cast members “celebrating,” which leads to some dark and unfortunate consequences.
Sophie McIntosh – Playwright
Alexandra Harbold – Director
The Fall | April 17-18, 2020 (postponed)
Holly, an anti-social sci-fi novelist, just needs her laptop, her eighth cup of coffee, and Chinese take-out to finish her book. She doesn’t have time for the young Scottish guy who keeps showing up on her doorstep. The Fall, a romantic comedy about love, expectation and better vision.
Susan Ferrara – Playwright
Julie Ann Emery – Director
- Had a staged reading with the Blank Theatre’s Living Room Series
- Was a finalist at the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference.
The Messenger | March 13-14, 2020 (postponed)
Timely play about a whistleblower and an epidemic.
Jeff Talbott – Playwright
Wes Grantom – Director
- Inspired by the Ibsen classic An Enemy of the People.
- World Premiere at PTC will be Jan. 14- 29, 2022
- Interview with Jeff Talbot at PTC.
The Anatomy of Love | February 7-8, 2020
A couple’s life is brought to a frightening stop when their seven-year-old daughter’s teacher suggests that the child is most likely transgender.
Karen Azenberg – Director
Ted Malawer – Playwright
- A LAB workshop production of The Anatomy of Love played out at Chance Theater in Anaheim, California in 2017. Ted Malawer is a resident playwright there.
- Interview with Ted Malawer at PTC.
The Way North | April 19-20, 2019
When a lost, cold and very pregnant young woman stumbles on to her rural homestead in the Minnesota wilderness, Freddy Hansen doesn’t hesitate to take her in. But when her new guest turns out to be a Sudanese refugee making a run for the Canadian border, what it means to protect and serve becomes a more complicated and dangerous question.
Tira Palmquist – Playwright
Christy Montour-Larson – Director
- Dawn Simmons directed a version of the play that was shown online for the Neverdark Series 2020, by the Glouchester Stage in Massachusetts.
- Interview with Tira Palmquist at PTC.
The Fifth Domain | January 25-26, 2019
The play centers on Troy, a cyber security expert, recently removed from his position at the NSA. When he is approached about a new project requiring his special skills, Troy’s eagerness to take on the work blinds him to the repercussions in the world of cyber war.
Victor Lesniewski – Playwright
Kareem Fahmy – Director
- World Premiere at Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV.
- Interview with Victor Lesiewski at PTC.
Art and Class | October 5-6, 2018
A free-thinking Latina art teacher fights for her job, reputation and autonomy in her classroom, when she’s accused by a Caucasian parent of showing “pornography” to her sixth-grade students in small-town Utah.
Matthew Ivan Bennett – Playwright
Jennifer Curfman – Director
- Art & Class was inspired by the firing of a Utah teacher for showing his students classic works of art with nudity and how he allegedly handled the students’ reactions.
A witty, but relatable story of a family who doesn’t always behave picture-perfect, especially in times of stress and loss.
Ellen Simon – Playwright
Karen Azenberg – Director
- Had its World Premiere at PTC October 22, 2021.
- Play was originally scheduled to premiere in March of 2020 but the pandemic delayed it.
- Interview with Ellen Simon at PTC in 2018.
The Envelope | February 2-3, 2018
In this timely and fast-paced political thriller, a young blogger – the prodigal son of a powerful D.C. family – receives a trove of classified documents from an anonymous source. But his quest to authenticate the documents will force him to investigate the dark history of his own family.
Alex Lewin – Playwright
Matt August – Director
- Staged reading at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY.
- Interview with Alex Lewin at PTC.
Perpetual Girl | October 6-7, 2017
A modern fairy tale about the most taboo thing a woman can do in Hollywood: age.
Playwright – Wendy Weiner
Julie Kramer – Director
- Perpetual Girl was first written for the Playwrights Union’s annual playwrights challenge and read at their 2016 First Peek reading festival.
The Ice Front | April 14-15, 2017
The story of a group of actors who stage a rebellion at the Norwegian National Theatre at the height of World War II.
Eric Samuelsen – Playwright
Jerry Rapier – Director
- Had its World Premiere at Plan-B Theatre Company in 2017.
- Scheduled to have regional premiere at Birmingham Festival Theatre in March 2020, but was postponed.
A mysterious love story in which a young woman is tentatively opening herself to the possibility of romance, set a couple of days after tomorrow.
Jeff Talbott – Playwright
Wes Grantom – Director
- Premiered at PTC February 16 of 2018 and directed by PTC’s artistic director, Karen Azenberg.
- Interview with Jeff Talbott at PTC.
A Requiem for August Moon | November 11-12, 2016
A Ph.D. candidate is attempting to create a mathematical algorithm that can predict hit songs, raising fascinating questions about the intersection between art and science.
Elyzabeth Wilder – Playwright
Julie Kramer – Director
- Had a reading at the Tennessee Williams Center in Sewanee, TN in 2013.
- Interview with Elyzabeth Wilder at PTC.
Honor Killing | March 11- 12, 2016
An American reporter for the New York Times, heads to Pakistan to cover the “honor killing” of a young woman. Denied entrance but armed with the most current technology, she conducts her investigation remotely from Dubai. Through a series of cultural collisions, startling interviews and dangerous encounters she learns the horrifying details of the murder, which causes her to re-examine a traumatic event from her own past.
Sarah Bierstock – Playwright
Pam Berlin – Director
- World Premiere at Florida Studio Theatre in 2018.
- Played at the John Drew Theater Lab at Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY in February 2015.
- Interview with Sarah Bierstock from Florida Studio Theatre.
Two Henrys | February 5-6, 2016
In the dead of winter, Henry flies to Florida to offer condolences at the funeral of his late partner’s father. But in a house that he was never welcomed to visit before, is the divide between him and the surviving widow and grown daughter too wide?
Kenneth Jones – Playwright
Karen Azenberg – Director
- Developmental production at Red Mountain Theatre Company in Birmingham, AL in 2019.
- Stage readings at Hudson Stage Company in Armonk, NY in 2016.
March Tale | January 22-23, 2016
An Elizabethan romp meets a meditation on loving.
Tim Slover – Playwright
David Ivers – Director
- In 1996 the Writer’s Digest 65th annual writing competition awarded March Tale the grand prize. The play also won first place in the playwriting division of the contest.
- March Tale has played at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, CT and Tuacahn Theatre in Ivins, UT.
- Tim Slover is currently head of Theatre Studies at The University of Utah.
Mr. Wheeler’s | March 27-28, 2015
Life is a challenge when you work at a moribund fast food restaurant in a decaying inner city. But don’t underestimate the resilience of the scruffy band of young people who work the breakfast shift at Mr. Wheeler’s.
Rob Zellers – Playwright
Shana Gold – Director
- Premiered at Youngstown State University Theater in February of 2018.
A vacationing couple celebrates their anniversary at a Greek restaurant in Palm Springs, but will the marriage survive an intrusive waiter who insinuates his way into their meal and their lives?
Wendy MacLeod – Playwright
Julie Kramer – Director
- Played at the Dorset Theatre Festival in Vermont in 2019.
- Played at Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta, January through February of 2020.
Speculator Spirits | February 20-21, 2015
When a young woman brings her fiancé to her estranged father’s haunted liquor store, she’s hoping for a quick visit. But she finds that the past, and old boyfriends, have a way of catching up with you.
Josh Tobiessen – Playwright
Wes Grantom – Director
- Title of the play changed to Lone Star Spirits.
- Production at The Hippodrome State Theatre in 2020 in Gainesville, FL.
- Will have a production at Prague Theater in New Prague, MN scheduled for February of 2022.
True Art | February 28 and March 1, 2014
Jessica Provenz – Playwright
Julie Kramer – Director
- The Directors Studio, a division of The Directors Company, presented True Art in 2012.
A Public Education | March 14-15, 2014
Jeff Talbott – Playwright
Shana Gold – Director
- Out of Box Theatre in Marietta, GA gave A Public Education a full production in May 10-19, 2019.
Alabama Story | April 4-5, 2014
Kenneth Jones – Playwright
Karen Azenberg – Director
- World Premiere was January 9, 2015 at PTC.
- By autumn 2021, the highly theatrical play will have been produced in at least 40 cities since its premiere.
- The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum was to produce it in spring 2020, but the COVID 19 pandemic delayed it.