2024
i know why iris chang died
By Esmé Maria Ng
i know why iris chang died follows graphic novelist May and her twin sister April as May grapples with depression and attempts to create her magnum opus - a graphic memoir detailing their family's experience during the Rape of Nanking. A story about grief, remembrance, and art-making in the face of destruction, the piece explores what it means to survive and what it means to live.
Zombies, Inc.
Book, Music & Lyrics Marcus Perkins Bejarano and Kim Jinhyoung
Going through a midlife crisis is hard…going through a midlife crisis during a zombie apocalypse is even harder. ZOMBIES, INC. follows a down-on-his-luck accountant stuck in his office at 30 Rock during a worldwide zombie outbreak (a fate he considers to be “almost as bad as tax season”). When he finally gets sick of living in “survival mode” – a state that has plagued him his entire life – he decides to de-zombify himself and find out what it truly means to be alive.
2023
WE START IN MANHATTAN
By Ariella Serur and Sav Souza
Filled with humor and heart, this musical tells the story of a one-night stand turned month-long road trip, exploring the nuances and delights of intimacy with an expiration date. So grab your Tinder date and keys to the U-Haul, and join us for an exciting celebration of queerness, community, and new musical theatre!
GODDESSES RETURN TO THE TEMPLE – FINAL INSTALLMENT OF A SEXTRILOGY
Written by Raquel Almazan
A new play developed under the June Bingham Playwright commission. Loosely based on the life of Nina Hartley and inspired by her autobiography. The piece is inspired by the 30,000 BCE Venus of Willendorf statue and is embodied by an asexual, single, Latinx/e middle-aged pregnant womxn who seeks to know the ancient ways of womxn’s powers.
2022
Howdyland!
By JB Tang Jackson and Dominique Gélin
Two writers are magically transported into a 1960s cowboy TV show called Howdyland! As they adventure through the world of Hollywood westerns trying to find their way home, they showdown against the big question: who gets to be a hero in the wild west? Howdyland! is a charming and hilarious musical romp through the hidden stories of a more queer and colorful frontier.
WETLANDS
Written by AriDy Nox
A new play developed under the June Bingham Playwright commission. This commission opportunity provides resources and support toward the creation and development of a new play by early-career women/femme and/or non-binary storytellers. In this piece, Tara, a young, determined environmental scientist, is on the verge of a major breakthrough despite being haunted by her ancestor, Nita. However, Nita holds wisdom that challenges Tara in ways she never imagined possible.
2021
With Bells on!
Book by Tommy Newman & Devanand Janki
Music & Lyrics by Tommy Newman Based on the play by Darrin Hagen
One fateful Christmas Eve, Ted, a timid, middle-aged accountant with persistent bad luck is in the middle of a nasty divorce. Hopeless and depressed, he is about to take the elevator to the roof to “end it all.” His efforts are suddenly interrupted by a tenant who lives down the hall–Natasha, a statuesque Drag Queen dressed in the ultimate Christmas-Queen pageant outfit. She barges into the elevator on her way to the main floor lobby, but when the elevator abruptly gets stuck, both Ted’s plan and Natasha’s dream of competing for the title of “Christmas Queen” are held in the balance. The stakes are as high as her holiday-themed headdress. This unlikely duo is forced to work together to escape, ultimately learning that life is all about embracing the ups and the downs…with bells on.
La egoista
Written by Erlina Ortiz
La Egoista, a new work in development, explores the story of sisters Josefina and Betsaida. Josefina is a rising stand up comic who is coming to terms with the recent death of her mother and her sister's recent chronic illness diagnosis. Surrealistic in nature, the one act play follows Josefina though her sets and scenes as they unfold in conjunction with the deterioration of her sister's health.
2020
Within elsewhere
Concept & Book by Joshua Betancourt
Music & Lyrics by Trent Jeffords
When life gets tough, we have all wished we could be elsewhere. But, what if you could? What if escaping reality was as simple as clicking on an app? Follow the journey of two siblings as they cope with the tragic loss of their youngest brother. Searching for answers, the eldest brother, Johnathan, stumbles upon a mysterious app called Elsewhere. In Elsewhere, the impossible becomes possible. It can even let you virtually spend time with someone that has passed away. But this incredible gift comes a price. With time quickly ticking away, Johnathan must make a decision that will change his life forever.
days of re-creation
Written by Masi Asare, AriDy Nox, Erlina Ortiz, SEVAN, Nandita Shenoy, BD Wong, and Lauren Yee
2020: We are living in a time of incredible upheaval. Our daily lives are unrecognizable from a year ago. As a country we are undergoing a deep reexamination of the institutions that surround us. Each day it feels like we are recreating ourselves as individuals and rebuilding in new and better ways what has been corroded or purposefully torn down. 2020 will be seen as a pivotal year in the history of mankind. While it is a year full of fear, exhaustion, conflict, and death, it also has the potential to be a year of revolution, rebirth, and re-creation…
2019
the golden threshold
Book & Music by Cheeyang Ng
Book & Lyrics by Eric Sorrels
Set in 1930 British India, The Golden Threshold follows two young women named Maya and Harini as they join Mahatma Gandhi's revolutionary protest known as the Salt March; one to avoid an arranged marriage, the other to free her nation. As they get more and more involved in the Indian Independence movement, they change their friendship, their futures, and their country forever.
narrow daylight
Written by SEVAN
Reeling from the death of her husband and the recent loss of her soldier son, Susan Davis is confronted with a surprise visitor at her doorstep – a young Iraqi girl named Lena who is more connected to her son than she could ever imagine. Not even her best friend, cookie-baking Jesus-loving Gloria and her wise ass daughter Anne-Marie, can avoid the tides of change as East meets West in sleepy Panama City, FL.
2018/2019
Little Girl Blue: the Nina Simone Musical
Book by Laiona Michelle
A life in between the black and white keys. An emotional journey from classical piano child prodigy to the High Priestess of Soul, told through the words and music of American icon - Nina Simone.
2018
Present perfect
Book & Lyrics by Nancy Nachama Cheser
Music by Jaime Lozano
Present Perfect tells the story of a group of immigrants, arriving with not much more than the promise of the American Dream, who meet in an adult English class in New York. Along with their teacher, they discover a community where love and loss transcend the language barrier, and laughter and song pervade their lessons. With the driving rhythms of persistent hope, they learn to move forward no matter what the obstacles.
The Home we left behind
Written by Valerie David
A Jewish family, forced to build a new home in America after being exiled from Iraq, faces today’s climate of bigotry by reaffirming their heritage of hope and resilience.
2017
PANGAEA
Book and Lyrics by Lee Summers
Music by Janet Noh
Story by Janet Noh and Lee Summers
Set millions of years ago, super-continent Pangaea stood majestically alone in the sea. After her metamorphosis, the sea welcomes seven fractured continent-siblings who long to return to Pangaea. Conflict arises when one sibling plots to dominate, forcing the others into action. With an eclectic, contemporary score infused with pop/R&B, classical, and musical styles from around the world, the creators ask: Is it possible to put a divided world back together?
Invictus MIngus
Written by Frank Harts
It's 1966. Tomorrow legendary Jazz maestro Charles Mingus is to be evicted from his cluttered New York City apartment. Tonight though he drinks wine, cuts up with his crew on the bass, talks love, Hitler, racism, and politics with a twenty-something Jewish documentary filmmaker. This while his five-year old bi-racial daughter plays in piles of treasure and junk absorbing it all.
2016
The Family Resemblance
Book, music, and lyrics by Masi Asare
Akosua and her mixed race family are expecting an ordinary Christmas back home in central Pennsylvania, but heavy winds, a corporate crisis, and a visitation from an African ancestor mean things do not go as planned. Even when your heritage is all over the map, you have to go back to your roots to find your own way.
The GalilEe House
Written by B.V. Marshall
Amos Barrett, a professor of African-American history at a small public university, aims to restore an old building at the edge of campus, a way station for the Underground Railroad, called the Galilee House. Amos presumes his late wife’s ancestor stayed there on her escape from slavery. Jill Dunnwebb, the younger school administrator, a woman whom Amos helped to hire, sees the house as a drain on the school’s diminishing resources and a distraction to Amos’s teaching. After a small academic argument blows all out of proportion, will the tribute to the past be restored and if so, at what personal cost to Amos and Jill?
2015
CalL IT COURAGE
Book, music, and lyrics by Adam Overett
The first piece chosen to be developed by BCTR is Call It Courage, a musical adaptation of the beloved coming of age children’s novel written by Connecticut native Armstrong Sperry. Set in the Pacific Islands, Call It Courage is the coming of age story of a timid young boy who overcomes bullying and ostracism to find the strength he always had within. Call it Courage is written by two-time Harrington Award winning composer and librettist Adam Overett whose My Life is a Musical had its world premiere in 2014 at Bay Street Theatre.
Esspy
Written by Nandita Shenoy
An actor and a medical student cross paths repeatedly throughout the course of his medical training during the medical simulations that punctuate his education. The friendship that develops from their interactions reveals how much they have to learn from each other and questions whether compassion can be taught.