Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre's F*ck~ng Good Plays Festival Kicks Off This Weekend

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Daniella Topol, Artistic Director, opens its week-long mini-festival of free staged readings entitled F*ck~ng Good Plays Festival Saturday, September 10, at 7:00pm with Draw The Circle, written and performed by Mashuq Mushtaq Deen at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place. And it's free.

F*ck~ng Good Plays Festival is exactly what the name declares.

"These seven plays are provocative, courageous, complex, and very, very new," said Ms. Topol. "Most of these playwrights have yet to have a world premiere in New York. Almost all of these readings are being presented in partnership with other theaters, demonstrating Rattlestick's commitment to creating alliances with theaters in New York and across the country to launch ambitious new work."

These F*ck~ng Good plays include:

Saturday, September 10, at 7:00pm- FREE
Draw The Circle, written and performed by Mashuq Mushtaq Deen is the funny and deeply moving story of an Muslim immigrant family who must come to terms a child who defies their most basic expectation of what it means to have a daughter as their child transitions from one gender to another. Directed by Chay Yew, Draw the Circle is presented in partnership with Playmakers Repertory Theatre in North Carolina where Deen will have just completed a run of the show. There will be a post-show conversation moderated by Cori Thomas, a playwright and actress and resident playwright at New Dramatists.

Sunday, September 11, at 7:00pm- FREE
We Are Among Us written and directed by Stephen Belber is the story about one woman, played by Edie Falco, who is grappling with her culpability in Afghanistan eight years earlier and the friendship that arises between her son and the daughter of the Afghan man she betrayed. Presented in partnership with New York Stage and Film where the play was in workshop this summer. There will be a post-show conversation moderated by Daniella Topol, the artistic director of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

Performing We Are Among Us are Devika Bhise, Timotthee Chalamet, Glenn Davis, Jennifer Ikeda, and Ms. Falco.

Monday, September 12, at 7:00pm- FREE
Lady Tattoo by Meg Miroshnik, directed by Margot Bordelon and commissioned by South Coast Rep, is a bloody thriller inspired by the early twentieth century craze for tattoos amongst well-to-do women. Lady Tattoo wrestles with questions about women's agency over their bodies and their art that still resonate today. There will be a post-show conversation moderated by Amy Richards, an American activist, writer, organizer, feminist and art historian.

Performing Lady Tattoo are by Arielle Goldman, Tasha Lawrence and Sarah Tolan Mee.

Tuesday, September 13, at 7:00pm- FREE
Talkin' to this Chick Sippin' Magic Potion by Juilliard playwright James Anthony Tyler, directed by Sandra Daley, is the tale of Jornay, a recent divorcee who decides to save enough money to purchase a fabulous high school graduation gift for her daughter Tiffany. She then loses her job. Determined to make good on her promise, Jornay becomes a cuddle buddy who soon has a regular client that needs more than her touch. There will be a post-show conversation moderated by Richard Wesley, an African-American playwright, and screenwriter for television and cinema, and associate professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Talkin' to this Chick Sippin' Magic Potion are Bianca LaVerne Jones, Cesar J. Rosado and Jubil Khan.

Thursday, September 15, at 7:00pm - FREE
(yes, we skipped Wednesday 'cause it's a special celebration...see below)
Radio Island by Liza Birkenmeier, is the story of a professional crisis negotiator who returns home to take care of her injured mother. While there, an international hostage situation bends and blurs with her rural reality. Finalist for the Relentless Award, Radio Island is directed by ClauDia Weill, and presented in partnership with New Georges. There will be a post-show conversation moderated by Susan Bernfield, the founder and artistic director of New Georges, an award-winning nonprofit theater company that has produced and developed ambitious new plays (by women) in New York City since 1992

Radio Island will be performed by Reyna de Courcy, Donnetta Grays, Annie McNamara and James Scruggs.

Friday, September 16, at 7:00pm- FREE
How to Catch Creation by Christina Anderson, presented in partnership with American Conservatory Theatre, centers on a wrongly convicted man, played by Keith Randolph Smith, who is released from prison after 25 years. As he settles into a new life he begins the quest to become a father in a system that denies him. Presented in partnership with ACT in SF, this play will be directed by Daniella Topol. There will be a post-show conversation moderated by Keith Josef Adkins, a playwright and screenwriter and the Artistic Director of The New Blackfest.

How to Catch Creation will be performed by Jocelyn Bioh, Harriet D Foy, Nikiya Mathis, Hubert Pont Du Jour, and Keith Randolph Smith.

Saturday, September 17, at 7:00pm- FREE
Ghetto Baptism is David Zheng's dual love story for the ghetto. Stacks tries to fight his way out while Chino fights to stay and survive. Mr. Zheng is an active member in Middle Voice, Rattlestick's Apprentice Company. This play is directed by David Mendizabal. There will be a post-show conversation moderated by playwright Lucy Thurber, 2014 OBIE Award for The Hilltown Plays.

Ghetto Baptism will be performed by Devon Malik Beckford, William Gaffney, Robert Lee Leng, and Rocky Vega.

Now, back to Wednesday, September 14, at 7:00pm.
It's a celebration entitled Alumni Jam and features excerpts of new plays by Rattlestick Alumni Writers including Martyna Majok (Ironbound), Laith Nakli (Shesk Yak), Dael Orlandersmith (Horsedreams), Adam Rapp (The Hallway Trilogy), Jonathan Tolins (Buyer and Cellar, Last Sunday in June), and Lucy Thurber (The Hilltown Plays). Some of the excerpts include: Martyna Majok's Cost of Living, which was just produced at Williamstown and will be seen at Manhattan Theatre Club later on this season and will be performed here by Alfredo Narciso (House of Cards, The Dark Tower). Libya Pugh (Dot, The Complete Fictional Utterly True Final Strange Tale Of Edgar Allen Poe) will share an excerpt from Connecticut with Broadway and television veteran John Cullum (Whistler, On The Twentieth Century). Award-winning solo performer Dael Orlandersmith (Forever, Yellowman) will share an excerpt from Until the Flood, an incisive one-person play about Ferguson where she plays multiple roles and perspectives post-Ferguson. Diane Davis (Nice Girl) and Juan Castano (Shades of Blue) will act in Lucy Thurber's Transfers (which was just seen at New York Stage and Film), and Laith Nakli will present an excerpt from his new play Isis Has My Tape. Zachary Quinto will read in Adam Rapp's The Eggs and Emcee. Tickets are $50.

The F*ck~ng Good Plays Festival takes place at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place.For reservations for the mainstage, the reading, and the benefit, e-mail reservations@rattlestick.org, call 212 627 2556 or just go to the website, www.rattlestick.org. The F*ck~ng Good Plays Festival is generously supported by Peter Emch.

The mission of RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATRE is to develop and produce diverse and challenging plays that otherwise might not be produced and to foster the future voices of American theater. We have produced the first plays and the early works of some of today's leading voices, including Annie Baker (The Aliens), Sheila Callaghan (That Pretty Pretty), Jesse Eisenberg (The Revisionist), Samuel D. Hunter (The Few), Adam Rapp (The Hallway Trilogy), Lucy Thurber (The Hilltown Plays).