National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, announces its 91st Rolling World Premiere (RWP): Alabaster by Audrey Cefaly. The Roll will begin in Fort Myers, FL and crisscross the country for nearly a year, before wrapping up its record-breaking roll in November 2020. The theaters, locations, and dates of these productions are:
Florida Repertory Theatre - Fort Myers, FL - December 20, 2019 - January 26, 2020
Capital Stage - Sacramento, CA - January 25 - February 23, 2020
16th Street Theater - Berwyn, IL - January 30 - March 1, 2020
Kitchen Dog Theater - Dallas, TX - February 13 - March 8, 2020
Shrewd Productions - Austin, TX - February 20 - March 7, 2020
Know Theatre of Cincinnati - Cincinnati, OH - February 28 - March 20, 2020
Phoenix Theatre - Indianapolis, IN - May 7 - 31, 2020
Williamston Theatre - Williamston, MI - May 29 - June 21, 2020
New Jersey Repertory Company - Long Branch, NJ - October 17 - November 15, 2020
Salt Lake Acting Company - Salt Lake City, UT - Dates TBA Fall 2020
NNPN Rolling World Premiere (RWP) models a process for developing and producing new plays that results in stronger work overall and the momentum needed for a play to join the repertoire of frequently produced new American works. Each Rolling World Premiere connects three or more NNPN Member Theaters that choose to mount the same new play within a 12-month period, allowing the playwright to develop the work with a new creative team in each theater's community. To date, NNPN has championed RWPs with over one million dollars in financial support. Alumni plays have received hundreds of subsequent productions, recognition in markets across the world, been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, won Steinberg/ATCA, Stavis, PEN and Blackburn awards, and been adapted into feature films.
Alabaster is an all-female darkly comic southern drama about women on the verge, art, and the power of human connection. After a tornado barrels through a North Alabama town leaving nothing but death and destruction, only June and her pet goat Weezy live to tell the tale. When Alice, a prominent photographer, arrives to take pictures of June's scars, every living soul on the farm is tipped to the breaking point in this epic tale of life after death.
Cefaly is a southern writer and Alabama native based in the DC region. Her plays include The Gulf (Edgerton Award, Lammy Award, Samuel French OOB Fest Winner,
Charles MacArthur Award Nominee); Alabaster (NNPN Showcase, David Calicchio Prize); Maytag Virgin (Women's Voices Theater Festival); The Last Wide Open (
Cincinnati Playhouse commission); The Believers (Eagle Theatre commission); The Story of Walter (digital podcast); Tell Me Something Good (UAB commission); and Love is a Blue Tick Hound (a collection of one-acts). Cefaly has developed plays with
Signature Theatre, Serenbe Playhouse (New Territories), Aurora Theatre, Florida Rep, Vermont Stage, Theater Alliance, Quotidian Theatre Company and Contemporary American Theater Festival. She is published by Samuel French, Smith & Kraus (two volumes of Best American Short Plays), and Applause Books. She was recently named a Traveling Master by the Dramatist Guild Foundation. She is an outspoken proponent of silence in story-telling and has authored numerous articles on the topic of playwriting for HowlRound and Samuel French's Breaking Character Magazine. Cefaly is a recipient of grants from the Boomerang Fund for Artists as well as the Alabama and Maryland state arts councils. |
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