OTR: A Punk AF at Chance Theater

Holly is mad, you might even say angry as hell. But as a 40-something well-established career woman, she can’t just go around screaming, now can she? Longing for the wild expression of her teen days, Holly plans a girls reunion weekend with a secret mission: to reunite the high school all-girl punk band of their youth. The only problem: no one is even remotely punk anymore. As they navigate the realities of how much they’ve changed— and the important ways they haven’t—five old friends reignite the fire of their riot grrrl past to contend with the injustices of adulthood.

FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT: I was a riot grrrl in high school, or at least my small town, straight-edge version of one. I had huge opinions and an even bigger belief that I could actually change the world. As we get older, we often become smaller, safer, less loud, more rational, and more jaded. Yet inside I often still feel like screaming. Punk AF is a play born of that desire, as a grown ass woman, to yell and scream and rage against the machine, even if I’m “supposed” to be put together and have life figured out. I wanted to see a story about woman in their 40s—who now live very different lives politically, economically, romantically from each other— coming together and asking, “What happened to my younger self who had so much passion and vigor?“ And then seeing what happens when those younger selves step forward with vengeance.

This show deals with mature themes and has adult language.

ABOUT OUR 2018 RESIDENT PLAYWRIGHT:

Joanna Garner

Joanna Garner is a playwright, immersive experience designer, and creative strategist focused on lighting up projects that have the power to shift the world. Her work has been developed nationally and internationally. Her political drama about Iran, The Orange Garden, was a winner of the 2018 Izzy Award, the Keene Prize for Literature and included on the Kilroys List. She was Chance Theater’s 2018 Playwright in Residence and has an MFA in Playwriting from The University of Texas at Austin.