Rorschach Reveals Titles for 2025 MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES New Play Lab
Rorschach Theatre’s 2025 Magic in Rough Spaces New Play Lab will present a trio of staged readings of new plays.
By: A.A. Cristi May. 29, 2025
Rorschach Theatre’s 2025 Magic in Rough Spaces New Play Lab will present a trio of staged readings of new plays, each featuring sample design elements to give audiences a taste of what a full production might feel like. Post-show conversations will offer opportunities for audiences to engage directly with the artists.
Before the readings, each playwright will spend three days in Washington, DC working with a director, dramaturg, actors, and designers to refine their scripts and explore their creative goals.
Rorschach solicited submissions from playwrights nationwide, seeking scripts that match the company’s signature style: epic yet intimate, blending mythology, the supernatural, and contemporary themes in a genre often described as magical realism or simply “impossible theatre.”
The 2025 Magic in Rough Spaces Scripts
THE SINGLE RAINDROP
By: Zachariah Ezer
Directed by: Henery Wyand
Dramaturgy by: Divinia Shorter
Video Designer: Kylos Brannon
June 14, 2025 @ 2PM
1020 Connecticut Avenue NW
When virtual reality comes to the Tell-Fara assisted living facility, Harry Moore searches for a place he can no longer find. Is memory failing him—or is the town’s racist past to blame?
About the Playwright:
Zachariah Ezer is a playwright and Assistant Professor of Performing Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. His work includes The Freedom Industry, Address the Body!, Legitime, and Black Women in Tech. He’s a Dramatists Guild Foundation Catalyst Fellow and has received commissions from MTC/Sloan Foundation, Theater J, and ACT. His work is published by Samuel French, Smith & Kraus, and others.
LOST GIRLS
By: Paige Conway
Directed by: Shana Laski
Dramaturgy by: Julia Marks
Set Design: Sarah Beth Hall
June 14, 2025 @ 8PM
1020 Connecticut Avenue NW
On the verge of adulthood, Edith decides to testify against her attacker. But as the trial twists against her, unexpected help arrives: the Lost Girls, a crew of vengeful women pirates from centuries past, returning to fight the battles women still face.
About the Playwright:
Paige Conway is a director, producer, stage manager, and playwright from Flint, MI, now based in Cleveland. Her play G-COMPLEX will premiere at the Women in Theatre Festival at Duluth Playhouse this summer. She is Associate Producer at Cleveland Public Theatre and has directed numerous premieres, including The Body Play and not-for-profit.
IT WILL ALL MAKE SENSE IN THE MORNING
By: Erica Smith
Directed by: Esteban Marmelejo-Suarez
Dramaturgy by: Jessica Singly
Set Design: August Henney
June 15, 2025 @ 2PM
1020 Connecticut Avenue NW
When they were children, Alastair took Sparrow’s nightmares and buried them under a tree. Now they’ve returned. Sparrow wants them gone again, but Alastair doesn’t remember how—and he’s battling demons of his own.
About the Playwright:
Erica Smith is a DC-based playwright and actor. She is a founding member of The Coil Project, serving as its Playwright in Residence and former co-Artistic Director. Her work has been performed at Silver Spring Stage, CHAW, and Teatro LATEA in NYC. She also co-hosts the Coil Project Variety Hour on Takoma Park Radio.
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