SMILE LINES

Short play, One Act

By Joe Calarco

This groundbreaking and emotionally charged play immerses you in the fervor, intensity, determination, and selflessness of the Silent Sentinels protest at the White House in 1917. A century later, do we appreciate the sacrifices and convictions made by those brave individuals? SMILE LINES delves deep into the National Woman’s Party’s historic protests, connecting them to the ongoing struggle for all voices in today’s world.

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THE PAPER DREAMS OF HARRY CHIN

By Jessica Huang

During the Chinese Exclusion Act, Harry Chin, a Chinese national, entered the U.S. by buying forged documentation.
Like other “Paper Sons,” Harry lived the rest of his life keeping secrets—even from his daughter. Told through the eyes of
a middle-aged Chin, The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin reveals the complicated loves and regrets of this Chinese immigrant.
Through dreamlike leaps of time and space and with the powerful assistance of ghosts, the story of the Chin family
reveals the personal and political repercussions of making groups of people “illegal.”

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THE BALLAD OF EMMETT TILL

Full-length Drama

by Ifa Bayeza

2W, 4M

Original songs by Ifa Bayeza.

The Ballad of Emmett Till dramatizes the final days of Emmett Till, a Chicago teenager who takes a fateful trip to Mississippi in the summer of 1955. It is the story of a quest, Emmett’s pursuit of happiness, of liberty and ultimately of life.

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QUARTER RICAN

by Gabriel Diego Hernández

Drama

A young father in the playground, eleven-month-old baby in tow, engages another parent in the park in a conversation about neighborhoods, parenthood, and culture, processing some of his traumas and insecurities along the way as he tries to predict the factors that will shape his child’s Latinx identity. Meanwhile, his alter-ego, a swaggering hip hop jester named MC Plátano, comments on the action, fills in some of the blanks, and asks us some difficult questions.

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