10th Annual New Works Festival
Reserve seats for all four New Works performances for a $35 Service Fee or individual shows for a $15 Service Fee.
The 10th annual Title Wave: 2024 New Works Festival returns to the stage at Bay Street Theater bringing with it four bold and exciting new plays currently in development.
The weekend is a unique showcase of cutting-edge theater, complete with staged readings, talkbacks, and critical discussion, providing a rare opportunity for directors and actors to work on their play in-person.
Selected from 300 submissions, the four plays selected are Dutch Master - A Musical Music and Lyrics by Jeffrey Stock Book by Marc Acito; House of India by Deepak Kumar; The Ordeal of Water by Stephanie Alison Walker; and Polar Bears, Black Boys, & Prairie Fringed Orchids by Vincent Terrell Durham.
Finalists include:To Rot In His Bones by Claire Abramovitz;The Beauty of My Youth is Gone But the Chemicals Remain by Kendra Augustin; The Ancestry Dot Com Play by Alyssa Haddad-Chin; Impossible Theories of Us by John Mabey; Dead People by Bridgette Portman; How It Ends by Caridad Svich; Spin Moves by Ken Weitzman
The schedule for 2024 New Works Festival weekend is:
Friday, May 17, at 8pm: The Ordeal of Water by Stephanie Alison Walker
Saturday, May 18, at 2pm: Polar Bears, Black Boys, & Prairie Fringed Orchids by Vincent Terrell Durham
Saturday, May 18, at 8pm: Dutch Master - A Musical Music and Lyrics By Jeffrey Stock Book By Marc Acito
Sunday, May 19, at 3pm: House of India by Deepak Kumar
In addition to the schedule of staged readings, opening reception for Patrons and Subscribers will be held Friday, May 17 at 6 pm, and the presentation of winners of the 2024 Writing the Wave Creative Writing Competition will be held Friday, May 17, at 7 pm.
THE NEW WORKS
DUTCH MASTER - A MUSICAL MUSIC AND LYRICS BY JEFFREY STOCK BOOK BY MARK ACITO
A forger with the soul of a fine artist and the morals of a con artist pulls off one of the most audacious frauds of the 20th century. In 1945 Dutch authorities discover one of his fake Vermeers in the possession of the Nazis, and put him on trial for selling a national treasure to the enemy. When he confesses to making the painting himself, nobody believes him, and he must prove his own guilt as a forger to save his life. This taut, witty, melodic musical caper is based on an incredible true story. It asks the questions: what does it mean to be authentic, what has value, and who decides?
THE ORDEAL OF WATER BY STEPHANIE ALISON WALKER
It's 1978 in San Pedro, California and tweny-year-old Margo Strand, with her Farrah Fawcet hair and her deceased daddy's union book, is stoked about her first day working as a longshoreman at the Port of Los Angeles. She's ready to experience what her daddy loved so much about this place and she's counting on bonding with Ray Rosas, the only other woman the waterfront who has braved this male-dominated world for two years on her own. What Margo does not expect is to not only alienate Ray, but be lured to the lonely bowels of a container ship by her male co-workers and locked inside with Ray just before the ship leaves the port for Shanghai. Worst first day ever.
POLAR BEARS, BLACK BOYS, AND PRAIRIE FRINGED ORCHIDS BY VINCENT TERRELL DURHAM
A liberal white couple throws open the doors of their renovated Harlem brownstone and hosts a cocktail party for their African American neighbors. The guests are a Black Lives Matter activist, his plus-one, a Black bookstore owner, and the mother of a slain 12-year-old boy. A well-intentioned night of community devolves into intense debates, pointed accusations, and a shocking revelation of implicit bias.
HOUSE OF INDIA BY DEEPAK KUMAR
In memory of her late husband, Ananya runs “House of India”, the last remaining restaurant in a once-flourishing Asian strip mall outside of Cleveland. All around her are pressures to change – from her finances, from her kids, and most persistently, from Jacob, a Thai-American entrepreneur who is determined to convert the traditional restaurant into a nationwide fast-casual Indo-fusion franchise (think: Indian Chipotle). When the restaurant is vandalized, Ananya must make a choice: give up on her husband's “American dream” and close up shop, or compromise on her values to stay afloat? A play about South Indian food, familial expectations, and figuring out what really makes a "House" a home.
Biographies
MUSIC & LYRICS: JEFFREY STOCK
Jeffrey Stock composes a wide range of music and lyrics, including Broadway musicals, orchestral works and art songs. He composed the score for the Tony Award nominated Broadway musical TRIUMPH OF LOVE, starring Betty Buckley, Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham and Tony nominee Susan Egan. The show was named USA Today’s Best New Musical of 1997-98. The New Yorker raved: “Smart, fresh and funny... Jeffrey Stock makes a remarkable Broadway debut.” The New York Post wrote: “I was enthralled by Jeffrey Stock’s score… dazzling!” TRIUMPH has received over 100 productions at theaters around the world in multiple languages. He is the composer and lyricist of the musical A ROOM WITH A VIEW, which was produced at the San Diego Old Globe and subsequently at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theater. Variety called the score “gorgeous.” Broadway World said: “Stock’s music is heavenly.” The LA Times noted: “The songs by Stock carefully set up the characters while briskly advancing the action.” Jeffrey’s symphonic and choral work LULIE THE ICEBERG premiered at Carnegie Hall featuring the world’s most celebrated cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Pamela Frank and saxophonist Paul Winter, narrated by legendary actor Sam Waterston. Based on a book by HIH Princess Takamado of Japan, LULIE was recorded on Sony Classical. He has written the music and lyrics for his most recent musical DUTCH MASTER, commissioned by Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theater and workshopped at both the Prospect Theater and the York Theater. He also contributed music to the Off-Broadway musical SONGS FROM AN UNMADE BED, which opened to rave reviews at New York Theater Workshop. Theatermania called it “the musical of the season.” For the last decade, Jeffrey has worked frequently in China, performing music, lecturing and giving master classes in song interpretation at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, Beijing’s Central Academy of Drama, the Shanghai Music Conservatory, and the Beijing Contemporary Music Institute. He recently composed the score for a new musical about the life of Kublai Khan, called XANADU, performed in Beijing and Inner Mongolia. Jeffrey is a recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for music composition and the Jonathan Larson Grant (a memorial fund for the composer of Rent), as well as an NEA grant for musical theater. He has won residencies at artist colonies including McDowell, Millay, and Blue Mountain Center. He has spent many years studying Balinese music and culture and is a fluent speaker of the Indonesian language. He received a BA degree in music from Yale University.
BOOK: MARC ACITO
Marc Acito (he/they) makes art to push boundaries. In 2004, he published the first novel about high school theater kids, How I Paid for College (New York Times Editors Choice and winner of the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction); In 2010, he premiered Birds of a Feather, a comedy about the most banned book in the U.S. (Helen Hayes Award). At the invitation of the legendary George Takei, Acito wrote the libretto of the Broadway musical Allegiance, shining a light on forced incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Allegiance was subsequently produced in Tokyo and London’s West End. In 2016, Acito became the first Broadway librettist to have a new Mandarin-language musical produced in China (The Secret, featuring the music of Jay Chou), followed by Sound of the Silk Road in 2021. Other musicals include A Room with a View (Old Globe, 5th Avenue Theatre) and Chasing Rainbows (Goodspeed Musicals, Papermill Playhouse). Acito made his directing debut in 2017 with his Off-Off Broadway musical Bastard Jones at the Cell (NY Times Critic’s Pick) which he’s developing as a feature film. In 2022, he released the film musical MAD/WOMAN to prove he could make movie musicals affordably (multiple awards, including Outstanding Director, Queens World Film Festival and Best Experimental Film, Bowery Film Festival). A culture writer and former commentator to 6 million listeners on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, Acito teaches History and Musicals at New York University. @AcitoMarc MarcAcito.NYC.
PLAYWRIGHT: STEPHANIE ALISON WALKER
Stephanie’s plays include: FRIENDS WITH GUNS (Chapel Theatre Collective, The Road Theatre & Uprising Theatre,) THE ABUELAS (Teatro Vista, Antaeus Theatre Company,) THE MADRES (2018 NNPN Rolling World Premiere - Skylight Theatre, Teatro Vista, Moxie Theatre & Shrewd Productions,) THE ART OF DISAPPEARING (16th Street Theatre Company,) AMERICAN HOME (Little Candle Productions,) THE ORDEAL OF WATER and more. Honors include: Primus Prize, Dramatists Guild Foundation Grant Recipient, Blue Ink Award, Ashland New Plays Festival (two-time winner,) BETC Generations Prize, O’Neill Playwrights Conference (two-time finalist,) CTG/Humanitas Prize (Finalist,) Bay Area Playwrights Festival (two-time finalist,) Princess Grace Award (Finalist) and more. Stephanie is a proud NNPN Affiliate Artist, member of the Dramatists Guild, and Honor Roll! - an advocacy and action group of women+ playwrights over forty whose aim is to significantly increase inclusion and representation on stage and in the theatrical canon.
PLAYWRIGHT: VINCENT TERRELL DURHAM
Vincent Terrell Durham (he/him/his) is an award-winning playwright who first honed his storytelling skills as a stand-up comic. He was born and raised in Binghamton, New York to a family of vibrant storytellers themselves. His plays have received honors from the Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival, National New Play Network, and the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. Much of Vincent’s work confronts what it means to be Black in America. A subject he tackles with clarity, irony, and humor. Vincent hopes his presence as a gay man of color in theater will inspire all the little Black boys out there who don’t know why they are obsessed with the cast album of Dreamgirls.
PLAYWRIGHT: DEEPAK KUMAR
Deepak Kumar is a playwright, lyricist, and composer and Assistant Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at UC San Diego. His shows have been produced with the O'Neill Theatre Center (NPC '22), the National Alliance for Musical Theatre Festival of New Musicals (NAMT '22), the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO), Musical Theatre Factory, PACE University, Faultline Theater (SF), Underscore Theatre, and Shotgun Players. He is a MacDowell Colony fellow and a Musical Theatre Factory Maker (Cohort III). He is currently on commission from Audible and Arena Stage.
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