New Voices Festival 2014

The Old Globe today announced it will present the Second Annual New Voices Festival, a weekend of readings of new American plays by professional playwrights, December 12 – 14, 2014. The Festival will kick off Friday, December 12 at 7:30 p.m. with brownsville song (b-side for tray) by Kimber Lee (fight, tokyo fish story), directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg. The Festival weekend will continue on Saturday, December 13 at 4:00 p.m. with Skeleton Crewby Dominique Morisseau (Detroit ’67, Sunset Baby), directed by Lisa Berger; and at 7:30 p.m., The Last Match by Anna Ziegler (Photograph 51, Another Way Home), directed by Casey Stangl. On Sunday, December 14 at 4:00 p.m., join us for the first play commissioned by the Globe by a professional playwright for the Festival: Five Hundred Lives Per Mile, created and performed by Roger Guenveur Smith (playwright of A Huey P. Newton Story and Rodney King, featured in Do The Right Thing and American Gangster).

The complete New Voices Festival lineup is as follows:

• Friday, December 12 at 7:30 p.m.
  brownsville song (b-side for tray) by Kimber Lee
  Directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg
  Set in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, brownsville song (b-side for tray) is a portrait of one family’s courage, humor, and resilience in the face of overwhelming loss. Moving fluidly between past and present, the play tells the story of Tray, a spirited 18-year-old, and his family, who must hold on to hope when Tray’s life is cut short. brownsville song (b-side for tray) originally premiered at the Humana Festival last year, and Lincoln Center’s LCT3 presented the New York premiere.

• Saturday, December 13 at 4:00 p.m.
  Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau
  Directed by Lisa Berger
  At the last still-operating auto plant in Detroit, long hours and unreliable shifts have turned the workers into a makeshift family. The tough, compassionate Faye holds them together, and she’s only months away from retiring with her full pension. When she discovers that the plant is scheduled to close, she’s torn between self-preservation and allegiance to her fellow workers. Skeleton Crew is part of Dominique Morriseau’s Detroit Projects cycle, a series of vibrant, funny, and often moving plays that explore the history of her hometown. 

• Saturday, December 13 at 7:30 p.m.
  The Last Match by Anna Ziegler
  Directed by Casey Stangl
  The semifinals of the U.S. Open are underway. Sergei Sergeyev, an up-and-coming Russian phenom, and Tim Porter, the great American superstar, are doing battle under the lights on center court. As the intense, back-and-forth action unfolds, The Last Match journeys inside the minds of these two extraordinary players. And by the time the lights go out, more has been won and lost than just a game of tennis. 

• Sunday, December 14 at 4:00 p.m.
  Five Hundred Lives Per Mile
  Created and Performed by Roger Guenveur Smith
  Critically acclaimed writer, performer, and director Roger Guenveur Smith uses his work to investigate the great American themes of identity, individuality, ethnicity, class, and power. Whether exploring the life of Huey P. Newton, the brawl between baseball legends Juan Marichal and John Roseboro, or the odyssey of Rodney King, Smith has collaborated with composer Marc Anthony Thompson to tackle gripping narratives with amazing illumination, grace, and empathy. Five Hundred Lives Per Mile, his newest solo piece, explores the Panama Canal and the human costs of its construction. It was commissioned by The Old Globe to be created jointly by Smith and Thompson.