Join us for a live 90-minute zoom presentation every Monday and Wednesday as students and staff explore the scripts you want to hear. Sit back and listen,or jump in and lend your voice to a role.
Students participating in the Fall 2020 Dramaturgy Practicum read, evaluated, and selected titles, vetted by a panel of students and staff, to create a season of eclectic themes, styles, and genres. Their goal is that you are entertained as you grapple intellectually and emotionally with these plays. All titles in the spring 2021 Out Loud Series are plays written by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. These are also the plays that they devoured in a single sitting.
We hope that you will find them as engaging as we did.
Skeleton Stories
by Delondra Mesa
On Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a young girl named Maya journeys into the underworld to find and rescue the spirit of her dead mother. Through a series of vignettes, guided by the Aztec spirit Yellow Dog, Maya encounters lost souls and experiences their stories before confronting the god of Death… who wants to keep Maya for his own
Theme(s): Grief, Parental relationships, Coming of age
Content Warnings: Strong language, Death/Religious Themes, Violence, Gore/Dismemberment, Sexual Assault
February 1 & 3 | 7pm EST
Am I Dead?
by Kevin R Free
In the hereafter, three souls struggle to reassemble the black men they wronged in life until Isis, the goddess of marital devotion, pushes them to address the truths of their wrongs in life. Am I Dead? will be pre-cast as a workshop process with the playwright.
Theme(s): Abuse of black men, Relationships, Identity
Content Warnings: Derogatory Language, Strong Language, Religious Themes, Fights, Violence, Gore/Dismemberment, Homophobia, On Stage Death
February 8 | 7pm EST
TBD
Contracts are currently under-review with licensing agents and playwrights. Check back soon.
February 10 | 7pm EST
TBD
Contracts are currently under-review with licensing agents and playwrights. Check back soon.
February 15 & 17 | 7pm EST
Buffalo Hair
by Carlyle Brown
Race, war and history collide in this play, set in 1874, when a group of black troopers capture a black man who has chosen to live among the Cheyenne and the men must decide between personal and cultural identities.
Theme(s): Self-discovery / Race / Militarism / History
Content Warnings: Violence, war, animal harm, racism, gore, and suicide
February 22 & 24 | 7pm EST
TBD
Contracts are currently under-review with licensing agents and playwrights. Check back soon.
March 1 & 3 | 7pm EST
TBD
Contracts are currently under-review with licensing agents and playwrights. Check back soon.
March 8 & 10 | 7pm EST
Too Heavy for Your Pocket
by Jiréh Breon Holder
In the summer of 1961, the Freedom Riders are embarking on a courageous journey into the Deep South. When twenty-year-old Bowzie Brandon gives up a life-changing college scholarship to join the movement, he’ll have to convince his loved ones—and himself—that shaping his country’s future might be worth jeopardizing his own.
Theme(s): Race, Gender, Class, Power, Faith, and Politics
Content Warnings: Derogatory language, Racial and Sexual language and content, Violence, Mental and Physical Abuse, Racial and Gender Oppression
March 15 & 17 | 7pm EST
Devised 2020
by Students and staff of NC State University
Devised 2020 – A sharing of the original material created during the fall 2020 semester and early spring 2021 by NC State students and staff members prompted by the Pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other events in 2020.
Theme(s): Personal responses to the events of 2020
Content Warnings: Strong language
March 22 | 7pm EST
Ghosts of Bogotá
by Diana Burbano
The journey of three Latinx siblings to Columbia for their grandfather’s funeral becomes one of shared secrets and fantastic revelations in a play that addresses the immigrant experience of never feeling fully at home in any country.
Theme(s): Grief and Death / Family / Sexual Abuse
Content Warnings: Strong Language, Sexual Language, Homophobia, Mentions of: Sexual Abuse/Assault/Physical Abuse, Abortion, School Shootings, Racism, and Discussion of Death
March 29 & 31 | 7pm EST
Umoja
by LaDarrion Williams
– A group of seniors set out to create a club for Black Excellence on a predominantly white college campus but, when their petition is sidelined by racial tension and controversy, the students must share their truth and some of their deepest secrets.
Theme(s): Coming of Age / Racism / Identity / Empowerment
Content Warnings: Strong Language, Sexual Language, Homophobia, Sexual Assault, Abortion, and Racism
April 5 & 7 | 7pm EST
TBD
Contracts are currently under-review with licensing agents and playwrights. Check back soon.
April 12 & 14 | 7pm EST
Swimming While Drowning
by Emilio Rodriguez
Angelo Mendez leaves home to escape his homophobic father; at a Los Angeles homeless shelter, he finds love with another homeless teen in this gritty and funny romance.
Theme(s): LGBTQ+ / Homophobia / Homelessness
Content Warnings: Strong language, sexually suggestive language
April 19 | 7pm EST
Am I Dead? (Second Read)
by Kevin R Free
In the hereafter, three souls struggle to reassemble the black men they wronged in life until Isis, the goddess of marital devotion, pushes them to address the truths of their wrongs in life. Am I Dead? will be pre-cast as a workshop process with the playwright.
Theme(s): Abuse of black men, Relationships, Identity
Content Warnings: Derogatory Language, Strong Language, Religious Themes, Fights, Violence, Gore/Dismemberment, Homophobia, On Stage Death
April 21 | 7pm EST
TBD
Contracts are currently under-review with licensing agents and playwrights. Check back soon.
April 26 & 28 | 7pm EST
By supporting the student through the arts we promote the success of the whole student, preparing them to succeed academically, professionally and personally. Donor support is critical to the success of University Theatre and makes an impact beyond the performances you see on stage, particularly in a time when live audiences are unable to attend. Your gifts allow our programs to grow and thrive.