HOUSTON: Rec Room Arts has announced Sound Scripts Project, a nine-part series of audio plays. The projects will be written by the inaugural class of the Rec Room Writers Group, and will include interviews with the playwrights and directors, as well as insight into the play development process.
The plays will be released on Thursdays from Oct. 22 to Feb. 18, 2021. Each play will be available as interactive digital portfolios and podcasts on demand for a four-day period, and there is a suggested donation of $10 for access. For the kickoff event on Oct. 22, Rec Room is partnering with a sommelier to develop wine pairings for the virtual talkback.
“The silver lining is that we are now able to support these playwrights in more creatively robust ways than previously planned,” said artistic director Matt Hune in a statement. “This year we are focusing on growth within our organization as well as cultivating a stronger presence for theatre in America. I’m exceptionally proud of the work developed and the people involved in this project. Theatre across the country is being forced to reevaluate its identity. I’m excited to be able to energize new theatre and audiences in creative ways. Perhaps this is the precipice of a cultural and artistic revolution.”
The inaugural class of Rec Room Writers includes Fi Connors, Christian Gill, Comfort Ifeoma Katchy, Elizabeth A. M. Keel, Eric Moore, ShaWanna Renee Rivon, Jelisa Jay Robinson, Brendan Bourque-Sheil, and Nicole Zimmerer. The directors for the Sound Scripts Projects include Leslie Swackhammer, Lily M. Wolff, Mekeva McNeil, Rachel Dickson, and Ismael Lara.
The series will begin with Sunrise Coven (Oct. 22-26), by Brendan Bourque-Sheil, a comedy about a nurse who loses her nursing license and partners with a witch to continue practicing medicine in the town of Buckstop, Texas.
Following will be You Can Tell a Tree By Its Fruit (Nov. 5-9), by Comfort Ifeoma Katchy, a meditation on lynching in America.
Next up will be Elizabeth A. M. Keel’s Break (Nov. 19-23), about a high school infiltrated by dark fairies before spring break, and the educators who want the day to end.
Next will be Kheeper (Dec. 3-7), by Fi Connors, about two nurses who embark on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage in Ireland.
The series will continue with Eric Moore’s Tuz and Soly (Dec. 17-24). Inspired by the characters Tuzenbach and Solyony from Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Tuz and Soly is about this unlikely friendship.
Following will be We Both Suck Our Teeth (Jan. 7-11, 2021), by Jelisa Jay Robinson, about an argument between a Black student and a Nigerian student in an Igbo class at Texas Harris University that is caught on video and goes viral.
The Sound Scripts Project will continue with Clipped Wings (Jan. 21-25, 2021), by Christian Gill, about a woman working in the largest oil company in the U.S. who has to push against the pressures of an organization that values reputation over people.
Next up will be Nicole Zimmerer’s Blue Roses (Feb. 4-8, 2021), a play inspired by Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie, which revisits Laura Wingfield 15 years after the events of that seminal play.
The series will close with ShaWanna Renee Rivon’s Power to the Queendom (Feb. 18-22, 2021), about four female members of the Houston chapter of the Black Panther Party and their steadfast commitment to their community.
Founded in 2016, Rec Room Arts aims to bring a new generation to the theatre by producing works by emerging and established writers at its 60-seat theatre in Houston.
