Susan Kelechi Watson
presents
The EPIC NEXT New Play Festival 2019
Featuring 2 epic new plays
written by current Epic Next students
mentored by professional playwrights
directed and acted by Epic alums
ENCORE PERFORMANCE ADDED! SOLD OUT!
Monday, June 24th at 7:00pm
Theatre Row, Theatre Five
410 West 42nd Street, between 9th & 10th Aves
FREE ADMISSION
This ENCORE performance is SOLD OUT.
If you would like to be placed on the Wait List for this performance,
please arrive 20 minutes prior to showtime.
CAGED BIRD
By Marasia Coates Peña Mentored by Nsangou Njikam
Directed by Xavier Pacheco Mentored by Melissa Friedman
CAST: Daniel Bland, Jonathan Calixto, Jhadia Edwards, Rosa Feria, Abel Garcia, Divine Garland, Na’Shay Kelly, Ivone Maduro, Talimah Murphy, Kavon Wilson, Eirene Tuakora
In Caged Bird, best friends Scarlett & Ezekiel prepare for the fight of their lives. They are determined to break free of the chains of the system, but they go to battle with different methods – Scarlett through her poetry and Eze with his fists. Their shared trauma in foster care left them both damaged and scarred, but they also share the will to win, at any cost. And facing their toxic family history may turn out to be their greatest match yet. Caged Bird leaves us asking, how do we fight for ourselves in a cycle of violence bred long before we were born?
SEE ME!
By Alyssa Duskin Mentored by Nilaja Sun
Directed by Dalissa Duran Mentored by Ron Russell
CAST: Alex Britvan, Jonathan Calixto, Ryan Dempsey, Christopher Garafalo,
Monee Hunter, Marcel Martinez, Jordan Mayo, Adrian McCoy, Mireylle Montas, Elena Reyes, Destiny Snipe, Kyora Wallace
SEE ME! follows Rosemary Givans, whose multi-racial identity leaves her both invisible in her own community in the Bronx, and scrutinized at her predominantly white high school in Manhattan. When Rosemary receives acceptance letters from two historic institutions – one an elite Ivy league college and the other the country’s top HBCU – fault-lines erupt; not only within Rosemary herself but for her budding interracial relationship, and for her family and friends; each navigating the gap between their own sense of identity and who others expect them to be.