IU Theatre & Dance will present new works from the three M.F.A playwrights in the upcoming 9th annual, and 1st virtual, At First Sight Festival. This year the festival will culminate in two productions of new plays by Christin Eve Cato and Jayne Deely, and will include a reading of a new play by the first year M.F.A playwright, Annalise Cain. The festival will also showcase Undergrad Shorts featuring short plays, scenes, and songs written by undergraduate playwrights.
The Black & Brown Guerrillas, by Christin Eve Cato, begins at the close of 2020. After several fatal #BLM protests, a series of terrorizing police brutality incidents, and a global pandemic, the streets of New York City were full of poverty and anarchy. Several areas of NYC were full of crime because the NYPD no longer entered them. Protests became more and more dangerous for unarmed civilians. The unemployment rate was so devastating that many New Yorkers (and people all over the USA) were in massive amounts of debt/went bankrupt/had their homes foreclosed, and struggled for food and shelter. Evaristo & Keisha, along with some of their Black & Latino comrades, organized together to establish law and order in their communities. This group was called the Black & Brown Guerrillas (The BBG). The Black & Brown Guerrillas is a look into how the revolution of the people would play out today, and is a manifesto for that modern revolution. It is experimental in form and theory. It showcases real change and leaves us with hope. David Koté, IU M.F.A Directing alumnus, directs this production.
Lee is a CIA asset assigned to the nation’s riskiest and most vital missions in Waycross, Jayne Deely’s audio play. Nadia Rachnamninov is Lee’s arch-enemy, close on her tail through every mission from Mauritius to Minsk. At this point, she’s the closest thing Lee has to a friend, unless you count CIA Director Skybell, who seems to live in Lee’s earpiece. Lee is unflappable. No mission too dangerous. A well-trained machine. But when she finds herself charged with the task of infiltrating a community theatre in Georgia undercover as something called a dramaturg, she has never been more in over her head. The clock’s ticking, every second bringing the town closer to potential destruction, and opening night. A play about finding heroes where you least expect them. This audio production is directed by Acting and Directing faculty member Jenny McKnight. Waycross is a pre-recorded audio play. By selecting to reserve a ticket for this play, you are opting to receive email access to the digital version of the play which can be downloaded and listened to at your convenience.
In Annalise Cain’s Dumb Bitch Juice, Dumptruck wants what every girl wants: to be involved in a climate activist organization, meet the love of her life, and ride off into the sunset after they’ve solved the climate crisis. Pretty Pretty just wants to end the climate crisis, and if he has to spend the rest of his life recruiting VERY peppy post grads to do it, so be it. So is this a date or is this a one on one? Is it either if time starts to loop and then break apart and they’re trapped in this empty work cafe with any semblance of hope quickly vanishing? Or is it something else entirely? Dumb Bitch Juice invites you to grab a straw (or bring your own), and get into the muck of organizing with us. Jamie Anderson, M.F.A Directing candidate, directs this virtual staged reading.
The College of Arts