Bottle Fly

by Jacqueline Goldfinger

World Premiere at Redtwist Theatre in Chicago, October-November 2024. CONTACT REDTWIST ABOUT A ROLLING WORLD PREMIERE.

Winner of the Yale Drama Prize, "Bottle Fly" is a beautiful depiction of queer survival in the Everglades. The play with music captures the many layered dynamics of race, poverty, and bigotry sun-baked into life in South Florida with heart, humor, and hope.

"'Bottle Fly' is an ambitious work...

World Premiere at Redtwist Theatre in Chicago, October-November 2024. CONTACT REDTWIST ABOUT A ROLLING WORLD PREMIERE.

Winner of the Yale Drama Prize, "Bottle Fly" is a beautiful depiction of queer survival in the Everglades. The play with music captures the many layered dynamics of race, poverty, and bigotry sun-baked into life in South Florida with heart, humor, and hope.

"'Bottle Fly' is an ambitious work….[It] illuminates love in many guises: love for those who have mattered to one in the past, love that was born as pity, love tinged with guilt, love for those who need your protection and love for someone who, without even knowing that she was doing it, holds out the promise of a more beautiful life."—Nicholas Wright, Broadway/West End playwright, "Vincent in Brixton" and "The Reporter" (UK)

“Jacqueline Goldfinger is that rarity in American theatre--a poet-playwright. 'Bottle Fly' is a gorgeous play, roaring with the sacred and the profane and--for all its passion--delicately conveyed.”—Dan O’Brien, playwright, "The Body of an American" and "The House in Scarsdale," Guggenheim Fellow in Drama & Performance Art (USA)

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Bottle Fly

Recommended by

  • Marnie Monogue: Bottle Fly by Jacqueline Goldfinger
    “

    Moving and lyrical exploration of love--queer, straight, platonic, familial--in the Everglades.

    Moving and lyrical exploration of love--queer, straight, platonic, familial--in the Everglades.

    ”
  • Cheryl Bear: Bottle Fly by Jacqueline Goldfinger
    “

    A powerful look at a community of souls searching together for answers. Moving and well done.

    A powerful look at a community of souls searching together for answers. Moving and well done.

    ”
  • Chandler Hubbard: Bottle Fly by Jacqueline Goldfinger
    “

    Searching for God in a godless place has never tasted sweeter. Five characters seeking grace with the world that's been handed to them, speaking their truths in words both mundane and celestial.

    Searching for God in a godless place has never tasted sweeter. Five characters seeking grace with the world that's been handed to them, speaking their truths in words both mundane and celestial.

    ”
View all 9 recommendations
People: 4F, 1M
-K: 30s, Woman, Open Ethnicity, Otherworldly in a hard packed red clay way, Cannot speak, Sings instead, “A little slow” (as we say in the South meaning that she doesn’t have a major mental health issue but is just a bit slow on the uptake)
-Rosie: 50s, White Woman, Owns and runs the bar, Cal’s wife
-Cal: 50s, Man of Color, Rosie’s husband, Oil Rig worker
-Ruth: 50s, Woman, Open Ethnicity, Looking for answers later in life, Penny’s lover
-Penny: 30s, Woman, Open Ethnicity but first preference is Seminole or Hispanic, Tough, Bee Keeper

Florida is an incredibly ethnically diverse state and the Everglades region is reflective of that diversity. Seminoles and other Indigenous Peoples, whites, Blacks, Cubans and Hispanics have lived there for centuries. Please cast to reflect the ethnic reality of the region.

Development History

  • Reading, The National Theatre Studio (London), 2017
  • Reading, PlayPenn New Play Conference, 2017
  • Residency, Yaddo, 2016

Production History

Awards

  • Intersectional New Plays List
    NPX
    Selection
    2018
  • The MIX List
    Steppenwolf Theatre
    Selection
    2018
  • International Book Awards
    Finalist
    2018
  • Yale Drama Prize
    Winner
    2017