HOTEL LIMBO is a family story of love and looming loss, an examination of a neighborhood’s turbulent relationship to homelessness and its responsibility to the unhoused during a pandemic, a talking building, and a deep dive into the history of affordable housing and homelessness – all told through the lens of life at the Hotel Belleclaire. When the Belleclaire – the playwright's longtime home – was transformed into a homeless shelter in 2020, as part of NYC’s plan to move people from overcrowded shelters into vacant hotel rooms to reduce COVID rates, the neighborhood erupted in NIMBY rage. A predominantly white community group tried to kick out the predominantly Black new neighbors. A counter-group showered them with love. The play investigates this episode in the building and neighborhood, as well as the Belleclaire’s history of housing the haves and have-nots since 1903.

Merging real events with magic realism, a cast of five (3W, 2M) plays multiple roles, including: Abigail and her family; Kelvin, a Belleclaire shelter resident and housing rights activist; The Building – the hotel itself is a central speaking character; Belleclaire architect Emery Roth; Maxim Gorky, a Belleclaire guest in 1906 whose play, The Lower Depths, was written from his experience as a homeless teenager in Russia; and The Facebook Greek Chorus, which brings to life verbatim social media comments about the hotel shelters during the pandemic. Based on the playwright's experience living in the Belleclaire while it was a homeless shelter.

full-length play, cast of 5 (3F, 2M)