Hotel Limbo (full-length play-in-progress)

by Alice Eve Cohen

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...

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)

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Hotel Limbo (full-length play-in-progress)

Recommended by

  • Crystal Skillman: Hotel Limbo (full-length play-in-progress) by Alice Eve Cohen
    “

    Hotel Limbo is an extraordinary new theatrical play. Set during the pandemic, the piece follows a writer who loses herself in fiction but must deal with a harsh reality: her husband has stage four cancer. Abigail desperately tries to keep him safe at all costs during the spread of the pandemic, yet her own community is changing. An influx of new people has entered the building which is now housing the homeless. But when Kelvin, one of the new guests at the Hotel Belleclaire befriends her, the building itself challenges her to rebuild herself and her activism.

    Hotel Limbo is an extraordinary new theatrical play. Set during the pandemic, the piece follows a writer who loses herself in fiction but must deal with a harsh reality: her husband has stage four cancer. Abigail desperately tries to keep him safe at all costs during the spread of the pandemic, yet her own community is changing. An influx of new people has entered the building which is now housing the homeless. But when Kelvin, one of the new guests at the Hotel Belleclaire befriends her, the building itself challenges her to rebuild herself and her activism.

    ”
  • William Steinberger: Hotel Limbo (full-length play-in-progress) by Alice Eve Cohen
    “

    Hotel Limbo is a theatrical, surprising story with incredible characters and relationships at its core. Abigail's friendship with Kelvin and Kelvin's relationships with his ex are so well illustrated. I love the ways this play brings the Hotel Belleclaire to life, too, through its own character as well as its one-time guest Maxim Gorky. This is a funny, meaningful play with a smart attention to the question of what it means to live in a city.

    Hotel Limbo is a theatrical, surprising story with incredible characters and relationships at its core. Abigail's friendship with Kelvin and Kelvin's relationships with his ex are so well illustrated. I love the ways this play brings the Hotel Belleclaire to life, too, through its own character as well as its one-time guest Maxim Gorky. This is a funny, meaningful play with a smart attention to the question of what it means to live in a city.

    ”
  • Premiere Stages: Hotel Limbo (full-length play-in-progress) by Alice Eve Cohen
    “

    Premiere Stages, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University, is pleased to recognize “Hotel Limbo” by Alice Eve Cohen as a Semi-Finalist for the 2023 Premiere Play Festival. “Hotel Limbo” rose through a competitive selection process conducted by Premiere staff and a panel of outside theatre professionals to become one of 40 Semi-Finalists out of 701 submissions. The panel was particularly impressed by the depth of engagement with homelessness and structural issues at work in our cities. Our congratulations and thanks to Alice.

    Premiere Stages, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University, is pleased to recognize “Hotel Limbo” by Alice Eve Cohen as a Semi-Finalist for the 2023 Premiere Play Festival. “Hotel Limbo” rose through a competitive selection process conducted by Premiere staff and a panel of outside theatre professionals to become one of 40 Semi-Finalists out of 701 submissions. The panel was particularly impressed by the depth of engagement with homelessness and structural issues at work in our cities. Our congratulations and thanks to Alice.

    ”

Development History

  • Reading, New York Theatre Workshop Mondays@3 Series, 2023
  • Workshop, University of California Irvine & Practical Cats Productions, 2023
  • Reading, Plays for Us reading series at Axis Theatre, NYC, 2023
  • Reading, The Actors Center, NYC, 2022
  • Residency, The Orchard Project 2022 Audio Lab, 2022
  • Reading, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, 2022
  • Workshop, The Orchard Project, 2022
  • Reading, Ensemble Studio Theatre, 2021

Awards

  • McKnight National Residency and Commission
    The Playwright's Center
    Finalist
    2022
  • The Civilians R&D Group
    The Civilians
    Finalist
    2024
  • Orchard Project Audio Lab Artist Fellowship
    Orchard Project
    Selection
    2022
  • 2023 Premiere Play Festival
    Premiere Stages At Kean University
    Semi-Finalist
    2023