Josh Beerman

The setting is Penelope and Owen’s tiny daylight basement apartment in Brooklyn. It is the middle of a scorching Summer night as they try to sleep train their daughter Helen, a process that brings out demons of all kinds. Penelope is holding on tight to the past and a trauma that will not go away. Owen is trying to be a good father, after a life time of no responsibility, and living in unhappiness as a result. Between the things not said, their state of poverty, and a bug that won’t leave them alone, they lose a night of sleep and begin to drift into the next phase of their relationship. With Helen waking up over and over through the course of the evening, they begin a dialogue that will either destroy them as the sun rises, or give them hope for a new start.

adulteration is the story of Tim. A man who, after years of trying to break into television and failing, finds himself stuck in another dead end job, with no life and no real direction. He returns to the small town where he grew up, for a high school reunion, to solicit the help of his childhood best friend, Randy, now the famous host of a popular talk show. Unexpectedly, Randy offers Tim the job of his dreams, and Tim, feels like his life might finally be turning around. But his dreams come caving in when he discovers that Randy might have raped the girl Tim had a crush on in high school. This leads Tim to question all of his major life choices, and seek the truth; what is a friend, what does it mean to be a man, and can he take from someone who might be responsible for such a violent act.

Fay, a social worker, and single mother of an unruly teen, is hired by a law firm to write a history of the people involved in the murder hasidic girl. Near the end of her job she finds a challenge she didn't expect; the last person to be interview before she is finished, the victim's now single father, Aba. It seems Aba will never talk to Fay, but when he finally does, an unlikly relationship develops between parents and children, as the lines between beauty and ugly are blurred.

Part 2 of The Penelope plays. Blue haired Penelope, 8 months pregnant, is lured away from her New York City apartment by the Facebook rumor of Roger’s death, and a wicked case of insomnia. She drives 8 hours to the man’s suburban home to disprove the rumor, and settle an old truth. Roger, a happily married suburbanite, is preparing for a party to celebrate his life, and seems to barely remember her. When Roger’s wife, Ingrid, arrives home to find Penelope there, she makes it clear she does not like this strange woman in their home. As Roger and Ingrid decorate for a party that might never come, it becomes obvious they only want Penelope to go, but she won’t, she won’t leave until she knows the truth. The truth about her past, the truth about her future, and the truth about love.

Part 1 of the Penelope Plays: Punk rock Penelope is an 8 month pregnant insomniac. One night, presented with rumor she found on Facebook that the man who abused her as a child has died, she takes a road trip to find out the truth. In the process she meets an autistic boy, obsessed with phone sex, and an agoraphobic woman who teaches communications, both who were part of his life, and have a different idea of who he was. The three of them form a strange friendship as they journey and discover something they did not expect along the way; none of them knew this man, or themselves.