Neal Alexander Lewis

Set during the early Renaissance in Italy, “Two Sons of Florence” is an exploration of masculinity set in the pederastic culture of the time. “Two Sons” follows friends and lovers, RUFINO and CARMINE as they struggle with their relationship while the realities of family and the growing resistance to the predominant culture pulls them in different directions.

The year is 1925. Prohibition is well underway. In a Town outside the City, events of the past are beginning to converge. BENJAMIN is a young Black man who fled the Town to avoid being lynched after he was found at the age of 16 kissing a 15 year old LILY, the White SHERIFF’s daughter. Having escaped, BENJAMIN eventually found his way into the Ambulance Service and drove in Italy during World War I. He was injured by shrapnel, and has managed to sneak back into Town, a place he never wanted to leave, at the invitation of ISAAC, BENJAMIN’s cousin. ISAAC is the Town’s Black mortician, and a bootlegger. ISAAC offered BENJAMIN two jobs; gin smuggler and gravedigger. ISAAC also gave BENJAMIN a place to stay as the Caretaker of the Cemetery where he would be safe from prying eyes.

Whereas BENJAMIN fled for his life, LILY was sent away to the City to live with and be educated by her Great-Aunt, the WIDOW DAVIS, the wealthy, racist, Prohibitionist matriarch of the family tree. 6 years have passed since then, and now they are returning to the Town with the death of Paul Marvin, the WIDOW’s older brother.

Accidental disclosures, and less than surreptitious encounters slowly draw everyone back together, and threaten to unravel them all.

The Longview Institute is a place where people who have attempted suicide go to find help. Confronted by the realities and internalized damage some don't even know they have, ALICE, RUTH, SHANNON, and TIMOTHY struggle to recover the lives abuse drove them to try and take. In the common room of the Institute, they begin to rediscover themselves and find understanding through the eyes and lives of each other. Sometimes when you try to end your life, you find out it's only just begun.

MIKA and her boyfriend PAUL both have extensive romantic personal histories, a fact generally well known to all. At first glance, everything appears to be fine, but when MIKA'S exes (many of whom she's still friends with) start appearing, PAUL discovers that he's not as okay with it as he thought. Confronted by the gender disparity of sexual expression, MIKA takes a stand for herself and for love as she levels self-acceptance against his condemnations. Double standards are a bitch.

Leaving his dead-end life behind, MARCUS is returning to a town he hates to care for his dying mother. And as if that wasn't bad enough, he's just met someone. Caught between the burgeoning hope of attraction and the squalid detritus of a past better left there, MARC struggles to navigate between the sun and the turbulent storm. Amidst the ruins of his old life and the failing health of his mother, MARC struggles to find his way home.

Existential dilemmas don't stop just because you're dead, and only a few among the living can begin to understand why when ordinary mortals are too busy living their own lives. FRANCESCA and AGNUS, however; are no longer ordinary. They've both died – they just didn't stay that way. Under AGNUS' tutelage, FRANCESCA is learning to live her life as a Medium; someone who can dwell on either side of life. Serving as friends, confidantes, and go-betweens, AGNUS and FRANCESCA connect the Living with the Dead (or vice-versa) to bring solace and peace to those who seek it. Only one thing is certain, however; you never know just what you'll find on the Other Side Of Life.

It may be cliché to say “if nothing changes; nothing changes,” but that doesn't mean it that it isn't also true. Until CASEY met ALEXANDRA, she had never really stepped beyond the walls of her brother's MMA Gym and the security of it being home. Accepting ALEX'S invitation to go bowling, CASEY begins to experience a life beyond the Octagon, and as she discovers new friends, she must confront her own desire for a life beyond it.

EMILY is returning to a town she loathes because her sister, MARY, is getting married. Over two weekends, two weeks apart, EMILY must face the dreaded bridesmaid's dress, her sister's friends, and the pressures of a job that doesn't stop just because she's gone for a few days. Meanwhile; JAKE, LAURENCE'S Best Man, labors as a go-between for ASHLEY and ANNABEL, an estranged couple who are nonetheless set to stand across the aisle as their friends get married. Before the backdrop of wedding bliss, and the broiling antipathy between ASHLEY and ANNABEL, JAKE and EMILY find meaning and friendship as they struggle to hold the bridal party together.