James Christy

Mike is a loving father, happy with his marriage and his life in general. But as his wife Carolyn mentions casually that she thinks it’s time they have a second child, he begins asking why: why do we have kids? The question takes Mike and Carolyn back to childhood, to the mysteries and awkwardness of puberty and dating, and to re-examine their own roles as children of aging parents.

It’s a cold afternoon in early September. We’re in the stands of a middle school football game. Liz Mercer and her diabetic mother Noreen are watching Liz’s son Eric, the team’s sometimes star wide receiver, have a very bad game. Eric is extremely talented and blazing fast (referred to by a high school coach scouting him as the “fastest white kid in southwestern PA”). But he’s also short and bone thin. The Sullivan Anthem’s first opponent of the season has discovered by double teaming Eric at the line of scrimmage they can knock him out of most plays. This strategy does not sit well with Liz and even less so with Noreen.

Over the course of the next 8 weeks, Liz’s Iraq-vet boyfriend Dale, a former football player at Sullivan, will undertake a campaign to toughen Eric up, with beer-fueled tackling drills outside the porch of Liz’s house where he’s just moved in. Liz, who has recently lost two shifts at work and is in danger of losing the mortgage on her mother’s house, is upset when Eric gets an opportunity to join a program for disadvantaged youths associated with a local university. But through a connection with the program, Eric is able to arrange an interview for his mother for a good job at the university, which she gets. As she’s less reliant on Dale to help with the mortgage, she is considering whether she really wants him to be part of the family, as his erratic behavior often scares her mother. But as she is finally starting to take control of her life, she learns a devastating secret that makes her question herself as a mother.

The story of an unlikely pair of American immigrants, At Liberty Hall follows two high school students who've just moved to New Jersey: Christian Rosario, a funny but unfocused 10th grader from Queens by way of the Dominican Republic; and the subject of Christian's 10th grade history project Alexander Hamilton, now 16 and sweating his application to what will someday become Princeton University. This time-bending story finds common threads of humor, honor and awkward dating in the experiences of a someday-Founding Father and a kid from the DR looking for a way out of the projects.

An ensemble drama that centers around two enigmatic creations: a controversial video installation that includes documentary-style footage of a rape; and a computer program with vast business potential. Two best friends are pulled in opposite directions as the art dealer who presents the installation becomes a media celebrity while the computer programmer’s work is stolen in a surreal corporate power play.

Supreme Court Justice John Clark has been fighting the growing legal power of corporations his whole career. And now, in the year 2045, in a nation ravaged by drought, inflation and food insecurity, this battle has come to a head. A progressive president enacts an ambition farming bill offering direct food assistance to those in need. The program is already feeding millions of Americans. But the future of the program is in doubt as a case against the bill is being heard by a divided Supreme Court.

Lauren Keppinger has no job, her nerves are shot and she hasn’t left her house in six weeks. She hasn’t worked since she quit her job at a food lobbyist over two years ago. And now her journalist husband has written an article about the rampant boozing and whoring of Justice Clark. After an online introduction, Clark and Keppinger form an unlikely alliance, pursuing a desperate plan that shows just how far past the law they’re willing to go to get the result they want.

After an online introduction, Clark and Keppinger form an unlikely alliance, pursuing a desperate plan that shows just how far past the law they’re willing to go to get the result they want.

“A face touched by God.” Samuel Holden is by all accounts, a spectacularly beautiful child. His parents, school administrators, therapists and lawyers fighting about the best way to treat his autism all agree on that. And practically nothing else.

His father Rob will do anything necessary – anything -- to get Samuel into a private school with a years-long waiting list. For his mother Megan, the answer is a relatively new therapy patented by a charismatic doctor. As these increasingly desperate efforts take them in different directions, their marriage -- and their relationship with their son -- hang in the balance.

Germany, 1918. Erich, a young corporal, storms into an office, demanding to see the Supreme commander of German forces. A clerk calls out to soldiers who are supposed to be guarding the door. There’s no reply. He sees blood on Erich’s uniform. The Commander is not in. Erich, showing his weapon, says he will wait.

Flashback to 1914, Germany preparing for war. Erich and Gisela listen as a charismatic young Officer named Cuttner speaks fervently in support of the war. Erich enlists, asking Gisela if she’ll marry him when he returns from war. Asks that she care for his father, an ex-Rabbi who is one of the few voices against the war.

The ambitious Officer Cuttner gets an assignment working for General Von Schlieffen, the nation’s leading military planner. The General is preparing an aggressive plan war strategy. He drafts Cuttner to help him finish the plan. Eventually Schlieffen introduces Cuttner to the Kaiser.

We follow Erich’s experiences in the war. He’s is a natural soldier, immediately a leader among his troops, fearless, and over time, seemingly indestructible. In a series of offensives he’s able to move forward into enemy territory by himself as the majority of his fellow soldiers are killed or wounded. Cuttner is the commander of Erich’s battalion. He uses his connection with Schlieffen and the Kaiser to move quickly up the ranks.

As the 2nd act begins the war is in its fourth year. In a series of letters home we hear Erich’s depression as his inexplicable survival seems to have morphed from a blessing to a curse.

As the outlook for Germany in the war worsens Cuttner is promoted to commander of forces and immediately orders a final offensive, a repeat of Von Schleiffen’s original offensive.

Cuttner assigns Erich to personally deliver the orders to the field generals. Erich reads the orders, quickly seeing not only that the attack plan is doomed, but that the rationale for the initial attack was based on miscalculations and outright lies.

Learning that the war he has dedicated his life to has been fought under false pretenses, Erich abandons his mission and journeys back to central command to meet Cuttner. Their final confrontation illustrates the jarring imbalance between the planning of war and its execution.

Nalal and Zahia are boy/girl twins growing up in rural Egypt in the 1920s. Zahia has a gorgeous singing voice and from an early age sings Nahal to sleep at night. She begins singing at religious ceremonies and word quickly spreads about her voice. The twins are raised by their domineering (but loving) widowed mother. She hopes to marry Zahia to Achmed, son of a local landowner.

Zahia gains a wider following, singing at weddings across the region. Her uncle brings her to the events, where she goes dressed as a boy. Zahia also works in the back of her mother’s store sorting produce. She befriends Hamdy, another worker in the store. While they aren’t allowed to speak, they pass notes. Hamdy provides Zahia with bits of Western magazines, where she’s drawn to images of Josephine Baker.

As Zahia gains attention as a singer, her mother decides that her marriage prospects are more important and forbids her from singing. Zahia is crushed. While she used to confide in her brother Nahal, he’s become more conservative as he aligns himself with the Achmed.

Hamdy invites her on a risky outing to listen to music on a phonograph at a wealthy neighbors’ home. She impulsively agrees. They listen to a Josephine Baker record and dance, chastely. But they are seen coming out of the house.

When Nahal learns what’s happened, his confrontation with his sister lays bare the conflict between their filial bond and his perception of his family’s honor.