Hotel Limbo (full-length play-in-progress) by
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 –...
When the Belleclaire – the playwright's longtime home –...
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 real events.
full-length play, cast of 5 (3F, 2M)
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 real events.
full-length play, cast of 5 (3F, 2M)