Lauren D'Errico

To pass the many miles between the first stop and the last stop of a cross-country ride, an emotionally complex Greyhound Bus fantasizes about the budding relationship that may be forming between the passengers seated in its favorite row.

Erin said that she was sick, but she wasn’t. Hayden said that she was sick, and she wasn’t. Erika said that she was sick, and she wasn’t. They said that they were incurable, that they were dying… but they weren’t.

Erin and Erika and Hayden run into each other unexpectedly in the middle of the party — the first time that they’ve seen each other since their tightly knit friendship fell apart after a huge lie shared between them. This chance encounter launches the three ex-friends into a plane of memory: where to tell the most believable lie means nailing the most precise boxing combination, where their training spans from casual fibs to massive misleading.

As their skills increase to almost perfection — and social tensions at the party grow higher — Erin, Erika, and Hayden’s memories enter the ring for the biggest lie: when they each told their two friends that they were dying, and soon. The three timelines sit on top of each other as the three ex-friends remember how they performed the execution of the lie and how, eventually, they performed getting caught. This play bounces between memory and reality, and is a meditation on truth, connection, and precision.

S and L, longtime friends whose bond has recently shattered, meet over and over in the hopes of hearing an apology from one other — and thus, a total acknowledgement that the breakdown was their friend’s fault, not their own, 100%. But, neither S nor L will admit to that, so neither apologizes. Frustrated, angry, dejected, and just plain sad, they transform — they become dozens of objects, parts of nature, and states of being, performing their poignantly mundane and strange apologies to one another instead of acknowledging their own feelings. Meanwhile, each tries to figure out what exactly happened between their friendship and how they move through the world now — moving closer to the possibility of acknowledging how significant the breakdown was between them.

Jay and Cam are running a race. They're about to run a race. They're about to run the most important race — and they can't quite get off the starting line yet.

Alexandra's grande pumpkin spice latte with whip and extra pumpkin pie spice is sitting on the drink pickup bar at Starbucks while she gives a TEDTalk about what it means to be a basic bitch — and how women can avoid such a title. The latte gets cold as Alexandra falls off script after an uncomfortable interaction with a fellow Starbucks-drinker.

In Maggie’s short story that may or may not be based on her own life, no one can say anything important. And when the fictional world of the carnival dissolves into publishing and meetings and reality, communication isn’t any easier. But if Maggie wants her story published, she needs to be able to say why it’s important. "How To Talk To Others (and Talking About Yourself)" explores loneliness and isolation, the desire to connect through art, and when connection feels impossible.