Brigid Amos

Eighteen years ago, fourteen people pooled their resources and signed a covenant to buy an organic farm on the Mendocino Coast of California. Now Shannon and Leanne are the last two left. As Leanne secretly plans to leave, their former partner Janine reveals that the covenant prohibits Shannon from bringing outside help onto the farm. Shannon injures herself. Leanne helps out on the weekends while holding down her job office job. Janine and Leanne stage a final campaign to convince Shannon to leave the farm and take a job in the city, but she passionately rededicates herself to the farm.

Dog and Cat share the multilevel fire escape of their apartment building in mutual tolerance. Their peace is disturbed when they find Fledgling on their fire escape, calling to its mother in a wild bird language they do not understand. Cat wants to kill and eat Fledgling, but Dog’s human has taught that killing birds is bad behavior. Dog and Cat discuss Fledgling’s status as a wild animal in relationship to their own status as domestic animals. Cat convinces Dog that Fledgling is calling out to others of its kind to occupy their fire escape and attack them. They decide that Fledgling must die in order to protect their fire escape from the coming invasion, but just as Cat is about to pounce, Dog realizes Fledgling’s true intention and saves the young bird’s life. This play explores the seductive nature of xenophobia and the power of empathy to combat it.

FULL LENGTH: When Liz’s grandfather leaves her his old pickup truck in his will, she and her mother Emma pay a visit to Grandma Clara’s farm to collect the strange bequest. Over pie, coffee, and tomato canning, three generations of Nebraska women struggle with the dark secrets of their family history. Can they acknowledge their shared experience of abuse and begin to heal the bonds it has broken among them?

FULL LENGTH: Brilliant but unstable artist Dale Digman escapes his sister Carson’s watchful eye to bring one of his Bob Ross-inspired paintings to a gallery in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. Determined to protect her brother’s artistic reputation, Carson pursues him and struggles to retrieve the painting from gallery owner Kelly Anker, who is preparing a show of paintings by Jay Turnbull, a former classmate of Dale and ex-boyfriend of Carson. Jay’s early arrival at the gallery forces a showdown between Dale and Carson. Will Dale finally free himself from his domineering sister to pursue his unorthodox artistic vision?

FULL LENGTH: Effie and Grant’s eight-year-old daughter Dove was killed when a chain broke on a carnival swing ride. Effie shuts down emotionally, avoids saying Dove’s name, and buries herself in church work. Grant’s grief and anguish have become unbearable to Effie, and now she is planning her escape. Dove returns for twenty-four hours as an adult, demanding her mother’s attention and determined to stop her from tearing their family apart. She insists that Effie revisit the past with her and resolve the conflicts in their relationship. A play about forgiveness, hope, and the transcendent bonds between parents and children.

FULL LENGTH IN DEVELOPMENT: On an icy Christmas Eve, a nearly bankrupt jeweler is about to close his shop, go home, and await his daughter's arrival from Lincoln. A stranger enters the store and offers the jeweler a way out of his financial difficulties. Heart of Gold explores the potentially dire consequences of indulging a child beyond one's financial means.

ONE ACT: When a single, middle-aged woman takes in her elderly, disabled mother, the two women face off against each other in a house full of secrets. In their final showdown, they confront painful truths about the realities of aging and the shifting power structure in their family.

FIFTEEN-MINUTE PLAY: Mom and Dad wish their teenaged daughter Katie were different. Or maybe they wish they had a different Katie…

TEN-MINUTE PLAY: For thirty-two years, Beth and Ron have carried their large leather suitcase from place to place, always keeping it closed. Now an unexpected visitor will force them to finally confront its contents.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY: On her birthday, Bernice just wants to enjoy a nice salad at an outdoor café in the city. When her husband Lloyd objects to giving money to a street musician, she may have to toss her birthday plans.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY: Ilsa’s husband Lester drowned last winter when his truck broke through a frozen Minnesota lake during an ice fishing trip with his buddy, George. Now George has come for tea, and Ilsa has some tough questions for him.

THIRTEEN-MINUTE PLAY: When a scheduling error brings a dance teacher and her former student together in a studio, they engage in a power struggle that begins to redefine their long personal and professional relationship.