Aja Houston

Aja Houston

Although born in Las Vegas, Aja fancies herself from Everywhere, USA, due to her nomadic childhood. These nomadic tendencies carried on in adulthood. Starting her career as a theatre actress in London, New York City, and San Francisco, she moved to Los Angeles to shift her focus to playwriting. Aja received her MFA in Dramatic Writing from the University of Southern California. She creates plays with passion,...
Although born in Las Vegas, Aja fancies herself from Everywhere, USA, due to her nomadic childhood. These nomadic tendencies carried on in adulthood. Starting her career as a theatre actress in London, New York City, and San Francisco, she moved to Los Angeles to shift her focus to playwriting. Aja received her MFA in Dramatic Writing from the University of Southern California. She creates plays with passion, politics, and magical realism to build off-kilter, uncanny worlds to tell nuanced Black stories led by Black women.  

Some of Aja’s work includes Long Division (2021 Inkwell Theatre Max K. Lerner Fellowship, B Street Theatre Reimagine Reading Series) Ladyville (Road Theatre Under Construction Zoom Reading Series 2020) Journey to Alice (O'Neill Theatre Conference Semi-Finalist 2019, New Works Festival III Concert Reading, Pasadena Playhouse 2019, 2018 Inkwell Theatre Max K. Lerner Fellowship 2018) Counting (Inkwell Theatre Max K. Lerner Fellowship 2019, New Works Festival II Workshop Production 2018) Emina and Zubaida's Flight (Playwrights Arena Iron Tongues Festival, LATC 2017) Floating on Credit (published by The Dionysian 2017) Remembrance (DC Black Theatre Festival “Festival Favorite” 2014) and The Spooks (Towne Street Theatre 10 Minute Play Festival 2014, Los Angeles, CA, Flux Theatre Ensemble Food: Soul, 2013, New York, NY)

Plays

  • HERe by Aja Houston
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: Black joy, black love + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, fable/folktale, fantasy
    Keyword: Black joy, black love, coping with death and grief, belief in self, African American Women healing, a mother's love, journey of self-discovery
    Riva Thornton flees from her immense grief in the real world and into the magical world of the Black Grimm Forest that borders all fifty states. This forest is a safe space for its Black visitors to escape their racial trauma by morphing fairytales into whatever they need. Riva conjures a slumber so deep and dreams so heavenly that three years of her life pass by. When a mysterious woman awakens Riva, she is...
    Riva Thornton flees from her immense grief in the real world and into the magical world of the Black Grimm Forest that borders all fifty states. This forest is a safe space for its Black visitors to escape their racial trauma by morphing fairytales into whatever they need. Riva conjures a slumber so deep and dreams so heavenly that three years of her life pass by. When a mysterious woman awakens Riva, she is drawn unwillingly into an adventure through the Grimm. Riva must choose to return to the land of the living to face her grief or cling to the illusion of happily ever after.
  • WAITING (4,380,000 HOURS AND COUNTING) by Aja Houston
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    7
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    Genre: drama, fantasy + 1 more
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    Keyword: black lives matter, human rights + 5 more
    Genre: drama, fantasy, political
    Keyword: black lives matter, human rights, magical realism, social justice, racial issues, social issues, race politics
    When Proctor passes into the afterlife, she finds herself a captive of “The Middle” — a place where Black souls killed for the sin of being “Spooks” are held until they earn their redemption. Proctor pushes back against the other members and the omnipresent system that governs them so she may be released into the promised paradise of “The Away.”
  • LADYVILLE by Aja Houston
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama, fable/folktale + 3 more
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    Keyword: blackgirlmagic, supernatural + 7 more
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale, mystery/thriller, political, tragedy
    Keyword: blackgirlmagic, supernatural, protecting black women, blackwomenmatter, sisterhood, missing black women, Survival, forgotten black women, female strength
    Three sisters are the only people left not to be taken by a sinister, formless entity, "The Calling." Always living in terror as they fight for their lives, the unexpected return of a long-lost friend gives them hope. Will they learn if that hope is false before The Calling returns to take its next victim?
  • LONG DIVISION by Aja Houston
    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: dating after divorce, divorce + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, fantasy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: dating after divorce, divorce, women divorce, marriage and divorce, black love, memories
    Jo is going through a lengthy divorce, which in this world adjacent to our reality, is called a Division. In a division, pleasant and unpleasant memories are the assets that are being fought over, not houses and kids. For years Jo has been working through her marital memories with her soon-to-be ex-husband Surya. However, all of that changes when one day Surya sends a stand-in, to complete the court-mandated...
    Jo is going through a lengthy divorce, which in this world adjacent to our reality, is called a Division. In a division, pleasant and unpleasant memories are the assets that are being fought over, not houses and kids. For years Jo has been working through her marital memories with her soon-to-be ex-husband Surya. However, all of that changes when one day Surya sends a stand-in, to complete the court-mandated Division for him. She is forced to sift through intimate moments with this stranger, whose new perspective challenges her to solve the problem of moving on.
  • JOURNEY TO ALICE by Aja Houston
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: African American, diversity + 6 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: African American, diversity, family, Mental Health, magical realism, death, Mourning, coping with suicide
    While flying cross country with her mother to a wedding, recently divorced Lynè has encounters with the unexpected and inexplicable, most significantly, Alice, her dead grandmother. These encounters threaten Lynè’s struggle to hold her world together.
  • THE FLIGHT OF EMINA AND ZUBAIDA by Aja Houston
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: adaptation, drama + 3 more
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    Keyword: Black women, abuse of women + 4 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, fable/folktale, fantasy, verse
    Keyword: Black women, abuse of women, African American culture and identity, cultural identity, empowered woman, female empowerment
    Twin sisters Emina and Zubaida are being held captive by the entity, The Dark One, after the brutal murder of their parents The Golden King and Queen at his hand. The Dark One cursed them, only giving them sixty-six days to break the spell or forfeit their lives making their souls and the Golden Kingdom his.

    Due to the curse, Emina and Zubaida appear to the outside world as demonic creatures...
    Twin sisters Emina and Zubaida are being held captive by the entity, The Dark One, after the brutal murder of their parents The Golden King and Queen at his hand. The Dark One cursed them, only giving them sixty-six days to break the spell or forfeit their lives making their souls and the Golden Kingdom his.

    Due to the curse, Emina and Zubaida appear to the outside world as demonic creatures that use seduction, coercion, and deception to keep residence in their bodies. Only a man, a Sir, can break the curse if they can correctly identify the true reflection of the women in the hall of mirrors. Due to the ineptitude of the Sirs, Emina, with her gift for logic, and Zubaida, with her gift for language, must find their own way to break free of their impossible captivity.

    Inspired by "The Manuscript Found in Saragossa" by Jan Potocki
  • SUPERWOMEN? by Aja Houston
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    8
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    Genre: comedy, movement/physical
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    Keyword: blackgirlmagic
    Genre: comedy, movement/physical
    Keyword: blackgirlmagic
    The Jones sisters, Cleopatra, Grier, and Venus enter the “Superdome of Pageants”, Ms. B. Beautiful Contest. This year’s theme is Superwomen, which is fortuitous because are already apart of The Super Black Women (SBW) where they don fictional personas; Lion-Ara, Titanium, and Miss Fabulous. The surprise arrival of their mother, Mrs. Jones, who is the Oprah of pageants, puts on the pressure for them to prove...
    The Jones sisters, Cleopatra, Grier, and Venus enter the “Superdome of Pageants”, Ms. B. Beautiful Contest. This year’s theme is Superwomen, which is fortuitous because are already apart of The Super Black Women (SBW) where they don fictional personas; Lion-Ara, Titanium, and Miss Fabulous. The surprise arrival of their mother, Mrs. Jones, who is the Oprah of pageants, puts on the pressure for them to prove their mettle and to uphold the honor of the Jones family legacy. Can they complete their mission? After all, superwomen and beauty queens both want world peace right?
  • REMEMBRANCE by Aja Houston
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: drama, political
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    Keyword: black lives matter, Mourning + 2 more
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: black lives matter, Mourning, life, death of a loved one
    Holly and Robert are back in Florida for their ritualistic trip of mourning. These trips have taken a toll on their marriage, their sanity, and their happiness. This year threatens to break their marriage forever or save it.
  • THE SPOOKS by Aja Houston
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: drama, experimental + 3 more
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    Keyword: black lives matter, Stand Your Ground + 5 more
    Genre: drama, experimental, fable/folktale, mystery/thriller, political
    Keyword: black lives matter, Stand Your Ground, social justice, black, White, magic, Realism
    On a stormy Halloween night two families, one black and one white, are forced to prepare their sons to survive the ominous Spooks. They hope by arming their children with knowledge they won’t be violently taken from this world.
  • FLOATING ON CREDIT by Aja Houston
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: dark comedy, political + 1 more
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    Keyword: black lives matter, blackgirlmagic
    Genre: dark comedy, political, satire
    Keyword: black lives matter, blackgirlmagic
    When 240 years old Mr. America applies for yet another loan at 40 Acres and A Mule Bank he is in for a rude awakening. 396 years old bank manager, Ms. Black, wants him to pay what he owes, IN FULL.
  • Terrorist is Spelled K-A-R-E-N by Aja Houston
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama, political
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    Keyword: anti-black racism, black lives matter
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: anti-black racism, black lives matter
    Grocery stores. Parks. Sidewalks. Restaurants. At home. Black couple, Toni and X, fight daily for their survival as they move through these commonplace spaces that are regularly targeted by the American terrorist group, KAREN. When one member violently attacks X, Toni struggles to help put the pieces of his soul back together KAREN sought to annihilate.