Steve Harper

TEN MINUTE PLAY: Betty Jefferson watches the presidential returns with her husband, Fred, terrified about the fact that one of the candidates isn’t even human. As the votes come in, she realizes she has more to worry about than technology – this campaign may threaten her home life. The Political Machine is an Afro-Futuristic tale of the impact of a strange election on an upscale black family.

TEN MINUTE PLAY: A black filmmaker with a chip on his shoulder tries to make himself feel better by launching into a critique of an Indian-American filmmaker's work in the lobby of a film festival. She claps back with a critique of his work touching on issues of race and subject matter in this witty comedy of not-quite manners and entertainment industry barbs.

ONE-ACT PLAY: When Rosa, a Latina teen-ager, runs away from home and tries to evade the police, she breaks into a Harlem apartment and clashes with the tenant, Mary, an older white woman and a widower, who is intent on keeping Rosa around.

When Mark, an Ivy League grad looking for love, meets Kyle, a free spirit with a wandering eye, they forge a complicated relationship with an uncertain future. After a steamy video with a porn star unearths hidden truths and forces a painful confrontation, Kyle goes missing. Mark is desperate to track him down. Along the way, morality wavers, monogamy blurs, and every choice carries the weight of no return. True Adventures for Men is a provocative and unexpectedly funny exploration of love, identity, and self-destruction, where nothing is ever as simple—or as innocent—as it seems.

SHORT PLAY: Jasmine, a pop star, has gone all undercover (as a maid) and let herself into Karl's hotel room in order to convince him to give her a part in his new feature film, but Karl unleashes an attitude about "non-actors" in movies that sets off a comic battle of opinions in this sparkling and punchy script. (1W, 1M)

SHORT PLAY. In this 10-minute play, B.T. and Iyana, an interracial couple, are on the subway on their way to a wedding when they encounter Michael, a queer, black homeless man. When Michael asks for a donation, the couple is thrown into a quandry: she wants to give and he doesn't. Actual Cost is a comedy/drama about class, race and money.

SHORT PLAY. In this 20-minute play, Greg Stephens, an upscale black lawyer, talks with police recruits about his experiences getting pulled over by the police when driving his Lexus around town. (This piece was commissioned by The Theater Project (New Jersey) as part of an evening called Black Lives / Blue Lives.)

On Lloyd Brown’s deathbed, he’s challenged by the spirit of his late boss, Paul Robeson. Why? Because Lloyd blames Paul Robeson and Albert Einstein for ruining his life. Before Lloyd dies, Robeson takes him back to where it all happened to uncover the truth. 1952: the height of the blacklist. The Professor’s home in Princeton becomes a meeting place for two great men and their assistants. Princeton Theory is a play about fame, desperation and the will to survive. No one knows what happened in that house – until now. Based on real events.

Based on real events.

Ted and Karen, a black couple, are struggling in their marriage. When they purchase a rabbit statue at a flea market, Karen miraculously writes a novel in three days. As the book gets widely praised, Ted is convinced that Karen is possessed by the spirit of the rabbit statue. He recruits his pharmacy assistant and a Catholic priest in an attempt to rescue Karen and save their marriage. This drama explores relationships and faith with ample doses of humor and magical realism.

Best friends Benjamin and Casey are two struggling actors navigating through the ups and downs of their careers New York City. But when Casey faces the possibility of success in a television series, Benjamin feels left behind, questioning the politics of show business, his viability as a black actor, and his value as a person. Almost is set in the acting world but tackles universal questions: What is success? How do you find it? What happens if you don’t find it? And how do you survive along the way?

What does it mean to be black and gay in America? A writer in an interracial relationship begins interviewing Black folks in search of an answer. The resulting conversations are a fascinating examination of coming out in church settings and secular settings. The stories are funny, strange, and unpredictable, changing the writer’s relationship with his partner, his parents and himself. Black/Out Stories uses actual interviews along with a fictionalized narrative in a unique hybrid of documentary theatre and dramatic exploration.

When Grayson, an unemployed black attorney, struggles against an overwhelming depression due to the death of her father, and the fact that her brother is in a coma – even her girlfriend Angie and therapy don’t seem to be providing the cure. She talks to her comatose brother (and he talks back), and she sees her father everywhere. Then she runs into Sheri, her ex from Law School, who is married and (apparently) straight, and suddenly Grayson finds herself obsessed. Grayson begins to pursue Sheri in the hopes of getting a kiss she imagines will magically make things right. But what of her solid relationship with Angie? In this comedy, Grayson searches high and low, visits a twelve-step meeting, and wrestles with herself as she attempts to recover. The Escape Artists children tackles love, mysticism, and mental health in a way we can all relate to.

SHORT PLAY. In this breezy, funny, 2-minute play, Marisa Hernandez is desperate to get her (unseen) co-worker to ditch work and go to a horror movie with her. She sees these films as a metaphor for the wildness of life.

SHORT PLAY. In this 30-minute play, Iggie, a fabulous and high-strung queer journalist, is nervous - being out of his element as the best man to his straight best friend, Matthew, at his very Catholic wedding. But things go off the rails when Iggie casually invokes a time-stopping superhero from his youth and TIME ACTUALLY STOPS. Iggie and Matthew try everything they can think of to get time going again - including baring their souls - in this revealing comedy about friendship and acceptance.