Zoe Senese-Grossberg

In the summer of 1606, 4 boy players in The King's Men warm up, practice lines, and gossip in between rehearsals for the premieres of Twelfth Night and Antony and Cleopatra. Disruptions comes in the way of the arrival of a new star, twelve year old Robin, and the return of a former boy player turned Puritan preacher. The incoming Plague and anti-theatrical sentiment further threaten their way of life and force them to consider their futures on the stage. A play about growing up, gender, child acting, and a part of theater history we seek to forget...

The Gideons, a wealthy Jewish family in Regency England, attempt to pass the days through an endless season of balls and social pleasantries. Caroline dreams of impossible marriages to gentiles, Edith yearns to be a prominent scientist, and Simon simply wants to go back home to London. When Edith builds an automaton who ends up being the perfect woman; she seems to be a solution to all their problems. However, the plan backfires when Edith and the automaton fall in love, and then the automaton begins to murder all of their suitors. Part horror-comedy, part Austenian romance, interspersed with haunting folk ballads and questions of queerness and Jewish identity, it asks about the type of stories we can fit ourselves and our desires into.

LATE 18TH CENTURY FRANCE: Anne has been Louise-Clothilde’s lady’s maid her whole life. Every morning she dresses her, all day she hears of her woes and fancies, and at night she sleeps beside her for comfort. Whatever Louise-Clothilde needs- a friend, a punching bag, a nurse, a mother, a husband- Anne becomes. She barely thinks of herself as a separate person. Yet, as the Revolution approaches the power in their relationship is turned on its head. “Bedfellows” is a dark but tender comedy about childhood best friends, class, sex, womanhood, jealousy, and lines that are perpetually blurry.

In 1938, after publishing an expose on American Nazism and facing a shocking act of anti-semitic violence, Julia and Edward move from Boston to New York City to stay with his cousin, Freyda. Tensions immediately arise between Freyda, a proud Jewish woman, and Edward who has Americanized his name and is dating Julia, a gentile. Over the course of two evenings and four years, the three are pulled apart and drawn together as the advent of the second world war forces them all to question identities, allegiances, and what it might mean to truly live at the end of the world.

A loose adaptation and deconstruction of Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard recasts the Gayevs as a declining prominent Jewish German family in the summer of 1935. Esther Gartenberg and her two daughters, Louisa and Hannah, grapple with love, class, and politics after the family railroad empire is lost due to Aryanization and the estate is set to go to auction. As the characters enjoy the summer heat and lively debates, only the new money factory owner, Kurt Lange, sees the writing on the wall. Orchard asks what happens when complacency bred of wealth proves deadly.

Two fourteen year old girls meet after temple and are drawn to one another instantly, bonding over the imagined cultivation of a tree. As the days of the ghetto become numbered, difficult decisions must be made and priorities and loyalties are questioned. Interspersed with dream sequences of monologues and traditional Hebrew prayers, Etz Hayim is about first love, Jewish faith, and the power of these two forces to overcome any possible obstacles.

Kit, a college dropout, has fallen off the grid for about 2 years as a result of his sister's death. He reemerges after publishing a poetry book, crashing at his friend Brian's home in Brooklyn. In the house, Brian's housekeeper, Margaret, lives with her two daughters, the bright and promising Olive and the more directionless Frankie. Kit begins to form intense relationships with both daughters through his poetry, which leads to conflict and confusion in the household. Inspired by the life and poetry of John Keats, Negative Capability explores the powers of art, the nature of success, and the way we need one another.

Pulled out of college for his father's funeral and then his mother's wedding, Hamlet is now stuck home for the holidays with his new stepfather who happens to also be his uncle, the neighbors who just won't stop coming over, and his mother who won't admit anything's wrong. When a ghostly vision of his father demands he seek vengeance for his murder, Hamlet is led down a bloody path with tragic conclusions. A new, tight, 2.5 hour long adaptation set at a wealthy New England family's Christmas Party recenters Hamlet as a family drama with a horror-comedy twist and invites you to the worst Christmas party of your life...

Five friends wake up hungover, sweaty, and disoriented after a party almost none of them can fully remember. With plans to leave the country over the next few days to escape an incoming regime, a sinking feeling sets in as their flights begin to be canceled. Tensions run high, betrayals are exposed, and friendships are tested as all five begin to grapple with the reality of the nightmare they have entered. A play about youth, fascism, and what to do when the party is finally over.

Waltham House is the perfect refuge found only in children's literature where six children are sent to weather the Second World War, looked after by the distant but loving “Uncle.” Set over the course of 3 decades, the six grow up, together, and apart as England evolves from its pre to post war identity. Through an exploration of genre across British literature, Other Eden tracks the six as they grapple with their place in the world and the nature of childhood, innocence, sexuality, and their love for one another.