the rootstock reading series
Good Apples Collective’s Rootstock Reading Series platforms emerging artists of marginalized genders by supporting three director-playwright pairs’ developmental work on three new plays. Every year, Good Apples Collective holds open submissions for director-playwright pairs interested in presenting a public reading of a new play. Three director-playwright pairs are chosen to receive casting and dramaturgical support, rehearsal and performance space, publicity, and full producing infrastructure, including stipends for all artists involved.
This year, performances will take place throughout the day on Sunday, November 16th at A.R.T./New York’s Spaces @ 520 (520 8th Avenue Suite 319, New York, NY 10018). Tickets are free and available via the link above. Each reading will run approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. There will be two-hour breaks between each of the day’s readings.
The three selected plays and their respective creative teams are:
THAT TIME TERRI AND LILY TOOK A ROAD TRIP TO SEE THE LAURA INGALLS WILDER HOUSE, written by Gina Femia and directed by Ash(er) Lloyd Ehrenberg
THE LABYRINTH, written by Mo Holmes and directed by Kanika Vaish
TOP, written by A.A. Brenner and directed by Mary Cynthia McGowan
SCHEDULE
12pm — THAT TIME TERRI AND LILY TOOK A ROAD TRIP TO SEE THE LAURA INGALLS WILDER HOUSE
by Gina Femia, directed by Asher Lloyd Ehrenberg
Terri is going on a road trip with her adult daughter, Lily, to fulfill both of their lifelong dream: to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder house. The two are thick as thieves – as long as they keep their secrets to themselves. Time on a road trip is a funny thing; it seems to move forward, back and back again. What will happen to this mother and daughter when they reach their final destination?
4pm — THE LABYRINTH
by Mo Holmes, directed by Kanika Vaish
THE LABYRINTH is a memory play reimagining of the Greek myth of Ariadne and the Minotaur, situated in the lower Appalachian region of Alabama. Ariadne, a girl who sees–or thinks she sees?–the spirit of her ancestor, fights to escape her inheritance: a family mythology under constant threat of falling apart and a haunting feeling of ever-present danger. A modern Southern gothic that exposes the shaky boundaries between stories and lies, dreams and hallucinations.
7:30pm — TOP
by A.A. Brenner, directed by Mary Cynthia McGowan
After being diagnosed with breast cancer and abruptly abandoned by their fiancée, transmasculine nonbinary writer Jess struggles to survive amidst the ruins of their formerly-idyllic Brooklyn home. When Val, their charismatic college ex, unexpectedly shows up, Jess is pulled into a volatile cycle of caretaking, desire, and control. As Val reasserts herself in Jess’s life, Jess must navigate conflicting visions of desire, identity, and survival while reckoning with their own mortality and bodily autonomy. Part queer love triangle, part fever dream, TOP is a claustrophobic portrait of illness, intimacy, and the fight to reclaim one’s life on one’s own terms.
Check back soon for information on content warnings for all three plays.
artist bios
Gina Femia (Playwright, THAT TIME TERRI AND LILY TOOK A ROAD TRIP TO SEE THE LAURA INGALLS WILDER HOUSE) is an award-winning playwright and performer whose work has been seen/developed at The Goodman Theater, MCC Theater, Playwrights Horizons, EST, Page 73, New Georges, The Playwrights Center, Theater of NOTE, Rivendell Theater, Cape Cod Theater Project, among others. Select honors include The Kilroys List, Leah Ryan Prize, Doric Wilson Award, the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award and the Neukom Award in Playwriting. Gina is the current recipient of The Farm Theater's College Collaboration Commission and is an alum of The Playwrights’ Center’s Core Writer’s Program, & Page73 Writer’s Group. They’ve also written several novels. Find out more at www.femiagina.com.
Ash(er) Lloyd Ehrenberg (Director, THAT TIME TERRI AND LILY TOOK A ROAD TRIP TO SEE THE LAURA INGALLS WILDER HOUSE) is a trans/nonbinary director and poet with a focus in new theatrical work. They have directed and developed work with the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, Breaking the Binary Theatre, The Samuel French OOB Festival, regional and international symphonies, and others. She is currently the associate director for the Broadway production of Marjorie Prime and has been the associate of directors such as Billy Porter, Laurie Woolery, Rebecca Taichman, Tyne Rafaeli, and Anne Kauffman. In 2019, Ash was named the inaugural Directing Apprentice at New York City Center for their Encores! Off- Center season. She is the associate creative producer for Anne Kauffman & Jeanine Tesori’s Cast Album Project and a former Brooklyn Poets Fellow.
Mo Holmes (Playwright, THE LABYRINTH) is a black queer Southern playwright, librettist and dramaturg, born in San Antonio and raised on the long stretch of road from Texas to Alabama. She is a winner of the Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize and Next Wave Initiative Lorraine Hansberry Award, and a Jane Chambers finalist. Her work has been developed and/or presented by Playwrights’ Center, Sam French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Minnesota Opera, Atlanta Opera, Vertigo Theatre, DePaul University’s Climate Action New Play Collective, and more. As a dramaturg, she supported GAC’s production of cunnicularii and is excited for continued new play collaboration. Current MFA candidate: Playwriting, Columbia.
Kanika Asavari Vaish (Director, THE LABYRINTH) is an NYC-based director, playwright, and producer who spent her middle and high school years in Mumbai. Her work focuses on hope, community, and transformation. Credits include: MEMNON (Assistant Director, Classical Theatre of Harlem); Eight Ways to Plead with a God (Playwright, Playhouse in the Square; Valdez Theatre Conference; Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semi-Finalist); Three Sisters, Four Women (Director, SoHo Shakespeare Company); The XIXth (Assistant Director, The Old Globe); Jyoti’s Bridge (Playwright, Eugene O’Neill NPC Semi-Finalist; Seattle Public Theater New Works Festival Finalist); Guards at the Taj (Director, SoHo Shakespeare Company). MFA: Columbia University.
A.A. Brenner (Playwright, TOP, he/they) is a playwright, dramaturg, screenwriter, and producer based in New York and London. Brenner’s work blends naturalistic dialogue with heightened realism to explore queer, trans, and Disabled experiences. Brenner’s plays have been presented at La Jolla Playhouse, Lincoln Center, Breaking the Binary Theatre, National Disability Theatre, Brooklyn Rep U.K., Queens Theatre, and more. They’ve been in residence at SPACE on Ryder Farm, New York Stage & Film, Peacedale Global Arts, and The Lark. Artistic Director of The Siq Collective (@siqcollective). MFA Playwriting: Columbia University School of the Arts. @a.a.brenner/aabrenner.com.
Mary Cynthia McGowan (Director, TOP, she/her) is a director and producer based in Brooklyn. Directing: Oy Band (Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals), Paper Valley (NYFA), American Patriots (Salina Symphony), Her Sound (Joe’s Pub), Mean Girls Jr. (The Wharton Center). Associate Directing: Bat Boy (New York City Center), Broadway: All Out: Comedy About Ambition, All In: Comedy About Love, How To Dance in Ohio, The Ghost of John McCain (Soho Playhouse). Select additional credits: CO_LAB Theater Group, The Tony Awards, The American Repertory Theater, Perelman Arts Center (PAC NYC), YouTube Brandcast, American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*), NYPopsUp. BFA: Syracuse University. @marycynthiamcg / marycynthiamcgowan.com.
additional finalists
ON SKATES
by Tess Walsh, directed by Grace Castle
Alala & the Scarman
by Silma Sierra Berrada, directed by Emilio Maxwell Cerci
Should You Find Yourself Prepared
by Sam Walsh, directed by Lily Riopelle
Chastity
by Jess Eichen, directed by Blake Chrusciel
I Know the End
by Jan Rosenberg, directed by Daniella Caggiano