Play Discussion Club

Join us for our SpeakEasy Play Discussion Club, a weekly discussion surrounding some of today’s most exciting scripts! Participation is free, but you may need to purchase some of the scripts. Sign up for as many sessions as you’d like, read the play on your own time, and then join SpeakEasy staff and artists for an online conversation about the play’s major themes and impact on the American theatre canon.

For our upcoming third series of plays, the theme is Celebrating the Black Narrative, with five plays that explore black lives, stories, characters, and culture. We invite you to join us for lively discussions about each play’s themes and relevance to our time.

This series will be hosted by Crystin Gilmore (School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, The Color Purple).

**SpeakEasy will be able to provide a limited number of complimentary scripts per week. If you require one of these scripts, please email alexlonati@speakeasystage.com. Underwritten scripts will be provided on a first come, first served basis.

WEEK ONE:

The Luck of the Irish by Kirsten Greenidge
Thursday, July 23 from 5:30 – 6:30pm

When an upwardly mobile African-American couple wants to buy a home in an all-white neighborhood in 1950’s Boston, they pay a struggling Irish family to “ghost-buy” a house on their behalf. Fifty years later, the Irish family wants “their” house back. Moving across two eras, The Luck of the Irish explores racial and social issues and the universal longing for home.

WEEK TWO:

Nollywood Dreams by Jocelyn Bioh
Thursday, July 30 from 5:30 – 6:30pm

It’s the nineties and in Lagos, Nigeria, the “Nollywood” film industry is exploding. Ayamma dreams of leaving her job at her parents’ travel agency and becoming a star. When she auditions for a new film by Nigeria’s hottest director, tension flares with his former leading lady—as sparks fly with Nollywood’s biggest heartthrob.

WEEK THREE:
Mlima’s Tale by Lynn Nottage
Thursday, August 6 from 5:30 – 6:30pm

Mlima is a magnificent elephant trapped by the underground international ivory market. As he follows a trail littered by a history of greed, Mlima takes us on a journey through memory, fear, tradition, and the penumbra between want and need.
Purchase the e-script or hard copy for Mlina’s Tale here.

WEEK FOUR:
Dependently Yours by Ruby O’Gray
Thursday, August 13 from 5:30 – 6:30

The third of the “Holiday Theatre Trilogy”, Dependently Yours follows the Stevenson family, an upper-middle class African American family from Memphis, as they celebrate the 4th of July. Augusta and Calvin have recently completed college and are the last of the Stevenson family to be living in their childhood home. Things begin to go awry when the house of Ms. Mimms, the neighborhood “cat lady,” catches on fire.

WEEK FIVE:
Familiar by Danai Gurira
Thursday, August 20 from 5:30 – 6:30pm

Marvelous and Donald, Zimbabwean emigrants in Minnesota, are preparing for the marriage of their eldest daughter, Tendi. They have gracefully blended Zimbabwean culture alongside their American culture, but their house is turned upside down when Marvelous’ sister comes from Zimbabwe to perform a very traditional wedding ceremony in which the groom barters for the bride. Tensions flare and identities clash as the family’s fabric slowly unweaves and they are forced to take a hard look at who they truly are.

For more information on this program or any of the plays included, please email Alex Lonati at alexlonati@speakeasystage.com. Happy reading!