THE UNEXPECTED PLAY FESTIVAL

The Graham Martin UNEXPECTED PLAY FESTIVAL will take place in person & digitally across three evenings – April 24 – 26, 2022 all at 7:30pm. To enable access to our whole community, all three of these readings are FREE of charge. Tickets to these one night only events are available in advance, and booking is strongly encouraged!

Helen has wanted to be a mother her entire life, but bearing a child has proved more difficult than she hoped. Parenthood is the furthest thing from Evelyn’s mind. When Helen casts a spell to make her dreams come true and Evelyn suddenly comes face to face with an unexpected pregnancy, both must decide if they have what it takes to be called “Momma.”

Less than a year after Father’s death, Mother sends an urgent email to her adult children, summoning them home to collect their things. In a room strewn with the stuff of their lives, and in the space of one night and the following day, Mother, Brother, Sister, and Grandpa collide with the past and present, and face hard truths they have packed away as they let go and hold on, and fight their hearts out, and dance, and weigh what to keep, what to toss, and what to make into something new.

Dr. Tamra Berry’s job as an Atlanta shrink is not going the way she planned. Neither is her marriage. Neither is her yard, where a giant tree recently came down during spring storms. And tonight, she’s just trying to unwind from all that, not to mention simply existing as a Black woman, when a troubled young person shows up at her fence gate. But it’s not just any troubled young person. It’s Josephine Carlisle. Jo, who was just a kid when they last met. Jo, who was drowning in acute mental illness when they last met. Jo, who now appears better but will sometimes answer a question with dance rather than words. They’re both searching for something. Redemption? Hope? A way back?