2025 One-Act Summer Festival
Program #1* Primitive grace theatre ensemble
The Interlude
Written by Paul Calderón
Directed by Catherine Calderón
Synopsis: After a brutal Mixed Martial Arts match and noticing the onset of pugilistic dementia, a disillusioned trainer tries to convince his female fighter to call it quits.
Paul Calderón(Playwright/Ray) Paul Calderon is a veteran of stage, film and TV. He’s a recipient of an OBIE and Audelco Award and is a SAG-AFTRA nominated actor. He is co-founder of the Labyrinth Theater Company, and The Primitive Grace Ensemble.
Catherine Calderón (Director) Catherine Calderon has directed and produced plays with Labyrinth, Intar, Naked Angels, the Public Theater, and most recently Primitive Grace. She is also a documentary filmmaker. These days she spends much of her time on a little farm in North Florida, rehabbing neglected and abused horses and dogs. The prospect of creative collaboration with her husband Paul lured her back to the theater!
Emma Chart (Shannon) is a Canadian born, New York based, interdisciplinary artist/actor and teaching artist who enjoys creating zines, roller skating, painting/poetry/singing and being a part of subversive, whimsical art that seeks to disrupt the status quo. Select credits include Decennia at the 2025 Live Composition Festival with Letter of Marque Theatre, The Perseverance Project with Stella Adler’s Outside/In Ensemble as well as Extinction by C. J. Baer with Theatre East as part of Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College. Training: The Neighborhood Playhouse and Stella Adler Studio.
Primitive Grace (Producer) The Primitive Grace Ensemble is a New York City-based theater company that focuses on work inspired by Federico García Lorca's Duende, an irrational and untamed power that moves both the artist and the audience to create an emotional and visceral experience.
Voices from the Edge
Written by Paul Calderón
Directed by Chloe Champken
Synopsis: In the America of today and an imagined America of the near future, four disparate women share their experiences with gun violence.
Program #2*
Last Exit in NY
Written and Directed By Luis Reyes Cardenas
Lonesome Dove
Written By Jeryl Brunner
Directed By Hannah Ryan
Synopsis: Lonesome Dove is a dramatic comedy about one woman’s over-researched quest for love. Justine is a fact-checker at a magazine and is so insecure about dating, she does deep dive research to better understand the men she dates and their passions. But when she matches with Lucas, a soft-spoken guy with a great affection for a certain epic cowboy novel, Justine finds herself in uncharted territory. And no amount of preparation can protect her from the messiness of real connection.
What Happened Was
Written by Walter John Thompson
Directed by Austin Pendleton
Synopsis: "What Happened Was" is a poignant, darkly comedic meditation on the futility of seeking purpose in a purposeless world. Its structure defies conventional plot development in favor of emotional and philosophical exploration. The play forces both its characters and audience to confront uncomfortable questions about love, memory, identity, and whether any of it ultimately matters.
Program #3*
Cycles
By Shakerria Breonie
Directed by Candaceia Charles
Synopsis: Two relationships, decades apart, reveal how patterns of love and loss repeat across generations. A young woman discovers that breaking free from her parents' mistakes requires more than just recognizing them—it demands the courage to choose differently.
Justice for Geetha
Written and Directed by Sunita Deshpande
Synopsis: BASED ON A TRUE STORY --- In an ugly, fluorescent-lit breakroom of a New Jersey water treatment plant, two secretaries—bold, self-aware Tabitha and sweet, sheepish, religious Chelle—find themselves trapped in the emotional fallout of a mysterious workplace tragedy. Their colleague, Geeta Angara, an accomplished Indian-American chemist and mother of three, has been found drowned in one of the plant's massive water tanks. The official story says accident. Tabitha suspects otherwise. Tabitha, a WOC, desires pure faith for the truth while Chelle retreats into fear, HER faith, and denial. What begins as idle chatter becomes an interrogation of complicity, silence, and the cost of survival in a system stacked against women—especially women of color.
Inspired by a real-life case, Justice for Geetha is a tense, darkly comic workplace thriller about corporate cover-ups, invisible labor, and the quiet courage it takes to speak up when the world is telling you to stay silent.
Program #4*
Dine & Date
Written & Directed by Annie Raczko
Synopsis: Years after drifting apart, two almost-college-sweethearts reunite at a Jersey diner for what seems like a nostalgic dinner—but under the surface, old feelings, new motives, and one perfectly crisp mozzarella stick threaten to derail it all.
Eclipse
Written and Directed by Oriana Ng
Synopsis: A high school student, her boyfriend and her science teacher recall troubling events that may or may not have happened during a solar eclipse.
One Bowl, One Spoon, and One Knife
By Zachary Harris
Directed by Taya Fedorenko
Synopsis: Two college freshman argue about dirty dishes. Ryan is distraught he failed a paper and wants Henry’s help. Henry just wants Ryan to wash his dishes. What happens when young men try to accept responsibility for their actions.
Pink Dress
By Craig McNulty
Directed By Kelila Zechowy
Synopsis: A sister tries to get through to her alcoholic brother to clean up his life and finally gets to the bottom of his post traumatic stress disorder
The Dance
By Anna Louise Bruner
Directed by Rick Hamilton and Mary Lauren
Synopsis: The Dance is a short play that spans 50 decades. A couple dances their way through every facet of a relationship; Young love, parenthood, complications and reunion. This 14 minute piece zips along as the couple dances their way into your hearts.
Program #5
Erasing Time
Written by D-Davis
Directed by Miles Sternfield
Synopsis: In a dimly lit tattoo parlor, a woman longs to erase the branding of a painful past. The specialist, tasked with erasing her mark, becomes her unlikely guide. While emotional and physical scars are unearthed, together, they find that some marks fade but healing begins beneath the skin. Time Tunnel is a powerful exploration of the marks we bear and the courage it takes to reclaim ourselves.
Giselle & Lorraine: Under the Circumstances
Written and Directed by Pete Mattaliano
Synopsis: In a fancy East Side bar/restaurant, two estranged college best friends meet for the first time in five years. Back then, Lorraine, Giselle's maid of honor, had sex with Giselle's fiance, Ron, which caused the wedding to be cancelled. A short time later, Lorraine became engaged to Ron. Lorraine has contacted Giselle to try to bury the hatchet, but to also inform her that Ron has had sex with HER maid of honor, and Lorraine's wedding is now cancelled. During the meeting, fueled by too many Flying Grasshoppers and chips with El Diablo Loco salsa, past slights and resentments are brought up by the highly competitive women, leading to a somewhat tipsy, precarious, reconciliation.
Grandma's Memory
Written and Directed By Domenick V. Danza
Synopsis: The tide turns during one of Janie's snowy day visits, as she discovers the value in Grandma's memories.
Huff Puff Muffin
By Elizabeth Bays
Directed by David Zayas Jr.
Synopsis - A grieving widow returns home from her husband’s memorial, only to be visited by a strange young woman bearing an outrageous claim!
Movie Magic
Written and Directed by Allison Robbins
Synopsis: In this magical realism comedy, two 1940s actor and a director come to LA to convince a colleague's granddaughter to give up acting.
Program #6*
A Father's Day
Written By John Corins
Directed by John Sannuto
Synopsis: A two-hander about a deceased woman's husband and son are packing up her belongings to give to Goodwill - but everything comes to a standstill when the son finds a mysterious box stored in the attic.
Hallucy
Written by Alex Emanuel
Directed by Peter Rossi
Produced by Alex Emanuel, Lana Ayrapetyants and Starna Productions
Synopsis: HALLUCY is an absurdist -or my take on absurdist at least- one-act psychological memory play, based on actual events. It attempts to explore, comically, the dilemma one man faces from a traumatic past incident, one that included the use of psychedelics no less, something that has made him -and in the end perhaps the viewer as well- question what is real and what is not.
Questions I Keep Asking Myself
Written and Directed by Philip Cioffari
Synopsis: A man on the run from the mob and in need of money goes to his former lover for help, and to make an effort to heal the heartbreak that neither of them have yet recovered from.
Recollection
By Jeff Checkley
Directed by Marie Eléna O’Brien
Synopsis: A wounded soldier recounts to his father the events leading to his being injured in a terror attack off base. He reveals the true gravitas of his experience and the short and long term effects it has had on his wellbeing.
Program #7
Cheap Culture
By Christopher Atchison, Tristan Mesmer, and Terrell Stratton
Directed by Terrell Stratton
Synopsis: Four friends, Xavier, Leo, Brooke and Crystal, come home after celebrating the biggest night in Crystal's career. What starts as a jovial occasion quickly disintegrates into pure melodrama. The evening is filled with secrets, lust, and latent chaos.
Full Moon
By Fleurette Modica
Directed by Caitlin Mayernik
Synopsis: Four eleven-year-old girls at summer camp stay up talking past curfew on the night of a full moon. When one of them returns from an encounter with a boy, the girls must rely on their limited knowledge of sex and pregnancy to make sense of the situation.
LifeOptimization
Directed by Audra Zook
Synopsis: In a world run by LifeOptimization™, Ava requests to deviate from her algorithmically assigned career, remembering the one time the system was wrong. Despite warnings of measurable unhappiness, she insists on choosing her own path. Did she make the right choice? Was it ever her choice to begin with?
Program #8
Aquarium
By Karie Parkinson
Directed by Jimmy Guest
Synopsis: Nat, an amateur Aquarist struggles to balance her hobby with her relationship. In a feverish haze, her pet Betta speaks to her and tells her to break up with her girlfriend. Nat must choose where her priorities truly lie and learn what it means to compromise, both with her girlfriend and her fish.
Divine Feminine (or the Male Validation Play)
By Kiley Gaddis
Directed by Gavin Petersen
Synopsis: On the night of a full moon, tensions rise between a group of college-aged women as the presence of a male friend interrupts their evening hangout, calling into question the friends' dynamics and the importance of male validation.
Last Birthday
Directed by Youlim Nam
Synopsis: Yumi is determined to host the perfect birthday dinner for her father. But as the evening unfolds, reality begins to slip—memories surface, tensions simmer, and time bends in strange, quiet ways. What begins as a simple celebration transforms into something far more haunting, as a daughter confronts the weight of love, guilt, and the need to say goodbye.
Original Music (randolphe, assidence) by Tim Brock
On the Radio
Directed By Edward Gibbons-Brown
Synopsis: In a timeless, weatherworn neighborhood bound by ritual, five people gather daily around a vintage radio to hear a weather report that never changes...until one day, it does. As uncertainty stirs both hope and fear, they must each decide what to believe—and what to do next.
Spirit of 76
Written and Directed by Mark Melton
Synopsis: Back from break in their first year of college, close friends play their old favorite pinball machine and realize they may not be as close now as they thought.
Program #9
FREAK Son Reunites with Estranged Father | FULL EPISODE | Dr. Phil
By Claire Abramovitz
Directed by Anya Josephs
Synopsis: Frankenstein's monster appears on daytime TV program/trauma farm Dr. Phil in the hopes of reaching out to his estranged father Dr. Victor Frankenstein. When father and son reunite will there be bloodshed (great for ratings) or reconciliation (not as fun, but will still get some clicks)?
The Elevator Play
By Erin Moughon
Directed by Ria T. DiLullo
Synopsis: Rom-Coms aren't what they used to be. Lara and Cameron are rehearsing the meet-cute for the latest play directed by Ellis. However, it is interrupted by strange sounds and even stranger outbursts. As aliens appear, what is real in a nesting doll play?
Uptown Express
By Kevin Cheng
Directed by Ciera Miller
Synopsis: The MTA subway train is late again. As Noah waits impatiently on the platform, an unexpected old acquaintance arrives.
Program #10
A Test of Taste
Written and Directed by Kendra Jones
Synopsis: A Test of Taste brings together a group of New Yorkers (hired off a Craigslist ad) to taste test products together in a Manhattan office space for an AI company working to predict tasting palettes. Each day is different and unexpected.
Ashes and Curds
By Darlene Elizabeth Joiner
Directed by Lauren Winnenberg
Synopsis: Nisha returned to Indiana following the death of her stepmother, Jen, and hopes to return back to NYC tomorrow morning. Her estranged stepsister, Sarah, plans to steal her mother’s a
Dime Novel
By Andrew Donnelly-Yunga
Directed by Giovanna DiSanto
Synopsis: Alone in their apartment, a writer is finishing the last chapter of their novel: a tale of revenge set in the Wild West. As the hours drag on, and pages are written and rewritten, the line between fiction and reality begins to blur.
Waiting for Wicked
By Michael Busani
Directed by Brendan Stackhouse
Synopsis: Two friends, Bruce and Ella, attempt to win a coveted pair of lottery tickets for Wicked on Broadway. As they struggle to occupy the time while waiting, friendly banter quickly turns into passive aggression, revealing past insecurities that have the potential to permanently alter their friendship.
Program #11
Dissolving Boundaries
By Anya/Zichen Zhang
Directed by Anya/Zichen Zhang
Synopsis: 15 years after they’ve parted ways due to a misunderstanding, 2 former stepsisters connect again trying to make amends before one of them leaves this world forever.
Putting on Airs
By Kathryn Loggins
Directed by Julian Guzman Abril
Synopsis: Petunia and Alistair Sullivan are snobby South Carolinian socialite siblings stuck flying to New York Fashion Week on a commercial flight. But to make matters worse, their deadpan flight attendant has no sympathy for their “plight” of being stuck in coach. The rift between these prospective worlds widens as the siblings are faced with what matters more to them - cash or kindness.
Showing
Written and Directed by Emily Foley
Synopsis: At a gallery opening, it's one woman's artistic debut as she's joined to celebrate by a friend from her past. The friend has played a much more significant role in the new artist’s growth than she’s aware of… possibly more than she'd like.
Sisters in Arms
By Riley Fee
Directed by Saturday Lawson
Synopsis: In 1938 Manhattan, married couple Beatrice and Irving await the arrival of Beatrice's younger sister (by 11 months), Lillian, and husband, Harold. Lillian, a Hollywood starlet, is on a hiatus from work. Faced with a colorful history of sibling rivalry, Beatrice and Lillian must learn to make the best of the visit. When things get messy, the women are challenged to look past their family drama and reach inside themselves to find whatever sisterly love they can garner for each other.
