The Plays

A Body of Water, by Lee Blessing

Moss and Avis, a handsome middle-aged couple, wake up in a beautiful home surrounded by a lush body of water. The only problem is that they have lost their memories; their amnesia is so strong they have forgotten their own names. Thus begins their journey to discover and pursue their found identities. When that does not seem to work, the two find themselves captives of their only visitor, a young woman named Wren, who claims to know the truth. Wren torments them with accounts of their gruesome past and exposes the real questions to the audience. Did this couple murder their child? Is Wren their aggressive lawyer or their bitterly disfigured daughter? Are Avis and Moss psychotic monsters or just dead? Amnesia is starting to look pretty good…

God Hates You, by Emily Dendinger

Laurel has always been the apple of the church’s eye. As the church founder’s granddaughter, she’s the first person to volunteer to picket funerals of dead soldiers, knows what to say to strike a nerve in a crowd, and can debate the Bible with the best of them. Despite the constant hate mail and death threats, she knows she’s saving the sinners of the world before the end of days arrives. However, when Laurel joins social media to spread the church’s word, she’s faced for the first time with the outside world, and soon everything she believes is called into question. God Hates You asks what it means to grow up in a church dedicated to spreading hate and intolerance, and what happens when the faith you’ve rigorously adhered to your whole life comes shattering down around you.

The Dizziness of Freedom, by Stephen Nathan

Roger is the last remaining tenant of an old apartment building scheduled for demolition to make way for a new shopping mall. At 75, with a history of left-wing social activism, Roger has no intention of giving corporate interests the satisfaction of moving without a fight – his last stand. A young attorney, Annie, shows up charged with the task of evicting Roger. What should be an easy task for Annie becomes a test of wills, integrity, fear, the gaping generational divide and a discovery of what transcends our differences and binds even the most unlikely pair of combatants. The audience takes a peek into the intimate conversations that lead two people to change and deeply affect each other.

Standby to Standyby, by Jake Yost

An interweaving of real interviews with Veterans and re-enactments challengingly explores patriotism and what it means to be a Veteran who was never deployed.  Proceeds for this performance will go to La Plata County Veteran Services.

Play Readings

Each of the three plays will have two script-in-hand, staged readings scheduled on Friday, August 10 and Saturday, August 11 at The Durango Arts Center, 802 East 2nd Avenue, and Durango’s historic Henry Strater Hotel, 699 Main Avenue.