Alice finds herself back in a place where she thought she would never return—home with her mother Nan, whom she has not spoken to in fourteen years. Unresolved tensions play out as Alice tries to raise her own teenage daughter while struggling to provide for the whole family. These three generations of Hawaiian women overcome the past and cultural dissonance between them while balancing a life-or-death decision that hangs over their heads.

Noa Gardner (he/him) is a Native Hawaiian playwright born and raised in Kaimuki on the island of O’ahu and a graduate of the MFA Dramatic Writing program at the University of Southern California. Noa is interested in presenting a body of work through his plays that speak to different facets of Hawaiian culture, presenting to an audience (sometimes for the very first time) a glimpse into the deep interior lives of Hawaiian people. Currently, Noa lives on O’ahu and is a student at the University of Hawai’i Mānoa seeking a second undergraduate degree in both Hawaiian Language and Hawaiian Studies. His day jobs include transcribing Hawaiian language tapes/interviews as well as working as an educational assistant at a Hawaiian language immersion school. He was a National Finalist for the Gary Garrison Ten Minute play award (2016), recipient of South Coast Repertory’s Elizabeth George commission (2021), a semi-finalist of the Eugene O’Neil (2021), and has had his one act and full-length plays read in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Son of Semele Ensemble, the Los Angeles Theatre Company, Artists at Play, and the Pasadena Playhouse.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Denise returns to her family home to find more than just her memories and belongings submerged beneath water. Her crisis is interwoven with Black ancestry, and history flits across the stage, exposing old and new vulnerabilities and perspectives. As Denise watches her community fall apart, she faces the threat of being displaced from a home that has nourished her family for generations. Can Denise stay rooted when everything seems to be slipping away?

Alicia Kester (she/her) is a Black, mixed-race playwright, poet, fiction writer, and filmmaker. She draws on both her Yoruba and Louisiana Creole heritages, as well as her queer, disabled, and first-generation identities to address themes of  migration, familial constructs, tribalism, environmentalism, the physical and/or racialized body, and current events. She often explores speculative genres, infusing magical realism, absurdism, or futurism within her writing. In 2021 she completed a residency with the CPH Queer Theatre Festival, where she wrote two short plays that were produced in Denmark. She has also completed residency programs  with 3Girls Theatre and Monson Arts and has an upcoming residency with The Hambidge Center. She was a semifinalist for the Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival and the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference. She is a former VONA scholar and a recipient of grant funding from the Center for Cultural Innovation, among others.

When his anti-colonial activism lands him on a watch list, Rafi Peer is forced to flee British ruled India in 1919. Almost a century later, his American granddaughter returns to Rafi’s native land, now Pakistan, in search of meaning on a study abroad trip. Nadia discovers the truth of her Grandfather’s mysterious legacy, a family she’s never known, and comes closer to finding her own artistic purpose.

Aidaa Peerzada (she/her) grew up between the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland and the suburbs of Lahore, Pakistan. She is interested in the phenomenon of erasure in popular history; her work focuses on reimagining cultural mythology to inform the present. Workshops of her original work include: SHINING, at The New Roots Theater Festival (SFBATCO) and Catalyst (C3T). ONE GOOGOL AND ONE with The San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company. She co-wrote the book and story for the original musical SUNFLOWERED, which premiered at Northern Sky Theatre in 2022. Aidaa’s regional credits as an actor include Magic Theatre, Word for Word,  Marin Theater Company, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, American Players Theatre, and Quantum Theatre. Aidaa is part of the creative staff at the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Co. Aidaa studied at the Baltimore School for the Arts and went on to receive her BFA in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University.

Grave Robbing. Black Bodies. The Robbing of Black Bodies for medical research. Black Bodies commodified even after death… Missy Freeman and her daughter Charity try to protect their loved one’s soul from grave robbers who are stealing corpses for scientific advancement from a Black established church graveyard during the colder months of the nineteenth century. What will happen to the Philadelphian relatives in the twenty-first century around that same unmarked graveyard at night?

Nia Akilah Robinson (she/her) is a playwright and actor who reps Harlem with all her might. The Great Privation will be having its UK premiere in 2024! She is a graduating second year playwright at The Juilliard School. Nia has been awarded the 2023 Miranda Family Fund Commission, 48th OOB Festival, New York Stage & Film Artist-In-Residence , National Black Theatre Soul Series, Residency at The Pocantico Center through YoungArts,  NYSCA Grant Awardee (CCCADI), Film & TV Mentorship by Mitzi Miller (VP of Warner Bros. Entertainment). Nia is shortlisted  for the  2023 Theatre503’s International Playwriting Award. Her work has been seen and developed with The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep, GPTC, SPACE on Ryder Farm, EST, Waterwell, Classical Theater of Harlem, Urbanite, and New Georges. She has been a MacDowell & Travis Bogard Eugene O’Neill Foundation Fellow. She was a finalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Blue Ink Playwriting Award, and NYTW 2050 Artistic Fellowship. She is a member or alumna of EST’s Youngblood, I-73 at Page 73, The Orchard Project, The Wish Collective, and TheBlackHERthePen. www.niaakilahrobinson.com

In a forbidden love story, Jabez and Ryan, two boys of color, navigate a Christian summer camp together in the early 2000s. Their friendship quickly grows into a budding romance that they try to keep alive after returning home. Challenged by their parents, the hazards of landline phones, and their faith, they are forced to secrecy. Finding solace in each other and their shared love of music, theology, and Harry Potter; the reality of living in between two worlds threaten to keep them apart as they navigate their blossoming queer identities and teenage angst in their conservative faith communities.

Jason Tseng (they/them/ta) is a queer, non-binary Chinese-American playwright with roots in New York City and Washington D.C.. Their plays have been presented and developed by Flux Theatre Ensemble, Judson Arts, Mission to dit(Mars), Theatre COTE, Inkubator Arts, Second Generation, Downtown Urban Arts Festival, LA Queer New Works Festival, BIPOC Playwrights Festival at Boise Contemporary Theater. They are a Creative Partner of Flux Theatre Ensemble, a member of The Civilians’s 2019/2020 R&D Group, a member of Mission to dit(Mars)’s Propulsion Lab, and their plays have been honored as a Finalist and Semi-Finalist at The Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Semi-finalists for the New American Voices Playwrights Festival and the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. Jason’s full-length plays include Rizing (World Premier, Flux Theatre Ensemble), Like Father, Same Same, Ghost Money, Fear and Wonder, and The Other Side. More info at www.jasontseng.co