so go the ghosts of mexico

Play:
so go the ghosts of mexico

and so go the ghosts of méxico is an impressionistic telling of how one woman stood up against the forces that ran her life, her town, and her country.

After the former Police Chief is murdered and his head found outside the precinct in an ice box, no one is willing to step forward and be the next police chief. No one, except Mari. With a husband who thinks she’s putting her entire family in danger and with a child on the way, Mari is convinced that the only way to have a better world for her daughter is to fight for it. As the new Police Chief, Mari is threatened by Narco-Traffickers, haunted by her predecessor, and constantly pulled between her duties to her family and her duties to her country.

and so go the ghosts of méxico tracks one woman’s stand against the violence that runs her community and dangers that come with fighting.

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PTSD and ZERO

PTSD

When Riles returns from his tour of duty, he imagines everything will be simpler at home. However, plagued with his own memories, a dad barely paying bills, and sister with her own interior demons, Riles quickly finds himself on a different battlefield all together. Between navigating his family and an ex-almost-girlfriend from a time before, Riles discovers that the most important fight is just beginning.

Tommy Smith’s PTSD depicts a soldier’s return from war and explores the ways we all cope with and fight in our own personal wars.

ZERO

Good Morning. Good Afternoon. Have a Nice Day. This is the language of doormen.

When The Architect moves into his apartment, his relationship with The Doorman starts innocently enough.  As small talk about the weather shifts to topics more personal, a bond begins to form. As their relationship deepens and crosses certain lines, both The Architect and his Doorman learn what differences can be breached and where the chasms still remain.

Tommy Smith’s Zero depicts all that can happen between one front door and another and investigates the ways in which the people we pass daily notice us and often help us notice ourselves.

Tommy Smith’s PTSD and Zero tell the stories of two young men striving to make sense of their surroundings. Both Riles (PTSD) and The Architect (Zero) must navigate friends, family, and acquaintances as they establish themselves in a place they aim to call home. Smith’s PTSD and Zero offer two uniquely American tales of fighting to connect with those around us and what it means to come home.

Two Shorts by Tommy Smith
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Phases

John, a lit major stuck in a marketing job, is in a relationship with Becky, a waitress and unsuccessful writer. Becky loves John, but John still loves his ex Anna. Anna, a failed artist turned art critic, is now with Gilbert, a successful video artist. Gilbert Loves Anna, but Anna loves Paris (France). Meanwhile, Charlie (John’s best friend) loves Becky.

Dissatisfied with where he is at in life, but not knowing where to turn, John decides on a whim to leave Becky and start a new life in Alaska.  He convinces the similarly discontented Anna to run away with him on this journey toward something unknown – something better, different, new.

Rachel Carey’s play Phases is a modern satire, juxtaposing the known with the uncharted.    The decisions that these characters make, regardless of consequence, take them far outside their comfort zones, ultimately destroying what is familiar and complex in order to build something simple. Strip away the skyscrapers, crowded sidewalks and subway platforms for a barren landscape, and one is left with nothing but time – time in which to discover identity, success and happiness.

Phases by Rachel Carey
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Failure: A Love Story

“Nelly was the first of the Fail Girls to die,
Followed soonafter by her sisters, Jenny June
And Gerty Fail
In that order.
Causes of death were
Blunt Object
Disappearance
And Consumption
Also in that order.”

FAILURE: A LOVE STORY takes place in thriving 1928 Chicago, right when the nation least expects it.  It follows the three Fail sisters, all of whom happen to die within the same year, and the one man who happens to fall in love with each of them.

Gerty is in charge, prim, runs the family clock shop, loves her sisters.
Jenny June is full of piss and river water, a competitive lake swimmer, loves her sisters.
Nelly is beautiful, a dreamer, a lover, a singer, loves her sisters.
John N. is adopted, stand-offish, bookish, and one of Illinois’s first domestic veterinarians, loves his sisters.
Mortimer Mortimer has the world on a string and no idea he’s about to fall in love with each of the Fail sisters.  And lose them all.

FAILURE: A LOVE STORY is a play about the journey, not the destination.  It’s about why we fall in love with who we fall in love with and how.  It’s about loss and it’s about wealth.  It’s about failure and it’s about success.  It’s about love.

 

Artwork by Song E Kim.
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The Way of Water

Written by Caridad Svich, The Way of Water, tells the story of two fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico, dealing with the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill and its effects on the environment and human health. Caridad’s rich writing sheds light on this difficult time in the Gulf Region, giving voice to those unheard.

The play was featured in American Theater Magazine and in an article in the Huffington Post in May 2012.

Since April 3, 2012, The Way of Water has received fifty readings throughout the United States, Europe and South America, including presentations at:

  • American Stage Theatre Company in St. Petersburg, FL
  • Austin Scriptworks in Austin, TX
  • California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA
  • Cornell University’s Teatrotaller and Theatre Incognita in Ithaca, NY
  • EAST L.A. REP in Los Angeles, CA
  • Emerson College & Atomic Age Theater Company in Boston, MA
  • Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York, NY
  • Frank Theatre in Minneapolis, MN
  • ion theatre company in San Diego, CA
  • Lark Playwrights Development Center in New York (directed by Daniella Topol)
  • Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago, IL
  • Main Street Theatre in Houston, TX
  • Occupy Ashland in Oregon
  • Off the Hyphen Theatre in Baton Rouge, LA
  • Opera del Espacio in Los Angeles, CA
  • Teatro Paraguas in Santa Fe, NM
  • Vortex Theatre in Albuquerque, NM
  • and over 20 universities including Carnegie Mellon and UC-Davis

International presentations include:

  • Aberystwyth University in Wales/UK
  • Alameda Theatre in Toronto, Canada
  • English Theatre Berlin in Germany (directed by Jake Witlen)
  • Pat the Dog in Ontario, Canada
  • Rosemary Branch Theatre Company in London, UK
  • and venues in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo (Brasil), Tasmania (Australia), and Pretoria, South Africa

The Way of Water was developed at the 2011 Winter Writers Retreat and 2012 Studio Retreat at the Lark Play Development Center, New York City (John Clinton Eisner, Artistic Director).

 

The Way of Water