The Lark will again open its doors for its annual Playwrights' Week in November, showcasing five new works—selected from a record-breaking 1,320 submissions—over five days in its midtown home. Now in its 26th year, the 2019 Playwrights Week will feature staged readings of new plays by Diane Exavier, Shayan Lotfi, Omar Vélez Meléndez, Jaymes Sanchez, and Ren Dara Santiago.
The festival will kick off November 4 with a Meet the Writers panel, moderated by The Lark's Andrea Hiebler and Krista Williams. The conversation will feature excerpts from each play, read by the playwrights.
Readings will be free and held at The Lark. Reservations will open October 15 here.
Check out the rest of the lineup below.
November 5 at 2 PM
We Built Our Homes Near Kingdoms of Animals and Magic
By Omar Vélez Meléndez
Welcome to Florida! Amidst the vast nothingness of the Sunshine State, Eric doesn't really do anything in regards to his his imposter syndrome as a first-generation Puerto Rican while Kira, his daughter, desperately needs to deepen the relationship with her past. Little do they know that a catastrophic natural disaster will whip Puerto Rican born mother/son duo, Luisa and Jan, right to their doorstep. All together, they will try to figure out what exactly is Puerto Rico...even if they have to rebuild all of it....exactly the way it was...in Florida.
November 5 at 8 PM
Something in the Balete Tree
By Ren Dara Santiago
Nicholas takes a one-way ticket from Harlem to Manila, PH in order to find his mother and meet his pen-pal, Miyuki. What he doesn’t know is both women are members of an underground rebellion for the people. In the spirit realm of Kulam, Prince and Eve Angel are trying to figure out what this underworld is all about. A play about monsters, heroes, and what choices make a revolution.
November 6 at 8 PM
Park-e Laleh
By Shayan Lotfi
Park-e Laleh follows Amir, a gay Iranian asylum seeker, from his arrival in London in 2014 through subsequent years in his attempt to “settle.”
November 8 at 2 PM
Bernarda's Daughters
By Diane Exavier
It’s summer in Flatbush and the Abellard sisters are in the heat of mourning their father, their neighborhood, their lives. Flames in the forms of desire, longing, and family secrets slowly burn in their mother’s house, where it seems there is no one to cool it in this play inspired by Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba with poetic and literary cues from Kamau Braithwaite, Louise Glück, Mary Ruefle, Toni Morrison, and more.
November 8 at 8 PM
The Cucuy Will Find You
By Jaymes Sanchez
The Cucuy, in Mexican-American folklore, eats bad children. But what does it mean to be a good child? For a successful 30-something, like REY/REYNA, who has a fraught family history and lives far away from home, the answer is complicated. When the Cucuy shows up and disrupts Rey's life, and the very fabric of reality, Rey must prove that they are a good child. But even if they succeed, the ordeal might still consume them.
