by Lyra Yang.  Paper Dream follows the journey of four Chinese women in the 1930s: a self-proclaimed aristocrat, her husband’s second wife’s obedient daughter, a working-class mother, and a talented young prostitute as they find themselves trapped like prisoners in a “land of freedom”.  It is about the ghosts they left behind, the spirit of who they are, and the dream of what they might become.  A haunting period drama that reckons with the spectre of nationalism still stalking immigrants at America’s borders.

Directed by Raksa Lim

Featuring:

Momo Nakamura as TAM-LEI-FAN
Cheryl Campo as LEE-ON
Elizabeth Ung as YING-YING
Lorrie Smith as WONG-MEI-YEE
Jay Ruiz as INTERPRETER JESSEN/AMERICAN GUARD
Raksa Lim as COOK CHUN/INSPECTOR GUTMAN/PAPA

Retreat Across the Jerseys

by Leslie Allen.  Liz, a no-nonsense Marine explosives expert, returns to her north Jersey hometown in 2031 after a decade in Central Asia’s “forever wars.” But on her way to the deathbed of Angela, her estranged mother, she meets B.J., a local character who has peddled everything from condos to children’sslippers to dubious tales – and most of all, dreams – in the changing neighborhood. B.J. and Liz each harbor a painful secret, and their chance encounter triggers a journey into the buried past – all the way back to and beyond a different chance encounter on the same corner by Newark’s airport. That late-night meeting, 30 years earlier, would link the three characters – all outsiders marginalized because of race or gender, class, and more – to each other and to untold chapters in American history that ask us to question the meaning of patriotism.

Directed by George Andre Tittle

Featuring:

Tyrone Chapman – TYE, B.J.
Jenn Mikulski – ANGELA, NURSE, THE WOMAN
Emilie Holmstock – LIZ
Rodney Bonds – LIZ’S BOSS, VIN, ANGELA’S FATHER
Archie Williams – BUREAUCRAT, THE MAN, BAR CUSTOMER, DRUNK, THE GUY, A WRITER/TOM PAINE
Penny Demps – STAGE DIRECTIONS