Now in its ninth season, Bay Street Theater's "Title Wave: 2023 New Works Festival" has generated so much excitement among playwrights around the country that the theater's open call drew 300 submissions. "Within four days we had to stop accepting scripts," said Scott Schwartz, the theater's artistic director.
The four selected plays, each to be presented as a staged reading, are "Another Lovely Day" by Leslie Ayvazian, which will kick off the series on Friday, May 5, at 8 p.m.; "Come Again" by Lisa Feriend, "What I Know, Now" by Julia Motyka, and "You Have to Promise" by Audrey Lang.
"The plays showcase different voices, different ways of telling stories, and I think they show what cutting-edge new work in the theater can be," said Mr. Schwartz. "One thing that's very important to us at Bay Street is to do work that has a story that the audience will be compelled by, interested in, amused by, and potentially moved by. While this year's works tell stories in different ways and aren't always linear, they do all have strong stories."
Mr. Schwartz added that it has always been important to the theater to support women and female-identifying writers, but this is the first time all four plays are written by women, "all at different phases of their lives and at different phases of their careers."
In "Another Lovely Day," a couple's marriage is challenged when they learn of a military recruiter's visit to their only son's high school. Faced with the prospect of his enlistment, they find themselves on opposite sides of one of the most profound questions any mother or father can face.
Ms. Ayvazian has written eight full-length plays and seven one-acts, received numerous awards, and is an adjunct professor of dramaturgy at the Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts. "Another Lovely Day" stars John Slattery and Talia Balsam, a married couple in real life as well as on the long-running series "Mad Men." According to Mr. Schwartz, Ms. Ayvazian wrote the play for Mr. Slattery.
"Come Again," which will be performed on May 6 at 2 p.m., is the story of a Miami hospice nurse who wakes one day to find a stranger in her apartment claiming to be Jesus Christ and telling her she has been selected to be God's climate change prophet.
An award-winning playwright, Ms. Feriend is also president of the board of Arts for All, a New York City nonprofit that brings accessible artistic opportunities to children who face barriers to exploring the arts. "Come Again" was a 2022 finalist for the Louise Wigglesworth Excellence in Playwriting Award.
Written by and starring Ms. Motyka, "What I Know, Now," set for May 6 at 8 p.m., concerns a woman who explores the nature of faith and her own complicated family history as she waits for an answer to one of life's big questions. The play considers whether the answer to fear of the unknown lies in faith and prayer, probabilities and numbers, or something else entirely.
An actress, producer, and teacher as well as a writer, Ms. Motyka has performed Off Broadway and at theaters across the country, including Bay Street. She has also voiced scores of audiobooks and is a yoga instructor.
In "You Have to Promise," two 17-year-olds, Maeve and Nessa, discover there is more to their lifelong relationship than friendship. When they decide to come out to their families, Nessa's father kicks her out and the girls lie to Maeve's stepmother while they try to come up with a solution. Maeve is played by Taylor Richardson, who can be seen as Bridget in the HBO series "The Gilded Age."
Another play by Ms. Lang, who is also an actor, is "Alex Getting Better," which had its British premiere at the Bread and Roses Theatre in London. Yet another, "Birdie and Cait and the Book of Life," is a finalist for the Jewish Plays Project's 2023 contest. "You Have to Promise" will be performed on May 7 at 2 p.m.
"These readings ask the audience members to be real participants, they ask them to use their imaginations," said Mr. Schwartz. "They can be very fulfilling and offer a very rich emotional experience."
Tickets are $10.
