plays
Hearts on Fire by Nina Morrison, music by Jeannie Fry
Cast: 8–17
Genre: comedy, dark comedy, musical, political
Keywords: shippers, gay, boy bands, musical, Toxic Masculinity, LGBTQ+ playwright, Non-binary characters, LGBTQ+
The boyband Hearts is at the top of the charts in 2019 America. Daniel, an Iowa high school student, is questioning his sexuality. Daniel has become a secret TJ shipper, meaning he ships Tegen and Jesse, two members of Hearts. He has befriended Alex, a non-binary TJ shipper, and they make “proof” videos that they post on social media. The videos are filled with clips culled from Hearts concerts. The footage is of Tegen and Jesse grabbing each other’s asses, whispering, holding hands, sitting in each other’s laps and generally looking more like boyfriends than friends. The shipping somehow helps Daniel and Alex feel more comfortable about their own identities and sexualities. The videos become very popular, and the record label gets concerned.
The Age of Innocence by Nina Morrison
Cast: 4
Genre: comedy, experimental, political
Keywords: Non-binary characters, California Wildfires, costumes, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+ playwright
Inspired by a real-life public breakup announcement between two celebrity writers and by the Edith Wharton novel of the same title, The Age of Innocence is a play about the public announcement of the breakup of two people named Jess and Ellen. In a small museum in Los Angeles surrounded by raging wildfires, Jess and Ellen talk the audience through their romantic and personal obstacles sometimes using period costumes and role play. The play is a comedic take on identity, gender, love and change at a certain age.
Aurora fra Bergen, or, Ibsanity by Nina Morrison
Ibsanity UIOWA
Ibsanity Fordham
Cast: 7
Genre: adaptation, comedy
Keywords: Ibsen, Lesbian, Norway, LGBTQ+ playwright, LGBTQ+adult women, LGBTQ+
Aurora fra Bergen, or, Ibsanity is a modern queer comedic reimagining of Ibsen's Lady from the Sea. Set in Oslo, a woman haunted by a mysterious former lover is visited by her old friend, Aurora, from Bergen.
Féminaal by Nina Morrison with music by Zoë Woodworth
FÉMINAAL MPLS
FÉMINAAL UIOWA
Cast: 12
Genre: comedy, experimental, musical
Keywords: Paris, Lesbian, French New Wave, French Pop, feminist, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+ playwright, play with music, Brechtian
Féminaal presents a world that satirizes the misogyny in French New Wave Cinema and the culture at large: set in 1960’s Paris and the Present Day, this work imagines a setting where women are celebrated for their excess and debauchery and never held to a bizarrely high standard of “historical accuracy.” A genre-defying new play with music inspired by the Yé-Yé Girls of French Pop, Morrison’s work combines progressive feminist ideals with raucous comedic antics to create a theatrical landscape at once familiar and utterly original.