Our Work

What happens when you can’t protect your own kid from the cruelty of her friends? Humorous, thoughtful and honest, Out of Bounds weaves together video, comic books and interviews to tell the stories of kids stuck on the outside and the adults who feel powerless to help them.
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Part hand-made museum, part solo show, Ghost Story is an interactive theatre event that takes the audience on a spooky journey through the unseen places of a theatre to explore the mystery of a young woman’s murder. Ghost Story has installations of video, sound collage, diorama, and more and ends with a monologue, or “ghost story”, that connects the pieces.

Ghost Story was developed at Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Ground Floor Summer Residency Lab.

In 1994, 16 year old David finds himself in Uganda as a church missionary. When he follows the girl of his dreams into the woods to help a Rwandan boy find his parents, he enters a world from which he will never fully be able to escape.

A combination of theater, dance, and documentary The Broken Chord is a performance that focuses directly on the plight of family members and health professionals tasked with aiding those suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.

2015
When a young man tells his sister he has been hired to work on a farm in faraway Iowa, she insists he take a longstanding family recipe with him. When she realizes he has left it behind, she embarks on an epic journey across the state—finding foreclosed farms, meat-packing plants, and more along the way—to search for her wayward brother. Featuring music by the Awful Purdies. Commissioned and presented by Hancher Auditorium, Grinnell College and Luther College.

2010-2015
When a young man tells his sister he has been hired to work on a farm in faraway Iowa, she insistIn the Summer of 2008, it was often said that Philadelphia had “more bodies than days.” The city was in the midst of a murder epidemic that put it on par with some third world countries. Determined to take an unflinching look at the causes of the crime rate and its effect on the community, playwright/performer Sean Christopher Lewis introduces us to the inmates of Graterford Prison – men employed to beautify the city even as they serve out life sentences. The voices of the prisoners, their victims, Mayor Nutter, local rappers, conservative talk show hosts, trauma surgeons, and the citizens of the City of Brotherly Love, these voices combine with a shocking document of life in America’s toughest town.

Winner of the NNPN Smith Prize, the Barrymore Award (Philadelphia), the Heidi Award, the Central Ohio Critic Circle Award- Best Touring Show and Central Ohio Critic Circle Award- Best New Work.

2009-2015
Was the Word seeks to connect individuals, communities, and organizations through the power of the spoken word. Our events bring professional storytellers and performance poets together with community members to share their words onstage for the benefit of area nonprofits. Founded in 2009, Was the Word is a monthly spoken word and music event that features a non-profit partner for every show. Since its founding, we have donated over $8000 to local nonprofits and community service organizations. As of Summer 2015, Was the Word is on hiatus. For more information, go to http://www.wastheword.org/.

2014
Adapted from Tolstoy’s 1889 novella, The Kreutzer Sonata, tells the story of a Pozdnyshev, who is so consumed by jealousy after hearing his wife play Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata (Sonata for Piano and Violin, Op 47) that he murders her. Interwoven into the play is a performance of the Beethoven’s sonata and Janáček’s String Quartet No.1 (also called The Kreutzer Sonata) which was inspired by the Tolstoy story. Commissioned by MusicIC.

2013
Culled from 100’s of interviews done by the National Czech Slovak Museum spanning the history of the Czech People in America, The Finder’s Daughter looks at life in Czechoslovakia under the Soviet Regime through the eyes of a young girl and her father. It’s a world of secret police, underground newspapers, and the struggle for change. Commissioned by the National Czech and Slovak Museum.

2012
Imagine a Midwestern community—a relatively small, overwhelmingly white, well-educated, and culturally-engaged college town—that prides itself on its acceptance of diversity. Then imagine an influx of immigrants from a neighboring metropolis coming to that community, bringing with them new opportunities as well as new challenges. A look at the fall out of housing projects being torn down in Chicago and where those displaced residents went… It’s a Midwestern story with national implications, asking how, in an enlightened world, do we embrace and engage in true discourse about living together in communities in transition. Commissioned and presented by Hancher Auditorium.

2012
In 1995, Sylvie was a young journalist who went to Bosnia to find the perfect story. Instead, she found a village full of children from opposing sides on the brink of war. Now, called to testify against her chief witness, she must face the role she may have played in the tragedy that befell that village.

2011
Telling: Iowa City was the seventh Telling to be produced nationally and the first to be done in the Midwest. Co-produced by The Telling Project (Executive Director, Jonathan Wei), the University of Iowa Veterans Association and Working Group Theatre, Telling: Iowa City put the stories of nine local veterans from all branches of service onstage. For the veterans, Telling: Iowa City was an opportunity to address the abstractions of war and the military in a public forum, using their own words. For civilians, the performances gave the community a chance to put a human face experiences often only heard through the media.

“This is an honest, visceral, important piece of theatre…a brave, powerful undertaking.” Diana Nollen, The Gazette