LONG LAYOVER BY MICHELLE

TYRENE JOHNSON

Directed by Karen Stephens

Sponsored by Lee Moore & Dee Whited

Lorraine is a single black woman at a crossroads. Unhappy with her life in Dallas, big decisions weigh her down. Kelly, her therapist, wants Lorraine to picture herself in her safe space when she’s in a therapy session. Oddly for Lorraine, her safe-space is an airport waiting room. Facing a layoff, Lorraine has the chance to start over – should she move to Africa with her boyfriend…or Amsterdam to start a new career in cosmetics…or back to Memphis to care for her aging father? Long Layover is a powerful and inventive play about a woman trying to figure out what she wants, what she’s become, and how to step into power, happiness, forgiveness, and love.

Cast

(in order of appearance)

Lorraine.........................................................................................................................Monique Caldwell*†

Kelly.........................................................................................................................................Patricia Idlette*†

Amy/Dr. Goren.........................................................................................................Brianna McVaugh*†

Moussa/Samuel............................................................................................................Frank Oakley III*†

Joey/Jabir.......................................................................................................................Kevin Craig West*†

Stage Manager: Ciarán McCarthy

Stage Directions Read by Sanda Dixon

MICHELLE TYRENE JOHNSON is a public radio journalist, author, and former attorney from the Greater Kansas City, Missouri area who now lives in Louisville, Kentucky. As an award-winning playwright, Johnson’s plays have been staged nationally, including in California, Texas, Illinois, Nevada, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Utah. Several of her plays, such as Wiccans in the Hood, The Negro Whisperer, Trading Races: From Rodney King to Paula Deen, Echoes of Octavia, and The Green Book Wine Club Train Trip have been in New York City festivals and readings. Her play Only One Day A Year was chosen for the Kennedy Center’s 2020 New Vision/New Voices Festival and received an award from the National Endowment for the Arts for its World Premiere at the Coterie Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. Johnson received her MFA in Writing, with a focus on playwriting, from Spalding University in May 2022.

*Member of Actors Equity Association

**Member of Stage Directors & Choreographers Society

Mountain Mamas

BY DARYL LISA FAZIO

Directed by Margaret Ledford

Sponsored by Judy Weiner

A moving and humor-filled portrait of three generations of women miners in coal country. Patsy Armstrong is a coal miner. Just like her daddy, Earl. And just like her mother, Wanda, who was one of the first women ever hired underground in a union mine – who’s still there at 60 years old. Patsy’s back in mother and daddy’s house after a mining accident that left her unable to move or communicate. When the family gets news about the settlement from Patsy’s accident, Livvy (her bright 18-year old daughter) jumps into the fray. And Patsy, now forced to listen and observe more than she ever did as a healthy person, is plagued by nightmares and revelations she’s able to share only with us. In this story of resilience and redemption, it doesn’t take long for Patsy to realize she has to learn a new way of being if she’s gonna save her entire world.

Cast

(in order of appearance)

Patsy...................................................................................................................................Daryl Lisa Fazio*†

Earl........................................................................................................................... David Breitbarth*†

Wanda.............................................................................................................................Dianne Summers*†

Livvy.............................................................................................................................................Tatum Bates*†

Stage Manager: Ruth E. Kramer*

Stage Directions Read by Arielle Conrad

DARYL LISA FAZIO is a writer, actor, and graphic designer for theatre based in Atlanta, GA. Off-Broadway: POPart: the Musical (New York Musical Theatre Festival) and Greyhounds. Regional Productions: Safety Net (Theatrical Outfit world premiere, Penobscot Theatre), The Flower Room (Actor’s Express world premiere, Florida Rep PlayLab Reading, Emory University commission), Split in Three (Aurora Theatre; Florida Rep world premiere), and Freed Spirits (Horizon Theatre commission and world premiere). Awards & Workshops: Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Barter Theatre Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights, Florida Rep PlayLab, O’Neill Finalist and Semi-Finalist; Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist and SemiFinalist; Alliance Theatre Reiser Artists Lab Residency; Official Selection, National Alliance of Musical Theatre; New York Musical Theatre Festival Next Link Selection. Daryl is also a professional actor and recently released her novel manuscript as a serial podcast called Pearl River Remains which she also performed. BA Theatre: Northwestern University; MFA Graphic Design: University of Memphis. www.darylsplays.com

Daryl Lisa Fazio’s Split in Three was read in the inaugural PlayLab, and went on to have its world premiere at Florida Rep in 2015. This is Fazio’s fifth PlayLab appearance after The Flower Room (2017), Safety Net (2019), and acting in Audrey Cefaly’s Alabaster & giving the keynote address in 2018.

Play Reading Committee

The 2023 PlayLab readings were chosen from a pool of 75 plays submitted by playwrights and agents from across the country. The reading committee made up of current & former staff, guest artists, and even Florida Rep patron donors read and evaluated each with care and expertise. Please join us in giving this group of readers a round of applause.

Rachel Berkhouse

Naomi Bloom

Viki Boyle

Jane & Bob Breisch

Bruce & Janet Bunch

Chris Clavelli

Stephanie Davis

Emily Eason

Bethany Mansfield

Kylie Gray Mask

Renee Pesci

Shannon Graves Rossi

Reva Shaffer

Shelley Wilson

Kate Young

Playlab Staff

JASON PARRISH

Festival Director

JENNIFER WOODFORD

Festival Stage Manager

SAM CRABTREE

Festival Production Assistant

JOY RESTER

Festival Company Manager

DYLAN CATANIA

Assistant to the Festival Director

SPECIAL THANKS

Lee County Alliance for the Arts

Charles Clark

Greg Longenhagen

Katie Lowe

Carolyn Messina

Deb Jonsson & Joe Dafeldecker

Jennifer Denike & Emily Yorgey

FLORIDA PROFESSIONAL THEATRES ASSOCIATION (FPTA) is a statewide organization of professional theatre companies and theatre professionals interested in the development and promotion of professional theatre throughout Florida. Florida Repertory Theatre is a proud FPTA member theatre.

Florida Repertory Theatre is a member of THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP (TCG), the national organization for the American Theatre.