For the Festival, five writers will be joined by professional actors and production teams who help bring their vision to life; all eight of the playwrights will participate in events as part of the OPC artist community.

Schedule of Events:

1:30pm - In Conversation

A discussion with the playwrights led by OPC Producing Artistic Director Jeremy B. Cohen

3:00pm - Stories in Mother Tongues by Deepak Kumar

Paati, a 79-year-old grandmother, is waiting to die. Her only joy comes from a one-woman play she runs every night. But when her family is corrupted by demons that threaten to destroy the play, Paati must team up with an unlikely ally: her existentially tortured grandson, Giri. Will Paati and Giri defeat the demons? Or will the show just… end? A metatheatrical action adventure about tradition, expectations, and learning to speak in your mother tongue.

7:30pm - burn for You by Regan Moro

A blistering August in upstate New York. No rain in 3 months. And the little daughter of Lila, a young worship leader at a charismatic church, doesn’t wake up one morning. Lila’s estranged sister Franny, a lesbian who fled the church seven years prior, returns home for the first time for what she thinks is a funeral; only to find that her sister and the church she left behind are determined to pray for the toddler’s resurrection—no matter how long it takes. A play about incongruous faith, sisters, and what happens when we pray for something dead to come back.