Corkscrew Theater Festival Presents Alice Pencavel's PIE SHOP PLAY

Corkscrew Theater Festival presents Pie Shop Play, written by Alice Pencavel and directed by Sivan Battat. Running July 20-29, Pie Shop Play concerns two sisters whose big dreams are derailed when the pipes in their pie shop burst, leaking toxic unknowns that rob them of coherent speech. As the shop slowly floods, buried trauma, and secrets pour forth as well, forcing the sisters to work it out (through garbled English) before they drown. Performed by Devin Kessler, Futaba Shioda*, Kaylee Simonson, Eliza Simpson*, and Madame Vivien V, Pie Shop Play is the third production in the second annual season of Corkscrew Theater Festival, a new summer theater festival that provides early-career artists with a high level of production support.

A lattice come crumble, stone fruit in the eye, a berry and a hatchet baked into a pie... Agnes and Kitty -- the pie shop sisters - have big dreams. But when a pipe bursts, leaking toxic unknowns that flood the shop and rob them of coherent speech, they are forced to contend with a past that still haunts and divides them (lest they drown). Culminating in a dramatic stand-off played out through an original language of gibberish and jumbled English, Pie Shop Play reveals the havoc that trauma brings down upon all who work in the name of pie.

In Pencavel's words, "Pie Shop Play is born out of an investigation of boundaries -- with others, our immediate environment, and our own bodies. What arises are traumas unhealed, bodies ungendered, and a confluence of space and time -- outside vs. inside, past vs. present. In reaction to the amorphous quality of being where there are no clear answers, all the characters desperately try to erect boundaries as an attempt to reinforce what they have told themselves is true. But all this effort does is reveal the effort! The play responds to a political environment that frequently mistakes walls as boundaries and identity politics as exclusion.

Our inability to hold paradox in one hand baffles and intrigues me. In this spirit, Pie Shop Play is whimsy and dark, lyric and blunt, wrought and farcical. What better way to interrogate perplexing contradictions than over a slice of pie?"

Corkscrew Theater Festival features five world premieres and four readings performed in repertory over four weeks. Special attention has been given to theater makers who are developing work through innovative and robust collaborations. A majority of the participating artists identify as women or trans.

The creative team forPie Shop Play includes Dan Daly (set design), Stacey Derosier (lighting design), and Rosza Daniel Lang/Levitsky and Milo (costume design), Simone Allen (sound design/foley artist/composer), Emmie Finckel (dramaturg), and Annie Ning (assistant director).

Performances ofPie Shop Play will take place July 20-29 (see schedule above) at Paradise Factory (64 E 4th St, Manhattan). Critics are welcome as of July 20, which serves as the official opening. Tickets are $24 and can be purchased at corkscrewfestival.org or by calling 347.954.9125.

Alice Pencavel's plays have been performed in New York, California, Maine, Ukraine, and Romania. She has worked with Lincoln Center Theater, Naked Angels, IRT, Theater in Asylum, MCC Theater, Manhattan Repertory, Superhero Clubhouse, the Arctic Group, and The Kitchen Theater, among others. She is Bay Area Playwrights Festival finalist and Eugene O'Neill Conference semi-finalist. BFA Acting, Ithaca College; MFA Playwriting New School for Drama. alicepencavel.com

Sivan Battat is a theatre director and teaching artist focused on new play and new musical development. Select credits: East o, West o! (Ars Nova), Unstoppable (Haven Kids Rock), School Girls (asst: Rebecca Taichman, MCC), On the Shore of the Wide World (asst: Neil Pepe, Atlantic), Animal (asst: GT Upchurch, Atlantic), King Charles III (associate: David Muse, ACT, Seattle Rep, STC). She teaches acting and storytelling within a variety of communities and organizes with Mizrahi Jews in NYC. BA: Wesleyan University. sivanbattat.com

Devin Kessler was born in the Washington, DC area but is now a native of New York City. She attended the renowned Duke Ellington School of the Arts for High school and recently graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in Drama. UNCSA Theatre credits include The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Company. Her Regional theatre credits include  On the Town, Our Town, The Unspoken 200 and Four Little Girls. She would like to thank her Mom and Nana for always supporting her.

Madelyn Paquette is a New York-based creative producer, general manager, and arts administrator. She is the Director of Business Operations at THML Theatre Company where she helps promote the advancement of women in the arts. She has also worked with the New York Musical Festival, the Center at West Park, the Castillo Theatre, and Aaron Grant Theatrical. She holds a BFA in Acting from the University of Miami.

Brenna Ross has worked with various institutions focused on the developments of new works including IBEX Puppetry, The 24 Hour Plays, The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, and SPACE on Ryder Farm. Recent projects include: Ajijaak on Turtle Island, Harmonious Migrations, Crane: on earth, in sky (IBEX Puppetry), The 24 Hour Musicals: Los Angeles, The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway (The 24 Hour Plays), What a Young Girl Ought to Know (Climate Nexus, Art Rising) Journey to the Center of a Black Hole, Insomniac's Almanac (independent).

Futaba Shioda is excited to tackle this layered and unique new play. A graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts New Studio on Broadway, they were last seen nationally and internationally on the 20thAnniversary Tour of RENT and in Galatea at the WP Theater's Pipeline Festival. Thank you to Eddie Rabon and my ever supportive friends. Futabashioda.com

Kaylee Simonson is a recent graduate from the Pace School of Performing Arts. She is so grateful to be involved in the Corkscrew Festival and to be working with such amazing women during her post-grad summer. Recent projects include another female-driven show, Locker Room Talk (Dixon Place), and Commedia's Got Talent (The Hive NYC). Here's to speaking your mind even if it gets a little messy, and here's to pie!

Eliza Simpson's favorite credits include The Woodsman (New World Stages, 59E59 Theaters), Disco Pigs (The Sheen Center, Directorfest), The Mysteries (The Flea Theater), Kapow-i GoGo (The PIT, Time Out NY Critics Pick), Three Sisters (HIT). Regional: The Christmas Carol (Indiana Repertory Theater), It's a Wonderful Life (Mile Square Theater). Film: Ricki and the Flash (TriStar Pictures), Rachel Getting Married (Sony Pictures Classic), The Manchurian Candidate (Paramount Pictures). Eliza is the founder and Executive Director Mother Line Story Project Inc. www.motherlinestoryproject.com She holds a BFA degree from Rutgers University.

Madame Vivien V, most known for reigning as the Door Queen and VIP Host of the House of Yes, is a beloved goddess of New York City nightlife. She is a producer and emcee for the queer variety show the "Glitter Unicorn Sparkle Spectacular" which recently presented at this past Electric Forrest Music Festival. An award-winning fire performer and alumni of the Commercial Theatre Institute, she has been a resident performer of the immersive theatre company Little Cinema since 2017, appeared in the critically acclaimed web series "So SOHA", and is the only drag queen in history to have performed at New York City Hall.

Now in its second year, Corkscrew Theater Festival showcases original productions by early-career artists who are creating work through robust and innovative collaborations. Corkscrew aims to advocate for underrepresented artists and viewpoints while mounting a festival that offers a unique mix of work at various stages of development, promoting dialogue among artists and building community around a season of theatre. In its inaugural 2017 run, Corkscrew was featured in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Playbill, WNYC, and more. "Packed with young talent. In the risk-taking venture that is summer festival-going, encountering talent you want to see more of is a worthy payoff." www.corkscrewfestival.org