Joust Theater Company to Present Gina Stevensen's BOOK OF ESTHER

The Joust Theatre Company will present the NYC workshop premiere of Gina Stevensen's Book of Esther.

"When 17-year-old Esther enters the annual yeshiva high school poetry slam, she knows that everything is about to change. She will have to decide which world to live in: the world of her Orthodox Jewish family, or the world of modern-day Brooklyn. As we follow Esther in the year leading up to the poetry slam, strange things happen. The mythic figure Queen Esther mysteriously appears to instruct her on how a woman ought to behave. Esther forges a secret friendship with a hipster barista who shows her things she's never seen before, like chai lattes and electricity bills. Will her own questioning take Esther too far to come home?"

Book of Esther features Brooke Shilling, Allie Wing, Meridith Jones, Mark Singer, Xandra Clark, and Chris Ogren, directed by Lauren Z. Adleman.

Book of Esther plays the Lab at Alchemical Studios (104 W 14th St) on December 8th and 9th. All performance begin at 7:30pm. Tickets are $10 if reserved online, $15 at the door. Tickets and information are available at bookofesther.brownpapertickets.com.

Gina Stevensen is a playwright who embraces magic and myth to tell stories about gender, power, and identity. The Playwrights' Center's Core Writers Program has said her writing, "beautifully captures the specificity of young womanhood." Her plays include KIDS (Williamstown Theatre Festival), BUCK (Governor's Island 2017 Summer Residency), CRUEL SISTER (Columbia University) and BOOK OF ESTHER (Top Ten Finalist: 2017 Jewish Playwriting Contest, Semi-Finalist: 2016 Princess Grace Award). She was a finalist for the 2017 MFA mentor position at Horizon Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival and is the Writing Coordinator for Tribeca Performing Arts Center's Writers in Performance Workshop. Gina teaches screenwriting at The Writer's Rock and has worked as a TA in undergraduate drama at NYU and Barnard College. She is currently assisting Eve Ensler on the New York premiere of her solo show In The Body of the World at MTC. BFA Drama: NYU Tisch. MFA Playwriting Candidate: Columbia University. www.ginastevensen.com.

Lauren Z. Adleman is a Brooklyn-based theater director with an affinity for stories exploring the nature of personal identity. Credits include the premiere productions of Black Hollow (Signature/Columbia); Ambition: the female American serial killer musical (Ars Nova/ANT Fest); and Malefactions (Chinatown Soup). 2017 Lincoln Center Directors Lab Alum. 2017 Drama League Rough Draft Resident. 2015-2016 Playwrights Horizons Robert Moss Directing Fellow. Currently, Lauren is the Associate Director to Rachel Chavkin on the national tour of Small Mouth Sounds by Bess Wohl. www.laurenza.me.

Book of Esther marks the fourth and final installment of The Joust Theatre Company's Workshop Series 2017: An Examination of Identity. An Examination of Identity is a workshop series of four new plays that explore identity, belonging, and the responsibility we have to raise our unique voices amidst adversity. Previous installments were q u e r e n c i a: an imagined autobiography about forbidden fruits by Benjamin Benne, Incorruptible: The Tragical Historie of Maximilien Robespierre by Jacob Marx Rice, and Naked: What Women and Their Bodies Represent to America by Clinnesha Dillon Sibley. The Joust Theatre Company is an artistic ensemble determined to produce relevant, sensitive, and fearless work that captivates audiences by capturing the spirit of facing challenges great and small. Previous productions include: The Monthly Joust Series, Assistance by Leslye Headland, The Rules by Dipika Guha and Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman. For more information, visit www.jousttheatre.org.