Loading Dock Theatre Announces 2020 Forklift Season

Loading Dock Theatre - the multi-Drama Desk Award-nominated Brooklyn theater company that produces emotional, character-driven plays with an experimental edge - has announced two new projects for its fourth annual Forklift New Play Development season. The company will be adapting to the ever-changing theatrical landscape by creating a completely socially distant backyard play, Cory and Smin's Love Conquers the Earth by Billy McEntee, and producing Forklift's first-ever digital show, $#!thole Country Clapback by Pascale Armand (Tony nominee for her role in Danai Gurira's Eclipsed). Both productions will benefit complimentary thematic nonprofits.

 

Cory and Smin's Love Conquers the Earth

By Billy McEntee

Directed by Charles Quittner

Featuring Daphne Overbeck (2019 Brooklyn Nightlife Award Winner), Jamie Lowenstein, and Jordan Ho

Set and Costume Design by Rodrigo Hernandez Martinez

Lighting and Sound Design by Nick Auer

Music Direction by Nikolai Mishler

October 15, 16, and 17 at 6 PM

A few years from now, when cities have banned gas-fueled cars and drag queens host gardening clubs, two enamored teens on opposite sides of the country struggle to meet in the middle: Cory wants a relationship, Smin wants a revolution. Each is difficult to attain when there are college essays and manifestos to write, mom's shopping to do, and maybe a planet to save. Anthemic and bawdy, Cory and Smin's Love Conquers the Earth is a queer "eco-medy" giving Zoomers, Boomers, and everyone in between a future to fear - or believe in.

Adhering to strict OSHA safety guidelines, this will be an outdoor production where the three actors and small audience will all be social distancing and wearing masks. Members of the company are being tested for COVID on a weekly basis, with temperature checks administered and hand sanitizer given out to the company and audience before entering the performance space, a Williamsburg, Brooklyn backyard. That exact address will be given out once a ticket request has been submitted and confirmed. Due to limited seating, not all requests can be accommodated. Email loadingdocktheatre@gmail.com for more information and request tickets via a Google form here. Tickets are free, but a $10 suggested donation is encouraged (which includes custom masks by Robert Dowling), with every dollar raised benefiting The Sunrise Movement.

$#!thole Country Clapback

By Pascale Armand

Directed By Kimille Howard

Dramaturgy by Arminda Thomas & Nathaniel Foster

Video editing by Daniela Hart

October 24 at 8 PM

January of 2018, Donald Trump made an erroneous statement that compelled Tony nominee Pascale Armand to put pen to paper. Since then, she has been developing her theatrical one-woman show in response. The sweeping piece chronicles her family's immigration journey into and out of the US. Through this, Pascale comes to terms with her dual identity and the inexplicable link between Haiti and the United States that is often ignored, dismissed, or unknown. Pascale Armand's $#!thole Country Clapback takes a bold and intimate look into what makes us who we are - and where the heart calls home. The virtual reading will benefit Haitian Global Health Alliance in support of GHESKIO. Reserve your tickets at https://www.gheskio.org/clapback/.

Loading Dock was founded by playwright/director Leegrid Stevens and actor Erin Treadway. The company is based in Brooklyn where it creates original works that explore the extremes in human behavior and emotional, character-driven plays with an experimental edge. Notable productions include Spaceman (nominated for two Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance and Outstanding Lighting Design), The Dudleys (winner of the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Innovative Design), The Twelfth Floor (nominated for four New York Innovative Theatre Awards), and Ms. Julie, Asian Equities, amongst others.

Loading Dock Theatre is proud to present the fourth season of Forklift, our reading and developmental program presenting works in progress by exciting writers and directors, in our space in Brooklyn. Loading Dock is made possible with funding from the Brooklyn Arts Council. Nathaniel Foster joins the team as the Associate Producer.

Curated by Artistic Associate Charles Quittner, Forklift has presented workshops of new pieces by Tanya Everett, Sam Chanse, Brittain Ashford & Gracie Gardner, Zoë Geltman, The Syndicate of Initiative, Daaimah Mubashshir, Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, Troy Deutsch, Asia Gagnon, Sam Schanwald & Avery Leigh Draut, Ryan Szelong, Thicket and Thistle, Noah Mease, and Charlie O’Leary.