VIDEO: See a Sneak Peek of the World Premiere of DREAM HOU$E

The Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition continues to spotlight the best emerging playwrights with a full production for the competition winner and staged readings for four competition finalists. The 18th competition winner DREAM HOU$E is written by Eliana Pipes, who recently completed her MFA at Boston University, with Direction by Laurie Woolery. DREAM HOU$E will have its world premiere on the Hertz Stage at Alliance Theatre Jan 28 - Feb 13, 2022. Opening night is tonight, Wednesday, February 2, 7:30 p.m. A filmed version of DREAM HOU$E will also be available to stream online February 11 - 27, 2022, on the Alliance's website.

Check out the trailer below!

DREAM HOU$E follows two Latina sisters who go on an HGTV-style reality show to sell their family home, hoping to capitalize on the gentrification happening in their "changing neighborhood." As they perform for the camera, one sister grapples with turmoil in the family's ancestral past while the other learns how much she's willing to sacrifice for the family's future. What is the cultural cost of progress in America - and is cashing in always selling out?

DREAM HOU$E is being produced as a co-production with Baltimore Center Stage in Maryland and Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. When asked about the development of the play, Pipes stated, "The triple co-production started with winning the Alliance/Kendeda Competition, which was such a dream for me because I remember learning about the Alliance/Kendeda Competition in high school and putting it on my vision board of things to apply to one day, so it had been in my sights for a long time. Long Wharf Theatre did a reading of the play for their New Works Festival in 2020, and the artistic director of Baltimore Center Stage was on the selection committee for the Alliance/Kendeda Competition. Once the Alliance chose it as the competition's winning play, the other two theaters jumped in to produce it as well."

The cast of DREAM HOU$E includes Darilyn Castillo (Hamilton) as Julia, Jacqueline Correa (Regional: The Crucible) as Patricia, Marianna McClellan (Stupid F*cking Bird) as Tessa, with Katie Gonzalez, Kenneth C. Lewis, Blake Lowe, and Shelby Woolridge as the Ensemble.

The creative team of DREAM HOU$E is led by Director Laurie Woolery, the director of Public Works at New York's The Public Theater, and includes Stephanie Osin Cohen (Scenic Design), Haydee Zelideth (Costume Design), Jason Lynch (Lighting Design), Mark Holthusen (Projection Design) and Paul James Prendergast (Sound Design and Composer). Additional production support is provided by Jayson T. Waddell (Stage Manager), Alexis Woodard (Assoc. Director), Amanda Watkins (Line Producer), and Haylee Scott (COVID Coordinator).

The Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition solicits plays from the leading MFA graduate programs in the United States and then conducts a rigorous selection process to find four finalists and one winning play. The winner receives a full production as part of the Alliance Theatre regular season. The winner and four finalists also receive development opportunities for their works including staged readings with industry professionals. A one-of-a-kind opportunity for emerging playwrights, the Competition transitions student playwrights to the world of professional theatre.

Past winners of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition have become some of today's most exciting playwrights and writers, including Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue inspired the 2017 Academy Award-winning film for Best Picture, Moonlight; Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist Meg Miroshnik (The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls), Mike Lew (Tiger Style!), 2018 winner of the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for an Emerging American Playwright, and Jiréh Breon Holder, whose competition-winning play Too Heavy For Your Pocket opened off-Broadway in 2017.

This production is generously supported by The Kendeda Fund for New Works. This production is supported in part by the BOLD Theater Women's Leadership Circle. The community partner for DREAM HOU$E is WE LOVE BUFORD HIGHWAY.

DREAM HOU$E will run on the Hertz Stage at Alliance Theatre Jan 28 - Feb 13, 2022. Opening night is Wednesday, February 2, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $25 and are available at the Alliance Theatre Box Office by calling 404.733.4600. Tickets are available online at www.alliancetheare.org/dreamhouse.

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