FROM KABUL WITH LOVE & More Receive Theatre Aspen 2024 Solo Flights Project Advancement Fund Grant

Theatre Aspen has revealed two grant recipients of the 2024 Solo Flights Project Advancement Fund: From Kabul With Love, written and performed by Sammi Cannold and Safi Rauf, and directed by Cannold; and Touch, written by Kenny Finkle, performed by Anthony Rapp and directed by artistic director of the award-winning Keen Company, Jonathan Silverstein. The recipients of the Solo Flights Project Advancement grants will each be awarded $10,000 in support for a future production of those works.
 
“The six new works for this year’s fifth annual Solo Flights Festival brought a depth and humanity to the week of presentations that pushed the boundaries of what we’ve seen before at the Festival,” said Producing Director Jed Bernstein. “We are so pleased to share our congratulations with From Kabul With Love and Touch for their grants this year and send our best wishes for the future to all the shows presented this year.”
 
The selection panel for this year’s grants were distinguished members from the entertainment industry, including Rick Miramontez, the president of the eclectic New York City public relations company DKC/O&M, and the Vice President of Cultural Affairs at Arizona State University (ASU) and the Executive Director of ASU Gammage Colleen Jennings-Roggensack.
 
Solo Flights is an annual weeklong developmental festival of one-person shows presented in the beginning stages of their making. Launched in 2019, the festival has brought a variety of diverse works and celebrated actors and directors to Theatre Aspen. Artists have included Marsha Mason, Judith Ivey, Phylicia Rashad, Regina Taylor, Bryce Pinkham, Kate Baldwin, Taylor Trensch, Beau Bridges, Jeff Hiller, Lorin Latarro, Kaye Winks, Sarah Stiles, Christine Quintana, Emma Ramos, Richard Greenberg, Lameece Issaq, Michael Gaston, James Naughton, James Whiteside and more.
 
Since its inception, several of the works presented have gone on to have full, critically acclaimed productions.
 
Theatre Aspen’s Solo Flights Festival is presented in part by Rachel and Rick Klausner, Nancy Wall and Chuck Wall, Juliet Shield-Taylor and the Robins Foundation, Karen Brooks, Maja and Nicholas DuBrul, and Bunni and Paul Copaken.
 

The Binding of Lilly

Written by Joseph Dougherty
Directed by Emily Maltby
Starring Oona Laurence
Frankly, the world and the people in it have so far been a disappointment to young Lilly. Clever, observant, and trying not to be cynical, mid-westerner Lilly has tumbled into the job of nanny for the two “socially unstructured” children of an affluent Los Angeles couple. We join Lilly on her journey to make sense of her own complicated beginnings and the potentially dangerous indulgences she encounters in sunny California.
 

Long Drive Home

Written by Stephen Kaplan
Directed by Hannah Ryan
Based on the New York Times bestseller, Long Drive Home tells the compelling story of a devoted father whose perfect life is shattered by a single, fleeting error.  
 

The Great Thirst

Written by and Starring Justin Tranter
Directed by Niegel Smith
A post-apocalyptic alt-pop musical. Golden Globe and Grammy nominated hitmaker Justin Tranter plays Queen Frank, the witty, vulgar, and flamboyant leader of a Southern California water mafia in the not-so-distant future. Through soaring pop songs and a drag queen's sharp tongue, Queen Frank immerses you in the story of a family trying to do more than survive a very thirsty new world. 
 

From Kabul With Love

Written by Safi Rauf and Sammi Cannold
Starring Safi Rauf and Sammi Cannold
Directed by Sammi Cannold
In December of 2021, Afghan-American humanitarian Safi Rauf was taken hostage by the Taliban and held captive in a high security prison in Kabul for 105 days. Stateside, his Jewish-American girlfriend Sammi and his devout Muslim family—who did not accept the relationship—had to find a way to work together to get Safi out. In this profound and gripping autobiographical journey across continents, love defies the boundaries of captivity, cultural differences, and political turmoil. 
 

Sugarbelly and Other Tales My Father Told Me

Written by and Starring Guy Davis
Directed by Dean Irby
Part tall tale, part Medicine Show, part mystery, Sugarbelly is drawn from the stories that the late Ossie Davis told his son, Guy Davis. Grammy-nominated Davis breathes life through song into a bygone way of life, which is resurrected by his field hollers and songs. Performed in Guy’s inimitable style, Sugarbelly promises to be a unique and deeply satisfying evening of theatre. 
 

Touch

Written by Kenny Finkle
Directed by Jonathan Silverstein
Starring Anthony Rapp
Touch is a one-person play that follows Sydney Blatter, a gay, middle aged, middle school theater teacher. When he encounters a former student after a panic attack on the subway, Sydney's life takes an unexpected turn, forcing him to confront his ambitious past and his unfulfilled present.
 
 

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