FUSION Theatre Company 2024 Spring Season
FUSION Theatre Company is elated to announce our 2024 Spring Season! We are honored and thrilled to feature the playwriting prowess of FUSION alum, Jen Silverman. Included in the lineup are her plays Spain, Witch, and a surprise play as part of the audience favorite The Seven: Uninvited Guests short works fest.
Spain
by jen silverman | february 17–18
“The play is, above all, about the sometimes terrifying power of art—how it can be used to change, by minute degrees, the minds and hearts of a social set, or a generational cohort, or, God forbid, an entire mass-media-hypnotized populace.” —The New Yorker
FUSION Theatre Company presents a staged reading of SPAIN by Jen Silverman. Starring Malcom Stokes, Rachel Wiseman, Peter Diseth, Ryan Jason Cook, and Matthew Yde, FUSION’s production is directed by Laurie Thomas.
Here are the clues: sangria, bulls, and naps. Add them up and you’ve got SPAIN by Jen Silverman. It's 1936, and a pair of passionate filmmakers have landed their next big project: a sweeping Spanish Civil War film with the potential to change American hearts and minds. It just happens to be bankrolled by the KGB. This seductive and funny new play about the art of propaganda and the dangerous ongoing Disinformation Age explores how art can change the world—for better and worse.
Witch
by jen silverman | April 11–21
“Witch is utterly spellbinding... superb... intelligent.” —LA Daily News
A charming devil arrives in the quiet village of Edmonton to bargain for the souls of its residents in exchange for their darkest wishes. Elizabeth should be his easiest target, having been labeled a “witch” and cast out by the town, but her soul is not so readily bought. As the devil returns to convince her – and then returns again – unexpected passions flare, alliances are formed, and the village is forever changed.
An inventive retelling of a Jacobean drama, this sharp, subversive fable debates how much our souls are worth when hope is hard to come by.
The Seven Short Works Fest
The 18th Annual Fest | June 6–9
FUSION Theatre Company presents The Seven! The Seven is one of the nation's premiere short works festivals. The Seven features seven fully produced world premieres, utilizing seven different directors and a professional ensemble cast. The scripts are read by a jury of theatre professionals (blindly, without any identification of the playwright), and the seven highest scoring scripts will be produced. This year, the jury will select from scripts based on the theme: “Uninvited Guests.” This short works festival culminates in one evening of theatre featuring seven world-premiere plays! You won’t want to miss Albuquerque’s beloved annual theatrical event!
About Jen Silverman (Playwright)
JEN SILVERMAN (they/them) is a playwright, novelist, and screenwriter, as well as a FUSION alum. Two of their short plays were winners of THE SEVEN, FUSION's short works festival, in 2008, and one, THE EDUCATION OF MACALOCO, was performed by FUSION at the Samuel French OOB Festival, winning Jen their first publishing and licensing contract. FUSION also produced Jen's play THE MOORS, as well as their original book for the company's children's theatre tour of PRINCESS MARISOL AND THE MOON THIEVES.
Plays include: SPAIN; COLLECTIVE RAGE: A PLAY IN 5 BETTIES; THE ROOMMATE; and WITCH. Their plays have been produced off-Broadway (Second Stage Theatre, MCC Theater, The Playwrights Realm), across the US (Steppenwolf, The Goodman, The Humana Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Huntington, South Coast Repertory Theatre, Writers Theatre etc), and internationally in Australia, the UK, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Brazil, Spain, and elsewhere.
Books include: the debut novel WE PLAY OURSELVES (named one of the best books of the year by Buzzfeed; a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award), story collection THE ISLAND DWELLERS (finalist for a PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize), and new novel THERE’S GOING TO BE TROUBLE forthcoming from Random House in April 2024.
Silverman is a three-time MacDowell Fellow, a member of New Dramatists, and a Scholar of Note at the American Library in Paris. They wrote THE MIRANDA OBSESSION as a narrative podcast for Audible, starring Rachel Brosnahan. They also write for TV and film, including TALES OF THE CITY (Netflix) and TOKYO VICE (HBO/Max). Honors include fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim.
Actors' Equity Association (AEA), founded in 1913, represents more than 45,000 actors and stage managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. The Equity emblem is our mark of excellence.