In Community We Trust
a digital event featuring new works by
Jonathan Norton, J.C. Pankratz, and Eliana Pipes
Premiering Thursday, January 26 at 7pm ET
This January, the Company One Surge Lab writers bring you In Community We Trust — an evening of short plays on the theme of wellbeing and community health, explored through a lens of hope and action. Lab members Jonathan Norton, J.C. Pankratz, and Eliana Pipes were commissioned earlier this fall to write responsively on prompts related to community care in public and private spaces alike. The resulting stories — funny, incisive, and full of heart — will be presented alongside conversations with Boston-area community partners and activists, and include action steps that attendees can take to help us build a Better Future together.
‣‣ Inspiration
It’s 2023, and as we launch into this new year, we’re still carrying the challenges and losses of the last several years with us. In strengthening our collective care practices, what does “wellbeing” look like now? What are the many ways we can uplift and enrich the health of our numerous communities? What kinds of public spaces of care can we carve out for — and with — one another?
C1’s Director of New Work, Ilana Brownstein, notes that “when the questions we’re asking are this immediate, C1 looks to our Surge Lab writers for guidance and inspiration. Through a process of responsive writing, we embrace a narrative format built for immediacy, dynamism, and engagement. Each writer creates a story and a character who speaks directly to us, and takes us on a journey of discovery that connects to issues on the ground. Across the country, it’s becoming harder and harder for people to find genuinely safe spaces for connection and support. But there are individuals and organizations working towards communal wellbeing, and the stories our Surge Lab writers have generated celebrate those bright lights with hope and, most importantly, with calls to action.”
‣‣ About Volt Lab
The Company One PlayLab Circuit Surge Lab brings together established artivist-playwrights who receive mini-commissions to write responsively on themes we're tackling in conversation with community partners and organizations. Inspired and prompted by current affairs, on a local and national level, the Surge Lab imbues their plays with calls to action in partnership with local community organizations. Their plays are recorded digitally and premiere within our PlayLab and Connectivity programming.
‣‣ About The Playwrights
Jonathan Norton (he/him)
Jonathan’s work has been produced or developed by Dallas Theater Center, Jacob’s Pillow, Actors Theatre of Louisville (44th Humana Festival), National New Play Network, PlayPenn, Pyramid Theatre Company, Black and Latino Playwrights Conference, Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Kitchen Dog Theater, Soul Rep Theatre Company, Undermain Theatre, Theater Three and South Dallas Cultural Center. Jonathan’s play Mississippi Goddamn was a Finalist for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and won the 2016 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award. Other awards include: Artistic Innovations Grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance, SDCC Diaspora Performing Arts Commission, the TACA Family New Works Fund and the TACA Bowdon Family Foundation Artist Residency Fund, Jubilee Theatre's 2019 Eastman Visionary Award, and a Dallas Historical Society Award for Creative Excellence. His play penny candy was published by Deep Vellum Publishing. Jonathan is proud to serve as the Playwright in Residence at Dallas Theater Center. www.nortonscriptworks.com
J.C. Pankratz (they/them)
J.C. Pankratz is a proud queer, non-binary, transgender playwright and educator writing genre-defying work about gender, class, trauma, and magic. Their plays include Eat Your Young (Boston Playwrights' Theatre), Egg Tooth (Distinguished Achievement, Jean Kennedy Smith Award), Redeemer Mine (Finalist, O’Neill Playwrights Conference), and Joyless Eye (Semi-Finalist, O’Neill Playwrights Conference; Runner-up, Jean Kennedy Smith Award). Previous collaborators include the Kitchen Dog Theater, Lily + Joan Theatre Company, Seattle Theatre Works and Theatremasters. They are the recipient of the 2021 FMM Fellowship for Works in Heightened Language from Synecdoche Works for their play Seahorse. www.jcpankratz.com
Eliana Pipes (she/her)
Eliana Pipes is a playwright, performer and filmmaker. Her plays include DREAM HOU$E (world premiere co-production at Alliance Theater, Long Wharf Theater, and Baltimore Center Stage); Bite Me (South Coast Rep Pacific Playwrights Festival, NNPN National New Play Showcase); Unf*ckwithable (Drama League DirectorFest); Cowboy and the Moon (Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, NNPN MFA Playwrights' Workshop), Lorena: a Tabloid Epic (NYTW Dartmouth Residency, The Playwrights Realm Scratchpad Series); and Stand and Wait (The Fire This Time Festival). She's been awarded the KCACTF Harold & Mimi Steinberg Award and Ken Ludwig Scholarship; Leah Ryan Fund Prize for Emerging Women Writers; ATC National Latine Playwright Award; Dr. Floyd Gaffney National Playwriting Prize; and is a three-time finalist status for the Eugene O'Neill National Playwriting Conference. As a filmmaker, she won the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women through the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the inaugural WAVE Grant through Wavelength Productions support the production of her animated short film ¡Nails! which was an official selection at the Outfest LA LGBTQ+ Film Festival, the NALIP Media Summit Showcase, and Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival. She’s also a recipient of the inaugural Colin Higgins Youth Filmmaker Award through Outfest. BA Columbia University, MFA Playwriting Boston University. www.elianapipes.com