FutureNow New Play Labs
Experience new plays the moment they come to life. The FutureNow New Play Labs showcase original work by CTC’s inaugural class of Playwriting Fellows in collaboration with our Directing Fellows—a program developed through CTC’s newly expanded partnership with The Drama League—and brought to life in public, staged, and designed workshop readings. Performed by CTC’s Acting Conservatory and shaped by our Design Fellows, these student workshops mark CTC’s first ticketed performances in the Roe Green Theater Center. With more artists, more fellows and more new work than ever before, audiences are invited inside the creative process as the next generation of theater makers brings fresh stories to life.
The Bone Wars
By Sarah Saltwick
Directed by Liz Fisher
A Rivalry of Jurassic Proportions
Performance Dates: July 10-12 & August 1
Paleontologists O.C. Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope race against each other to uncover the secrets of the prehistoric world. Between them, they discover and named 136 new species of dinosaurs, including Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Coelophysis, and Allosaurus. Their rivalry also led to their professional and personal ruin. The Bone Wars brings to life the explosive true story of the legendary rivalry between two American paleontologists in the late 1800s.
Ticket price: $35
Creatives
Sarah Saltwick
Playwright
Sarah Saltwick is a writer based in Austin, TX. She is a graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at UT Austin and was a Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. Her plays have been produced nationally and received critical acclaim from the Austin Critics Table and B. Iden Payne Committee. Recent productions include RABBITS and MotherTree at the Vortex in Austin, TX; The Pleasure Trials at Amphibian Stage in Fort Worth, TX, Moxie Theatre in San Diego, CA, and Dramashop in Erie, PA and Egress, co-written with Melissa Crespo, produced by Amphibian Stage, SLAC in Salt Lake City, TheaterWorks in Hartford, CT, and Cleveland Playhouse in Cleveland, OH. Other plays include A Perfect Robot, Tender Rough Rough Tender, an adaptation of The Scarlet Letter and The Girl Who Became Legend, a new feminist folktale for young people. She is also a Co-Director of Holden & Arts Associates, a theatrical booking agency. She shares her home with her husband, musician and visual artist Toto Miranda, their daughter Beatrix, and their cat Lulu.
Liz Fisher
Director
Liz Fisher is an interdisciplinary theatermaker based in Central Texas, working across new play development and reimaginings of classic texts. Her directing credits include the Kennedy Center, Fusebox Festival, Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Tank, Palm Beach Dramaworks, National Black Theatre, ZACH Theatre, Opera San Antonio, National Women’s Theatre Festival, The Playwrights’ Center, Heartland Theatre Company, Alaska World Arts Festival, The Classic Theatre (San Antonio), Penfold Theatre, Street Corner Arts, Shrewd Productions, ScriptWorks, and university programs including UT Austin, St. Edward’s University, James Madison University, Mary Baldwin University, and Southwestern University.
Residencies include The SPACE Programme, @theBarn Residency, and The Orchard Project’s Liveness Lab. Her directing was recognized with the Princess Grace Award in Theatre, the SDC National Directing Award (Kennedy Center), and a fellowship at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.
Liz is an Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at UIW. SDC Associate Member. MFA: Texas State University. www.lizfisher.net
ERASERS: A Bloodthirsty Comedy
By Jenny Connell Davis
Directed by Bronwen Carson
Office Supplies Meet Fascism
Performance Dates: July 24-26 & August 1
In a world that looks remarkably like ours, the National Agency of Literary Advisors gives writers “gentle advice” about what kinds of stories the world wants to see. And then, the advice gets less gentle. ERASERS is a bloodthirsty comedy about office supplies and fascism.
Ticket price: $35
Creatives
Jenny Connell Davis
Playwright
Jenny Connell Davis is the Playwright in Residence and former Literary Manager at Palm Beach Dramaworks, where she was responsible their annual Perlberg Festival of New Plays.
Erasers: A Bloodthirsty Comedy was initially developed through a residency at Chicago’s Court Theater. Other recent plays include Scientific Method (Jeff Nominee, Best New Play) The Messenger(NNPN Rolling World Premiere), Matinicus: A Lighthouse Play (Outstanding New Play, Orange County Theater Guild), I Wanna Be a F*cking Princess (B. Iden Payne award), and Anton Chekhov Is a Tasty Snack. She is currently adapting Matinicus into novel form for Islandport Press.
Her plays been developed or produced with the O’Neill, ACT (Seattle), the Araca Group, The Gift Theatre, Ars Nova, Asolo Rep, NAATCO, Theater Mitu, NYSF, Shrewd Productions, Impact Theatre, Chance Theatre, Ground Floor, and SPACE at Ryder Farm, among others. She’s been commissioned by Palm Beach Dramaworks, Chance Theater, Penfold Theater, Stonington Opera House, Phillips Academy and Ars Nova.
From 2022-2024, Jenny served as the in-house writer for Baobab Studios, developing the stories across TV, film, books, games, and VR. Her short films have screened at festivals worldwide. She adapted Jennifer Weiner’s The Littlest Bigfoot for Fox, and has developed other projects for Amazon, Anonymous Content, Disney, Good Fear and SONY.
She is an Affiliate Artist and former Core Writer with the Playwrights’ Center, was a Writer in Residence at Baltimore’s Center Stage Theater, and a member of the Hyde Park Theater and Ars Nova play groups. Jenny trained as an actor at Court and Steppenwolf theaters in Chicago, and in playwriting at UT Austin. She and her family live in Austin.
Bronwen Carson
Director
Bronwen is an award-winning generative director, writer, and interdisciplinary visual artist who began her artistic journey as a classical dancer. Innately drawn to atmospheric, thought-provoking stories that explore borderlands between pathologization and valorization, she creates dream-like spaces that weave the rigors of neuropsychology and sociology research with the intuitive traditions of folklore and myth. Her work has been supported by The Director’s Lab at The Actors Studio, Sarasvati Creative Space, The Drama League, Burning Coal Theatre, Irondale, The Ross Foundation, The Rona Jaffe Award, NY Int’l Fringe Festival, The Ailey Center, Skirball, Meetinghouse Literary Journal, Unleash Press, TÉA Artistry, Duke Films, Nix Creek Films, GRASP, The Private Theatre, Triality Studios, The Dramatist’s Guild, and The Sundance Institute.
Selected Credits: Off-Broadway: The Man Who Laughs (Treehouse Theatre), April’s Fool (Connelly Theatre), Rocco, Chelsea (HERE Arts – Movement / Contributing Writer), Myopia and Dim Sum (Neighborhood Playhouse), Jack’s Back! (World Premiere, Gloria Maddox Theatre) Regional: The Mansion of Many Apartments (Burning Coal Theatre [Broadway World Best New Play | Best Director nominee]), Red Silk (U.S. Premiere, Howland Cultural Center), ACCORD(ing) (Burning Coal Theatre). Film: Has Anyone Seen Bill? (SoundingLine), Tunnels Above Ground (Duke Films), Vara (SoundingLine). Awards: Best Short Film (London Vision Film Festival), ARRF Director Award (Amsterdam Int’l Film Festival), Outstanding Drama (Fuquay Film Festival), Excellence in Directing (NY Int’l Fringe Festival) Bronwen is also a National Book Award nominee, Unleash Press Award recipient, and a Rona Jaffe Bread Loaf Scholar recipient for her novel, Magpie.
Member of SDC, SAG-AFTRA, and AG. www.bronwencarson.com / www.soundingline-arts.com