Bite Me

synopsis:

Nathan is ditching class when he stumbles on Melody crying in a storage closet - he’s a white boy with family money and dangerous habits, she’s the lone Black girl on campus, excelling academically and grappling with isolation.  Bite Me is a dark comedy that explores the drama (and trauma) of surviving high school, as Nathan and Melody find themselves tangled in an unexpected bond they'll spend a lifetime unraveling. 

published and licensed through Concord Samuel French

HISTORY:

Production: World premiere Off-Broadway WP Theater and Colt Coeur. Development: South Coast Repertory Pacific Playwright’s Festival, NNPN National New Play Showcase, Orlando Shakes PlayFest, UCF Pegasus PlayLab.

  • In “Bite Me,” by the playwright Eliana Pipes, the reasons a studious girl can’t afford to slip up while her crush has the privilege to slack off hum beneath their budding friendship like the drone of a fluorescent blub …Pipes is also interested in how race, class and gender can play a role in determining who needs to hustle for the opportunities that others freely squander … Sometimes ridding closets of their ghosts is the only way to move forward.” - New York Times


    “RAW. STARTLING. VIVID. Bite Me [is] a brutally honest two-hander about adolescence and its aftermath. Pipes carefully lays a snare that entangles her protagonists in a web of need and grievance from which there may be no escape. With acutely observant direction and deeply nuanced characterizations, Martínez and her actors don't miss a detail.” -
    Light & Sound America

    “Engaging & Thought-provoking! … Pipes has written an excellent play; she draws the disparate
    socio-economic and racial lines between Nathan and Melody
    with a fine pen. The arc and landscape of their friendship and its ultimate struggle is carefully wrought and effective.” -
    Theater Scene


DREAM HOU$E

Synopsis

Two Latina sisters are appearing on an HGTV-style reality show to sell their family home, hoping to capitalize on the gentrification in their “changing neighborhood.” As they perform for the camera the show starts to slip into the surreal: one sister grapples with turmoil in the family’s ancestral past and 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?

published and licensed through Concord Samuel French

HISTORY:

Production: World premiere triple co-production with The Alliance Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, and Baltimore Center Stage. Publication: Concord Samuel French. Awards: Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Fellowship, Leah Ryan Prize, KCACTF Harold and Mimi Steinberg Playwriting Award, and Arizona Theatre Company National Latine Playwriting Award. Development: Ars Nova ANT Fest, Two River Theater Crossing Borders Festival, Kitchen Dog New Works Festival, Echo Theater NYPR Program, and Latinx New Play Festival.

  • “Nothing can prepare you for this purposefully uncentered, unsettled social satire, which explores the meaning of everything from genealogy to gentrification, from virtue to video. This is the kind of play to see because you can’t imagine it without seeing it.” — Hartford Courant


    ”Audiences can look forward to a remarkable play that combines humor, sharp satire, and thoughtful investigations. All the elements combine to captivate the audience while giving us plenty to think about, during the play and long after. This production is not one to miss.” —
    Broadwayworld

    “Pipes truly has a way of leading the audience to the deepest meaning without feeling like you’ve been hit over the head with socio-political connotations. Flitting in an out of reality and across the entirety of the playing space, “Dream Hou$e” is a well-oiled machine of energy and passion. Go see this play, Baltimore (and beyond). Revel in its joy, its humor, its sacrifice, and its art. See it, and reflect on how closely it hits home.” —
    MD Theatre Guide


Hoops

synopsis:

HOOPS is a celebration of hoop earrings - an iconic staple in Black and Latina beauty culture with historical African and Indigenous roots. HOOPS weaves together documentary theater storytelling (drawn from real interviews with Hoop lovers across America), larger-than-life comedic vignettes, and song and dance numbers for a celebratory mix that’s both profound and playful.

HISTORY:

Production: World premiere commission by Milwaukee Chamber Theater. Subsequent production with Company One and Boston Playwright’s Theater.

  • “HOOPS” Is a Must-See...it shine[s]...lively songs,sketches, and dancing. ... It’s rare to find a show that delights, educates, and challenges so seamlessly but HOOPS pulls it off. The creativity shines through...catch it while it’s still here.” — Milwaukee Magazine

    “...an opus of social commentary that other narratives of Culture have never really grappled with...women who have historically been represented on the periphery were celebrated ...allowed us to live in the quirk, theatrics, and intimate monologues of truths not heard enough. ...I resonated with the performance as a notation that I too exist within this nuance of Culture, a sisterhood that is passed on like DNA or inherited like a family heirloom.” — CopyWrite Magazine


    “rousing...triple threats who act, sing, and dance with precision. ...fast-paced, eye-filling...something for everyone. ...worthwhile viewing for theatergoers and those who have never set foot in a theater... It’s something fresh and new---just what a world premiere should be.” —
    Shepherd Express

more:

  • Synopsis: LORENA: a Tabloid Epic spins out of the media hailstorm surrounding Lorena Bobbitt, who became a sensation after she used a kitchen knife to cut off her abusive husband’s penis in 1993. The tacky dystopia of American pop culture tumbles onto the stage in a series of funhouse vignettes that know no bounds, while The Playwright desperately tries to protect Lorena from the play which has gotten out of her control.

    Workshop Production: Boston Playwright’s Theater (MFA Thesis). Development: New York Theatre Workshop Dartmouth Residency, The Playwright’s Realm Scratchpad Series, UC Santa Barbara LaunchPad. Awards: O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference Finalist, KCACTF Honorable Mention Mark Twain Prize for Comedy.

  • Synopsis: Cowboy and the Moon follows a modern-day white alcoholic father who sees himself within his addiction as a wandering Cowboy in the wild west — but the real world churns on for his Black wife and daughter who have to negotiatie between playing into his fantasy and grappling with the impact of his drinking on their day-to-day lives.


    Development: Boston Court Pasadena Playwright’s Group, NNPN MFA Playwright’s Workshop at the Kennedy Center. Awards: KCACTF Ken Ludwig Award winner. O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference Finalist, Bay Area Playwright’s Festival Finalist.

  • Synopsis: In Unf*ckwithable, a disaffected millennial who’s recently been laid off decides to take control of her own destiny. She moves into a van, vlogging her #vanlife adventures by day and shooting down delivery drones to plunder the contents by night. She’s ready to become a modern-day Robin Hood, until one day she shoots down a box she shouldn’t have.

    Workshop Production: Drama League DirectorFest. Development: Old Globe Powers New Voices Festival.