Josh is on medical leave from NYU. He’s come home to Denver to get his life together but can’t manage to stay sober. Struggling with fogginess, memory loss, shame, and regret, he finds unlikely allies in his four hilarious grandparents.

Desperate for comradery, Josh resolves to bring his grandparents along with him on the road to recovery. He overwhelms them with crossword puzzles. He drags them to Jazzercise class. He forces them to eat spinach by the handful. Eventually, he slams up against the limits of his conquest. When he can no longer help his grandparents, they begin to help him.

Jake Brasch (he/they) is a writer, actor, composer, clown and fellow in the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at Juilliard. His plays have been presented by The Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Farm Theater, ArtHouse Inkubator, Letter of Marque, and LAByrinth Theatre Company. Jake is currently under commission from the EST/Sloan Project and The Farm Theater’s College Collaboration Project. Proud member of EST/Youngblood. Jake is thrilled to return to the Denver Center where he received his professional debut in A Christmas Carol at age 11. BFA: NYU-Tisch, Experimental Theatre Wing/New Studio on Broadway.

It’s the morning of July 5, 1857, and the tenants of Mayhew’s Boarding House on New York’s Lower East Side are getting ready for a busy day. They’re an odd bunch, given their surroundings. Among them are a mute, an Irishman, a gay Black man, two Southern Belles, and the Mayhews themselves — a husband and wife team committed to advancing the women’s suffrage movement. As they prepare to host an important gathering, they receive an unexpected visit from a constable. One of the tenants has been murdered.

Hilarious hijinks ensue, amidst the backdrop of a murder mystery, as the tenants band together to conceal their involvement in the suffrage movement and improvise an elaborate ruse to throw the constable off their scent. The investigation, however, reveals much more than murder motives and rabble-rousing. It becomes an examination of human rights, the struggle to define “a woman’s place,” and political systems that have historically sought to snuff out feminist voices.

Sandy Rustin (she/her/hers) is an actress and award-winning playwright named by American Theatre Magazine as one of the “Most-Produced Playwrights of the “22/23 season.” Her adaptation of the film Clue is one of the most-produced plays in the U.S. (3,000+ productions). Her comedy, The Cottage is in development for Broadway with “Seinfeld’s” Jason Alexander directing. Her musical adaptation of Mystic Pizza is available for licensing through Concord Theatricals. Other original works include Rated P for Parenthood (Off Broadway/ABC-TV), Struck, Houston, and Elijah. Sandy serves on the Advisory Board of Camp Kesem, dedicated to helping children through their parent’s cancer diagnosis. www.sandyrustin.com

No matter where you live, the ups and downs of married life are universal. For a middle-aged American couple traveling to Egypt on a business trip-slash-vacation, their relationship is put to the test when an old connection leads to new temptation. As the eager tourists strive to connect with Egyptian culture in an authentic way, they end up getting more than they bargained for as long-dormant marital issues begin to percolate. Drawing from the political, cultural, and religious realities of living in the region, this quick-witted dramedy set in the heat of Cairo pits loyalty against attraction as its characters grapple with the ever-changing struggle of staying committed to their partners.

Middle East American Distinguished Playwright Award winner Yussef El Guindi specializes “in cultural and geographical displacement, from alienated couples to the promises and frustrations of immigration, and the ways people maneuver through foreignness and belonging” (Seattle Times).

Yussef El Guindi. Born in Egypt, raised in London and now based in Seattle, Yussef El Guindi’s work frequently examines the collision of ethnicities, cultures and politics that face immigrants, Arab-Americans and Muslim Americans in particular. El Guindi holds an MFA in playwriting from Carnegie-Mellon University. He is the recipient of many honors, including the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, the Stranger’s Genius Award, and the 2010 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award. El Guindi’s past productions include Hotter Than Egypt at Marin Theatre Company and ACT in Seattle (developed at the Denver Center); People of the Book at ACT; Language Rooms at Pony World Theatre in Seattle, and Broken Nose Theatre in Chicago; Hostages at Radial Theater Project in Seattle; The Talented Ones at UCSB’s LAUNCH PAD and Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland (Santa Barbara Independent Indy Awards); Threesome at Portland Center Stage, ACT, and at 59E59 (winner of a Portland Drammy for Best Original Script); Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World (2011 Gregory Award) also at ACT, Center Repertory Company at Walnut Creek, CA, and at Mosaic Theater Company (DC). Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat was produced by Silk Road Rising and won the M. Elizabeth Osborn award. His plays Back of the Throat (winner of L.A. Weekly’s Excellence in Playwriting Award), Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World, Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes, Such a Beautiful Voice is Sayeda and Karima’s City have been published by Dramatists Play Service. Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith, Collaborator, Threesome, The Talented Ones, Hostages, and In A Clear Concise Arabic Tongue. have been published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc. Bloomsbury/Methuen Drama published Selected Works of Yussef El Guindi. Currently a Core Company member at ACT in Seattle, a Resident Artist at Golden Thread Productions, and a member of the Lit Council Cohort.