Bondage
Play Description
BONDAGE takes place pre-Emancipation on a small island in the Caribbean. With the onset of puberty, Zuri must use her wits to outsmart the twisted desires of a drunken master and a sadistic mistress on a haunted plantation. Hierarchies of race and gender collide in this AfroSurreal tale of an enslaved girl who dares to follow her own instincts toward liberation by any means.
Production Info
Cast: 5 total (4 female, 1 male, 2 of the female characters should always be played by black actors or those who identify as biracial/black)Full Length Drama (about 85 minutes)
Single Set
Period Costumes
- Reviews
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
Press Quotes
“… the drama thrills, partly because it’s still so rare to see genuine bravery in theatrical depictions of race, partly because Finch has such a singular mode of expression.” —Lily Janiak, sfgate.com
“Finch’s dialogue is potent, beautifully expressed and mysterious, especially in its dreamlike mystical moments. There’s some haunting imagery in the play that gives it a ritualistic, almost fairy-tale-like quality at times. More than anything, though, it’s a tense and unsettling piece that plays with race, gender, family and power dynamics in provocative and sometimes brutal ways.” —Sam Hurwitt, marinij.com
“Blending blunt prose with lush, intricate poetry, Finch does more than put lyrical words in the mouths of her richly rendered characters; she uses that language to create an atmosphere of off-kilter dreaminess …” —David Templeton, northbaystageandscreen.com
Author(s)
Star FinchStar Finch is a native San Franciscan trying her best to hold ground amidst the Black-erasure of gentrification. She is currently the Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Campo Santo and Crowded Fire Theater. She's also a member of the RPI program at Playwrights Foundation. Finch’s plays include H.O.M.E. [Hookers on Mars Eventually] and BONDAGE (Relentless Award honorable mention). Her multidisciplinary collaborations include Campo Santo’s Ethos de Masquerade (with Global Street Dance Masquerade) and Crowded Fire's Death Become Life (with Ensemble Mik Nawooj and AXIS Dance Company).
Book Information
| Publisher | BPPI |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 6/16/2021 |
| Pages | 72 |
| ISBN | 9780881459036 |
Special Notes
If original stage producers credits appear in bold below, all licensees are required to include them in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
BONDAGE was developed in residency with,
and first produced by,
AlterTheater Ensemble, San Rafael, California.
In addition, the following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypub.com
Related Plays
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
A passionate retelling of the Daniel Bell incident, in which a black man was shot and killed while running from police officers.
Production Info
Cast: 20 total (5 female, 15 male, Multiethnic Cast)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
Thomas Babe's study of the Gilded Age is, in the author's words, “a little of this, a little of that, part musical, part tragedy, part melodrama.”
Production Info
Cast: 8 total (4 female, 4 male)Full Length Drama (about 110 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$0.00–$15.95
Play Description
Based on the classic novella, this original adaptation takes you to the dismal streets of London in the 1860s, where societal pressures silence a gentle doctor's questions about the nature of morality. As the pressure intensifies, Dr Jekyll takes matters into his own hands. However, things take an eerie turn when his experiment takes on a life of its own. Will his efforts save the world, or will they destroy all that he holds dear? After all, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Production Info
Cast: 16 total (7 female, 9 male, flexible casting, bit parts)Full Length Comedy (about 80 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Inspired by the 1973 killing of a ten-year-old boy by New York City police, THE MOJO AND THE SAYSO is both a comic and dramatic study of the ways that people cope with the aftermath of terrible tragedy.
Production Info
Cast: 4 total (1 female, 3 male)Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
Play Description
At his funeral, Eustace Baylor and his two families examine the tattered cloth of their lives. They find that if you would take one last look, you should take one first look.
Production Info
Cast: 11 total (7 female, 4 male)Short Drama (about 30 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
The classic 1851 farce. Fadinard is on the way to his wedding when his horse eats a straw hat hanging on a bush. The owner of the hat is a former girlfriend who insists that Fadinard buys her a new hat instantly. He sets off to find a replacement hat, followed by his fiancée and all their guests. The play develops into a delirious chase as Fadinard hunts the hat and the guests hunt Fadinard and comic misunderstandings litter every scene.
Production Info
Cast: 18 total (6 female, 12 male)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
On the night in 1939 when Count Basie is to be the first black performer at the Palomar Ballroom next door, a pair of Bimini Baths attendants are tasked with cleaning up a stranger fished out of the La Brea Tar Pits.
Production Info
Cast: 3 total (3 male)Full Length Drama (about 60 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle use logic and religion to fend off a seductive vampire in this fang-in-cheek comedy/thriller.
Production Info
Cast: 8 total (3 female, 5 male)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$15.00
Play Description
Set in a black barbershop in Arkansas, 1955, WEST MEMPHIS MOJO sings the unsung heroes of the blues tradition. A young songwriter, working as a shoeshine boy, collaborates with the shop owner and a small-time recording artist to create new blues tunes. Amidst racial tensions and the politics of the white-owned music industry, this play explodes with the conflicts surrounding each character's pursuit of the American dream.
Production Info
Cast: 4 total (1 female, 3 male)Full Length Drama (about 110 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
Vanya and his niece, Sonya, work relentlessly to keep their meagre estate going. Sonya finds relief in her undisclosed love for Astrov, the local doctor. But all hope of relief is banished when their lives are invaded by Sonya’s selfishly destructive father and his beautiful new wife.
Production Info
Cast: 9 total (4 female, 5 male)Full Length Drama (about 160 minutes)
Single Set
Period Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Marcus, his father Leon, and grandfather Bernard confront a history of absence, mistakes, mistrust, and broken promises as they strive to redefine themselves as fathers and sons.
Production Info
Cast: 4 total (1 female, 3 male)Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
THE DAUGHTERS OF THE MOON follows a runaway slave girl and a former plantation mistress wanted for murder as they embark on a perilous journey North towards freedom, guided by an Ancient African Goddess.
Production Info
Cast: 7 total (7 female, 6 roles are for black actors)Full Length Drama (about 105 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes