PREVIOUS PRODUCTIONS
A brief history of UR Here Theater's performances
2023: SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES
BY DEL SHORES
Follows the journey of four gay boys in the Baptist Church. Storyteller Mark Lee Fuller tries to create a world of love and acceptance in the church and clubs of Dallas, Texas, while desperately trying to find a place to put his own pain and rage. The world Mark creates also includes two older barflies, Peanut and Odette, whose banter takes the audience from hysterical laughter to tragedy and tears. With a theme of religion clashing with sexuality, the play opened to rave reviews in Los Angeles during its original run in 2000 and became the most awarded play of the year.
Themes/Talking Points: religion, growing up gay in the church, childhood trauma, suicide
2023: THE NETHER
BY JENNIFER HALEY
What is reality, anyway? The Nether is a virtual wonderland that provides total sensory immersion. Just log in, choose an identity and indulge your every desire. But when a young detective uncovers a disturbing brand of entertainment, she triggers an interrogation into the truly darkest corners of the imagination.
2023: THE FLICK
BY ANNIE BAKER
In a run-down movie theater in central Massachusetts, three underpaid employees mop the floors and attend to one of the last 35mm film projectors in the state. Their tiny battles and not-so-tiny heartbreaks play out in the empty aisles, becoming more gripping than the lackluster, second-run movies on screen. With keen insight and a finely-tuned comic eye, The Flick is a hilarious and heart-rending cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world.
Themes/Talking Points: new technology, friendship, economic inequality and underpaid jobs, racism, depression
2023: ONE ACT-I-FEST!
Six one act plays presented in collaboration with Fresno City College.
"Wisteria Blooms" A One-Act Play by Joe Salembier and explore a shifting cultural paradigms.
"Whisper into the Ground" by Olivia Haller: In the aftermath of a tragic car accident, rumors about who was responsible circulate on social media.
"The Curling Play" by Avery Ingvarson is a ten minute piece on gender. Or, it's maybe it's just about the game of curling; you decide.
"The Acceptance Tests" by Abigail Henkin: A teenager must decide how far she will go to earn the asylum she desperately needs.
"Bigger Than Pretend" by Robin Rice: Two homeless lovers sleep on the street in a refrigerator carton. It's their anniversary, but instead of celebrating, one sits by a city pond morosely, silently fishing. But, there are no fish.
"Both Sides, Now" by Elizabeth Archer: He and She have come to the end of their relationship, but they need to correct their biggest mistake before either can move on.
2023: WEBSTER'S BITCH
BY JACQUELINE BIRCHER
When their Editor-in-Chief gets caught using some unexpected profanity, the employees of Webster's Dictionary find themselves at the center of an internet uprising over gender and obscenity in the age of social media. As office politics collide with ambition, morality, and lexicography, the future of the English language hangs in the balance. A play about vulgar words and the people who define them.
Themes/Talking Points: misogyny, workplace politics, social media, language, profanity, slurs, feminism, sexism, glass ceiling, gender
2023: ENOUGH'S ENOUGH!
A PLAY BY MICHAEL THOMAS CAIN
Man and Woman have been trapped/locked in an office space together 24/7 for years, but they are not allowed to do anything other than work. After thirty years of this, Man has lost hope and wonders if he will ever be allowed to leave. On the other hand, Woman has been in the environment for ten years, and she clings to the hope that there is more to life than survival. The two attempt to find a human connection, but doing anything other than work has consequences.
Themes/Talking Points: corporate greed, exploitations, loneliness, isolation, anger, loss, love, sex, hope.
2022: DANCE NATION
BY CLARE BARRON
Somewhere in America, an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plots to take over the world. And if their new routine is good enough, they’ll claw their way to the top at Nationals in Tampa Bay. A play about ambition, growing up, and how to find our souls in the heat of it all.
Themes/Talking Points: adolescence/coming of age, female sexuality, female empowerment, competition
2022: NEW PLAY PALOOZA
Five readings of new scripts from local playwrights.
"April, May, & June" by Gary Goldstein
"The Wedding Gift" by Anjali Kapoor-Davis
"The End" by Brenna Jared
"Thursday's Child" by Leigh Ratliff
"The Butterfly" by Benjamin David Geddert
2022: FRIENDS WITH GUNS
BY STEPHANIE ALISON WALKER
You think you know your friends, your neighbors, your spouse, but what happens when you suddenly find out they have a garage full of guns? This new dark comedy explores the complicated issue of gun proliferation when two young liberal couples are forced to confront their assumptions about who should own a gun and why.
Themes/Talking Points: gun ownership/the 2nd amendment, feminism, Trumpism/liberalism
2022: FAIRVIEW
BY JACKIE SIBBLIES DRURY
At the Frasier household, preparations for Grandma’s birthday party are underway. Beverly is holding on to her sanity by a thread to make sure this party is perfect, but her sister can’t be bothered to help, her husband doesn’t seem to listen, her brother is MIA, her daughter is a teenager, and maybe nothing is what it seems in the first place…! FAIRVIEW is a searing examination of families, drama, family dramas, and the insidiousness of white supremacy.
Themes/Talking Points: racism, cultural appropriation, white saviorism, white supremacy
2022: THE CONVENT
BY JESSICA DICKEY
A group of women go on a retreat to live like nuns in the Middle Ages and are baptized with '80s pop, female mysticism, hallucinogens and sex. The Convent is a toothy dark comedy about desire, devotion, and the mystery of intrinsic divinity.
Themes/Talking Points: female empowerment, spirituality/mysticism, female sexuality
2022: FADE
BY TANYA SARACHO
When Lucia, a Mexican-born novelist, gets her first TV writing job, she feels a bit out of place on the white male-dominated set. Lucia quickly becomes friends with the only other Latino around, a janitor named Abel. As Abel shares his stories with Lucia, similar plots begin to find their way into the TV scripts that Lucia writes. Fade is a play about class and race within the Latinx community, as well as at large, and how status does not change who you are at your core.
Themes/Talking Points: Various perspectives within the Latinx experience, female playwright, Mexican-American privilege, Latinx media representation, code-switching, microaggressions
2021: OUTSIDE MULLINGAR
BY JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY
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2021: THE CAKE
BY BEKAH BRUNSTETTER
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2021: PASS OVER
BY ANTOINETTE NWANDU
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2021: THE LAST BEST SMALL TOWN
BY JOHN GUERRA
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2021: THE SQUIRRELS
BY ROBERT ASKINS
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