Seeds of Time Festival.  In collaboration with Play On Shakespeare, this groundbreaking three-week festival presents six teams of artists exploring and reenvisioning world classics with interactive public events, inviting audiences to witness the evolution of classic narratives and engage in conversations about their relevance today. Special attention will be given to teaching the insights and skills of dramaturgy.

UNTITLED HYPER-CONTEMPORARY ELIZABETHAN ROMANCE TO AVENGE THE GENERATION OF SOUNDCLOUD RAPPERS LOST TO THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC or, THE ROSALINE PLAY
A thrilling remix of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, by Leigh M Marshall.  

What if Rosaline—not Juliet—was the most tragic figure in Verona? In this bold and haunting reimagining of Romeo & Juliet, Rosaline Velasco is a rising A&R powerhouse at a major music label who has just discovered Weapons of Self-Destruction, a freshly-turned-twenty-one rap duo whose meteoric rise threatens to crash into the darker side of the industry: fentanyl, exploitation, and profit-driven martyrdom. As Rosaline tries to save them from themselves, she collides with a corporate machine more interested in legends than lives. Inspired by the real-world deaths of SoundCloud stars like Juice WRLD and the industry's fetishization of "dead genius," this play grapples with the commodification of love, the romanticization of addiction, and what it means to be truly accountable in a system that profits off of tragedy. Part love story, part corporate thriller, part elegy, THE ROSALINE PLAY dares to ask: what does intimacy mean in a world that pushes pleasure-seeking to the point of no return?  

About the Artist:  

Leigh M. Marshall is a multidisciplinary performer, writer, and editor. Currently, she is a resident playwright at the Playwrights Foundation, a member of Crowded Fire Theatre's Resilience & Development Lab, and the Theater & Film Editor online for BOMB Magazine. Her work has been selected for Berkeley Repertory Theater's Ground Floor Residency, the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, Iowa New Play Festival, Examined Life Conference, Live Design International, and the Prague Quadrennial. BA: Stanford University. MFA: Iowa Playwrights Workshop.