Furlough’s Paradise, which took home the top prize at the 20th annual Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition for 2023-24, will have its world premiere at the Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Stage from January 31 through March 3.
The 80-minute play, written by A.K Payne of the Yale School of Drama, examines the changing dynamics that shape lives and lead people to where they make their homes.
The story follows cousins Sade and Mina, who were raised like sisters but are now following very different lives. When the two return to their childhood town for the funeral of their mother and aunt—one on a three-day furlough from prison and the other from her busy career and life on the West Coast, they try to make sense of grief, home, love, and kinship, though traumas and resentments from the past, both real and surreal, threaten to pull them apart.
Directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden, the play addresses topics including death, race, socioeconomic status, imprisonment, and sex and sexuality, and is recommended for audiences 15 and above.
For tickets or more information, visit www.alliancetheatre.org.
Photo: A.K. Payne’s new play premieres Jan. 31.
