Earlier this year The Supreme Court ruled that corporations can now donate unlimited funds to politicians because they are entitled to the same rights as private citizens. Subjective Theatre Company’s Corporate Personhood Play Festival will present nine 10-minute plays inspired by this ruling. Featuring new works by James Comtois, Fernanda Coppel, Matthew-Lee Erlbach, Julia Holleman, Patricia Ione Lloyd, Jerome Parker, Lucille Scott, Leegrid Stevens, and Melisa Tien.

LIMITED ENGAGMENT!
DECEMBER 7-15 8PM @ THE KRAINE THEATER
SERIES A: DECEMBER 7 & 14
SERIES B: DECEMBER 8 & 15
ADMISSION IS FREE!

HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP
PRESENTS
THE SUBJECTIVE THEATRE COMPANY

CORPORATE PERSONHOOD

PLAY FESTIVAL

FEATURING WORKS BY
JAMES COMTOIS, FERNANDA COPPEL, MATTHEW-LEE ERLBACH, , JULIA HOLLEMAN, PATRICIA IONE LLOYD, JEROME PARKER, LUCILLE SCOTT, LEEGRID STEVENS, & MELISA TIEN

SERIES A (December 7 & 14)

Seward, Kansas
Written by Matthew-Lee Erlbach & Directed by David Chapman
The soil is toxic, food is scarce, and corporate forces have taken control of all Kansas farms after a nuclear disaster. One farm in remote Seward may be the exception to the rulers.

Light Sweet Crude
Written by Melisa Tein & Directed by Nicole Watson
A snapshot of how great events affect small people, an illustration of the invisible connections we share with others, and a meditation on the responsibility of the corporation versus the responsibility of the individual.

The Thrilling Comedy of the True Beneficiaries of the 14th Amendment
Written by Julia Holleman & Directed by Steven Gillenwater
A comedic melodrama about how two scrappy young corporations in the 1880s persuade the Supreme Court to believe in their humanity using the only means at their disposal - passion, conviction, and, let's not forget, money.

They Think Our Favorite Color is Green
Written by Patricia Ione Lloyd & Directed by Pat Golden
Menthol cigarettes, buff black men and corporate America’s racism; or just another day in the U.S. of A. What have we learned from the world's leader of incarcerating its residents? How target advertising maximizes corporate profits, to laugh at tragedy, and how to get killer abs.

SERIES B (December 8 & 15)

Dammit, Office Girl!
Written by James Comtois & Directed by Danny Sharron
An employee pines, if not yearns, for an administrative assistant from afar. And by "afar," we mean "five feet away."

Brooklyn Skank
Written by Fernanda Coppel & Directed by Donya K. Washington
Leslie and Ryan work for Brooklyn Skank, an overpriced and trendy boutique in Brooklyn that is famous for its T-shirts that say "Made by a Brooklyn Skank." Part of their daily routine is answering the age-old question, "Are these Brooklyn Skank T-shirts actually made by a Skank?" Leslie and Ryan have a stock answer that is approved by the Brooklyn Skank Corporation, but as this story unravels you get the sense that Leslie and Ryan have no idea how these garments are made and who makes them.

The Foundation
Written by Jerome Parker & Directed by Axel Avin, Jr.
Lawrence has put his heart and soul into building a non-profit that aids inner cities on a national level. As he prepares to turn over his reign to his young nephew, the woman who helped him build the foundation plans her revenge for being passed over for the top position. A short play about the ties that bind mixed with live jazz.

Target Monologue
Written by Leegrid Stevens & Directed by Rachel Wohlander
Target reflects on his difficult childhood.

Oh, Donna
Written & Directed by Lucile Baker Scott

In Oh Donna a beautiful young heiress (and friend of Paris Hilton's) who has orgasmic tendencies with organic juice and a few secrets, takes over the world's third largest communications company. Soon quite a bit of juice is spilled, along with a few drops of blood…

Playwrights:

JAMES COMTOIS (Playwright) is the co-founder of the New York-based indie theatre company, Nosedive Productions, for which he has written over 20 plays in the past 10 years. His play, Infectious Opportunity, was recently nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Full-Length Script and has been published by Original Works Publishing. The New York Theatre Experience has published another play of his, The Adventures of Nervous-Boy, in Plays and Playwrights 2007.

FERNANDA COPPEL (Playwright) was born in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, and raised in San Diego California. Her play Chimi-Changas and Zololft was the winner of the Asuncion Queer Latino Festival at Pregones Theater (Bronx) and has had readings at both Atlantic Theater and The Public Theater. She was a translator in the Lark Theater's US/Mexico Exchange Festival last fall. Last summer her short play, that douche bag's play was produced by The Old Vic in London. She received her MFA from NYU and won the John Holden Playwriting Award. She is currently in her second year of residence in the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellowship at The Juilliard School.

MATTHEW-LEE ERLBACH (Playwright) is a Puffin Grant recipient for his play Handbook for an American Revolutionary, opening Off-Bway in January 2011. He is a contributor to The Huffington Post and writer/producer with Nickelodeon, after spending two years at WWE (formerly WWF…yeah, TV wrestling). He was also a 2010 Finalist for Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Playwriting Fellowship and twice a Princess Grace Semifinalist for his plays Jesus; Kidnapped and Republik. His socio-political satire Happy Sunshine Kung Fu Flower was developed by Ars Nova, featuring guests ranging from Rachel Maddow to Amy Goodman. His work has been developed and produced at MCC, Ars Nova, The Ohio, The Zipper, Nuyorican, and Tisch/NYU Grad among others. As an actor he has worked Off-Bway, regionally, on Comedy Central and on “Law & Order: SVU”.

JULIA HOLLEMAN (Playwright) is the Resident Playwright of STC and head writer on CoLab, its collaborative theatre wing (shows: TELL, Parallax, Swallow). She co-wrote and co-created STC'’s Party Discipline (January 2007). Her play Face of Beauty was produced in December 2008, and excerpts of it were published in Unsaid Magazine in February 2008 and June 2009. Recently, her play Now I am Finally Awake was selected to be in NYU’s Festival of New Works in March 2010. Julia is attending NYU'’s MFA Dramatic Writing program.

PATRICIA IONE LLOYD (Playwright) is part of the Smithsonian Griot Project and Folk Life Archive for the Library of Congress – Audio Interviews. She is a 2010 playwright in residence for the Women’s Lab at New Perspectives Theatre Company in New York and a 2010 playwright in residence for Brown University Black Lavender Project. She was a 2009 playwright in residence at the University of Mumbai, India, where a reading of her play Black Tale was presented. She received New Professional Theatre’s Emerging Playwright Award for her play, Black Tale and Downtown Urban Theatre Festival’s Best Play Award for her play, This Train is Bound for Glory. She was a resident playwright in 2009 with Freedom Train productions where they presented a reading of her play Dirty Little Black Girls. Dixon Place in NYC also presented an excerpt reading of Dirty Little Black Girls as part of their Hot Summer Play Festival. She is also a guest lecturer at NYU. Patricia believes in the power of arts education to change lives and society. She is a teaching artist for the Theatre Development Fund where she teaches beginning playwriting in NYC high schools. Ione volunteers for Rhythm Visions Production Company, a non-profit arts organization that works in communities of color. She is a member of the College Board’s National Task Force on Arts in Education.

JEROME PARKER (Playwright) is a playwright from NYC. His plays have been seen at the Old Vic, the Company of Angels, Celebration Theatre and the Cherry Lane amongst others. He is the 2008 winner of the Lorraine Hansberry Award and a member of this year’s writers group at The Public Theater.

LUCILE BAKER SCOTT (Playwright) is a New York City-based writer and director and an executive member of Mighty Little Productions, an award winning collaboration based theater company. Her work has been featured around town at many a venue including The Cherry Lane Studio, Theater for The New City, WOW Cafe Theater, The Bowery Poetry Club, The Workshop Theater, The Red Room and The Kraine. Many of the productions have even won awards in festivals. She is also a court reporter and a freelance journalist and has traveled to destinations including Jamaica and India to report on the global AIDS epidemic. A native Kentuckian, she moved to New York after graduating from Northwestern University.

LEEGRID STEVENS (Playwright) plays have been seen in downtown New York theatres such as HERE Arts Center, Lark Theatre, Ontological-Hysteric Theatre, Theater for the New City, Altered Stages, and Spring Theatreworks’ Dumbo space as well as several theaters across the US and Europe. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Brooklyn Publishers, Smith & Kraus, Stage Tribes, and by Martin Denton in his Plays and Playwrights Anthology. Stevens was also named as one of the “People of the Year” by nytheatre.com saying, "Indisputably one of the smartest and most innovative young playwright/directors working in New York's Indie theatre scene.”Stevens graduated from Columbia’s School of the Arts with an MFA in Playwriting where he won the John Golden Playwriting Award while being mentored by John Guare.

MELISA TIEN (Playwright) is a California transplant whose plays have been developed/produced here and there--in New York City: Daughter of Heaven (Theater for the New City, Manhattan Theatre Club Creative Center), Familium Vulgare (New Dramatists, UNDER St. Marks), Ginger (Ensemble Studio Theatre), The Secret Life of the Office Worker (Theater at Riverside Church), Yes, Madly (Second Stage), The Hiding Place (59E59 Theatres), Azad Nazem (Free Verse, Manhattan Repertory Theatre), and Odyssey (The Tank/Collective Unconscious); in Garden City, NY: Hindsight (Adelphi University); in Baton Rouge, LA: Hindsight (Hatcher Theater); in Aspen, CO: The Hiding Place (Black Box); and in Mumbai, India: Daughter of Heaven (Mumbai University). She has presented work at the Women Playwrights International Conference and the Great Plains Theatre Conference co-founded by Edward Albee; she was a 2007 Winner of the Theater Masters MFA Playwright Award; and she has taught playwriting to young children, undergraduates, and graduate students. Melisa holds a BA in English from UCLA and an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University. She is a proud member of the 2010-2012 Women’s Project Writers Lab.