Manning
DATES June 5 - June 16
PLAYWRIGHT Benjamin Benne
After the death of their mother two boys return home to find their father has lost the will to live, and a giant zucchini (that seems to have a heartbeat) sprouts overnight. The brothers try their best to coax their father out of his room. All three men begin to develop language for their individual experiences of loss through their interactions with the supernatural vegetable, but can they also develop a communal vocabulary to express their grief with each other?
2023 Clauder Competition Grand Prize Winning Play
Benjamin Benne (he/him) is a Playwrights’ Center Affiliated Writer, American Blues Theater Blue Ink Playwriting Award winner, Arizona Theatre Company National Latinx Playwriting Award winner, KCACTF Latinx Playwriting Award winner, and was recently named part of “LA Vanguardia: The Latino innovators, investigators and power players breaking through barriers” by the Los Angeles Times. His plays include Alma (World Premiere ‘22: Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles & American Blues Theater in Chicago; Seattle Premiere ‘22: ArtsWest Playhouse; Regional Premiere ‘23: Curious Theatre Company in Denver; Central Square Theater in Cambridge MA), In His Hands (World Premiere ‘22: Mosaic Theater Company of DC), and What / Washed Ashore / Astray (World Premiere ‘23: Pillsbury House + Theatre in Minneapolis). He is a current member of Primary Stage’s Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group and has been commissioned by South Coast Repertory and Seattle Repertory. MFA: David Geffen/Yale School of Drama ’22. www.benjaminbenne.com