The Alliance Theatre presents the four finalists of its 2023 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition in free, staged readings during Alliance/Kendeda Week celebrating new works.
RUTH AND LYDIA
By Jamie Rubenstein, Hunter College
Directed by Lauren Morris
Ruth and Lydia spend their last years/months/weeks/days/minutes at the Brandywine Retirement Community in this time-bending, kaleidoscopic play about the sublime beauty of being alive.
BIOS
Jamie Rubenstein is a New York-based playwright who spent the first ten years of her career teaching English in public and private schools, covering every grade from 6-12. She writes to stretch her own understanding, to capture the ephemeral before it slips away, and to force herself to move towards anything she would prefer to avoid. She is an Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition Finalist (2023), WP Lab Semi-Finalist (2022), Bechdel Project ROO Residency Semi-Finalist (2022), and Trustus Playwrights Festival Finalist (2020). Her work has been seen or developed at Hunter College, ESPA/Primary Stages, the Bechdel Group, and Spark Creative Works. She teaches undergraduate playwriting at Hunter College and was an MFA Mentor at Horizon Theater’s Young Playwrights Festival (2022). MFA, Playwriting: CUNY Hunter College; MA, English: Middlbury’s Bread Loaf School of English; BA, English: Barnard College.
Lauren Morris is an Atlanta-based theatre maker thrilled to be back working on a new play at the Alliance. Elsewhere in Atlanta, Lauren has worked with Theatrical Outfit, Horizon Theatre, Theatre du Reve, Actor’s Express, Oglethorpe University, Stage Door Theatre, Woodstock Arts Theatre, and SheATL. She came to Atlanta by way of her native Indiana (Indiana Repertory, Phoenix Theatre, Indy Shakes, Crossroads Repertory, Brown County Playhouse, Shawnee Theatre) and several years in California (South Coast Repertory, Chance Theatre, CalRep, Long Beach Playhouse). Lauren was proud to be a member of the Lincoln Center Theater 2018 Directors Lab. When she’s not in the rehearsal room, she can be seen cheering on her son Kellan at the baseball or soccer field alongside her husband Cole.
