Dragon Play by Jenny Connell Davis

THE PLAY:

On a lonely farm in northern Minnesota, a husband and wife’s peaceful existence is shattered by the appearance of an unexpected visitor. On a hot stretch of highway in central Texas, a boy befriends a wounded dragon.

Spanning two moments in time and space and blurring the lines between each, The DragonPlay explores what happens when reality and fantasy converge, when desire and duty conflict, and when our deepest secrets show up breathing fire.

Doors at 7, showtime 7:30 || *Tickets: $20 in advance / $25 at the Door || *This play contains adult themes and/or content that is inappropriate for young children. PG-13

THE PLAYWRIGHT:

Jenny Connell Davis is a playwright from Maine who lives in Austin. Recent plays include Matinicus: A Lighthouse Play (a true story about Maine heroine Abigail Burgess), As I See It (about the relationship between painter Alice Neel and poet Frank O’Hara), The Messenger (a multi-voice monologue play, inspired by true stories, that connects the dots between Holocaust denialism, free speech in schools, and anti-AAPI violence), and Anton Chekov Is A Tasty Snack (a comedy about the tragedy of theater and the people who love it).

Her stage plays have been developed or produced with the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, the Playwrights’ Center, Icicle Creek, ACT in Seattle, the Araca Group, The Gift Theatre, Stage Left and ATC in Chicago, Ars Nova, Asolo Rep, NAATCO, Theater Mitu, New York Stage and Film, Shrewd Productions, Impact Theatre in Berkeley, Chance Theatre, SPACE at Ryder Farm, and Team Sunshine Performance Corporation.

By day, Jenny works as the in-house writer at Emmy-award-winning Baobab Studios, developing the stories that they iterate across TV, film, books for kids, graphic novels, Roblox games, and VR. Her adaptation of her own play, DragonPlay, is in development with Iconoclast Films/Anonymous Content. Her short films have screened at festivals worldwide, including SxSW and Toronto.

Jenny in an Affiliated Writer with the Playwrights’ Center, former member of the Ars Nova Play Group, and a recipient of grants from Ars Nova, ScriptWorks, Playwrights’ Center, and the Network of Ensemble Theatres. Jenny was the 2014-15 Hot Seat Local Writer in Residence at Baltimore’s Center Stage Theater, where she helped organize their new Playwrights Collective, the 2016 Resident Playwright at Chance Theatre in Anaheim, CA, and an inaugural member of the Hyde Park Theater Playwrights Group in 2019-2020.

She trained as an actor at Court and Steppenwolf theaters in Chicago, and in playwriting at UT-Austin. She has taught acting at UT-Austin and playwriting at a bunch of places including Playwrights’ Center.

Jenny believes in subversive humor and the power of people who are a little bit broken.