Staged Reading

The Thay Bay Play Reading

December 12, 2016

Brooklyn, NY

Directed by: Gabrielle Hoyt, Produced by: Emma Hills

Ali is excited to announce that she just finished writing a first draft of her newest play, The Thay Bay Play. Directed by Gabrielle Hoyt, and produced by Emma Hills, The Thay Bay Play had its first reading on December 12, 2016. Ali is grateful to collaborate with such generous, talented, and thoughtful actors and theater-makers to make changes to her script in anticipation of its future upcoming readings and workshops. More exciting The Thay Bay Play announcements to come!

Synopsis: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” But to the sorority sisters of Theta Beta, the word “help” can mean a great many things. Eager freshman Joni learns this truth the hard way when her lifelong dream of acceptance into Theta Beta becomes a reality. Plunged into a world of Dirty Disney parties, aquamarine pancake bake-offs, reality shows that become restoration comedies, and bulimia dream ballets, Joni struggles to transform into the perfect Theta Beta sister–at great personal cost. Yet even while critiquing the highly traditional and inimitably American rituals of sorority life, The Thay Bay Play embraces the redemptive power of female relationships. At its core sits Joni’s burgeoning friendship with Kate, her cynical and struggling sorority mentor, who has long since given up on fitting in. Supported by an all-female “Greek Chorus” of sisters, Joni and Kate strive to please those around them while retaining personal autonomy; an all-too-familiar task to American women in 2016. When an allegation of sexual assault shatters the sorority’s status quo, Kate and Joni must both decide who they are, what they want, and whether their blood really does run aquamarine-and-ivory. A stylized, surreal, and theatrical work, The Thay Bay Play mixes pop culture with pageantry, superficial with sacred, to create a searing portrait of life as a young, 21st-century woman.