THE FERMENT is an original audio drama podcast series by Alicia Lynn Grega set in an alternative near-future America. Currently in production, we are planning to stage the live world premiere of Episodes 1 and 2 before a live audience this fall in a unique theatrical event that bridges the podcast format with immersive, participatory live performance.

THE WORLD: It is 2040. The United States has fractured. A cascading financial crisis triggered by extreme heat events, opportunistic corporate actors, and rogue AI systems—called the Meltdown of 2035—has accelerated the dissolution of federal governance. California is now a Free State under the rising influence of Governor Geremiah Pearce: a charismatic, genuinely gifted progressive leader who is quietly building authoritarian infrastructure beneath a platform of community care. The moral engine of the world is a pendulum that has swung too far in both directions—from unchecked capitalist extraction into enforced collective sacrifice. Ordinary people are crushed either way.

THE STORY: Sonja Somone is a 23-year-old political science student who arrives at a Ferment protest in Sacramento on June 18, 2040, with a field recorder and an academic’s distance. She is studying dissent. She does not intend to join it. Over the course of eight episodes—and across the two episodes presented here—she is drawn inexorably into The Ferment: a decentralized resistance movement whose slogan, ‘service to community is more powerful than selfish pursuit,’ is simultaneously the show’s ethical core and its most dangerous co-optable phrase.

WHY LIVE: The Ferment is built for listening. But something specific happens when listening is shared. A podcast is intimate and private; a live audio drama is communal and exposed. The political themes of the work—collective action, surveillance, the space between observation and participation—change in the presence of bodies. The audience’s awareness of each other, of being witnessed, of choosing to stay still or to chant, mirrors the choices the characters are making. That is not incidental. It is the theatrical argument of the presentation.

More news this summer …

It’s writing season, or at least Alicia’s at her most creative in the Spring. She wrote you a little script to celebrate World Theatre Day.

We don’t mean to be flippant about this year’s theme “Art is Peace.” A small conflict is resolved in this script but it’s small and safe and doesn’t even think about addressing the violent and deadly horrors happening around the globe.

But in the meantime, we need to keep believing in the power of theatre to change the world because it can.

Art may be the only thing that can save us. Cheers!

Download .pdf below or scan down for script page photos. It’s two pages for two actors. Roles say “she” and “he” but are gender-flexible.

xoxo

Many thanks to the marvelous Erika Funke for talking this week with Maureen about Remember You Must Die: A Comedy! Listen up!

We’ll be in the Junior Ballroom (basement level) at the Scranton Cultural Center at 420 N. Washington Avenue with shows on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 8:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 6 at 8:30 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 7 at 4 and 8:30 p.m.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased via the Scranton Fringe Festival website.

We are buzzing with excitement to preset the first reading of Maureen McGuigan’s new solo show Remember You Will Die: A Comedy this evening at The Bog in Scranton.

Collecting audience feedback at this stage of development – after several drafts have been wrought but before the script gets set in stone – is a crucial step in the life of a play. We are deeply grateful to those who will take time out of their summer adventures to experience this early version of the script and share their thoughts with Maureen.

If you attended the reading and lost your survey slip with the QR code, you can find the survey here:

Remember You Will Die reading survey form.

We look forward to sharing more news about this play, expected to premiere in Fall 2023, as the summer progresses. –ag

Common Play Factory has been in hibernation due to a number of overwhelming factors and hopes to reorient, energize, and reemerge with new productions in 2023.

Thank you for your patience and compassion.

-Alicia

Common Play Factory is planning another Virtual Play Reading event for Spring 2021 (to be livestreamed on our Facebook page) and would love to consider a couple more short plays to round out our program.

We are looking for writers who have work that they would like to hear read by our participating actors as an aid to continued to development of a script. There is no fee to submit your script, but as this event will be produced without formal funding, we are also unable to pay any royalty at this time.

Preference is given to resident playwrights of Northeast Pennsylvania, although we are happy to consider work from anywhere in the world.

Please inquire at dramastruction@gmail.com for more information or send us your work (30 minutes or shorter) in a .pdf document with relevant information about your experience as a writer.

Although there is no deadline to submit, the program will be set as soon as we identify the scripts which best complete this Spring’s program.

We are always open to hearing from playwrights who would like to collaborate with Common Play Factory in the future.

-ag