March 2018

The Dream of the Burning Boy

by David West Read

Directed by Shannon Molly Flynn

Since the sudden death of his favorite student, high-school teacher Larry Morrow has been falling asleep at his desk and dreaming. The school's guidance counselor is hanging inspirational posters designed to help everyone "process their emotions." The student's sister and friends—more agitated and hormonal than usual—find little solace in Dante's Inferno. And as Larry's dreams intensify, a shocking secret is exposed. A secret that will change everything. Searing yet surprisingly funny, THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY is about finding the strength to move on…and the courage to live without regret.

September 2017

Mighty Little Flowers

Staged Reading

A New Play by Noelle Cristiano

Directed by Shannon Molly Flynn

Zara and Carmine are two lower-class seniors from different religious and cultural backgrounds competing for the same scholarship at their Catholic high school on Staten Island. They find home in each other, as they navigate through their struggle of identity, familial obligations, and societal standards, all before their walls start crumbling down.

August 2017

Pen-to-Paper

Play Fest

Featured works by: Frank Tangredi, Enzo Gattuccio, Steve Silvestri, 

Alejandro Hernandez, Sarah Robertson, Dickie Preston-Preston

Normal Ave was proud to launch our New Works Program with the Pen to Paper Play Festival. Being an artist in New York, you are gifted with an array of source material: the many different lives that coexist on 13 miles of an island. Normal Ave wants to tell the stories of the “huddled masses, yearning to breathe free”. We aim to create a stage for up-and-coming playwrights to discover their voice, leave no stone unturned, and explore truly what “Redefining Normal” means.

June 2017

Den of Thieves

By Stephen Adly Guirgis

Directed by Jeremy Landes

Maggie is a newly single, junk-food-binging shoplifter looking to change her life. Paul is her passionately convicted sponsor in a twelve-step program for recovering thieves. Maggie's jealous ex-boyfriend is a charismatic wannabe Puerto Rican small-time thief of uncertain ancestry named Flaco who spins a grammatically challenged but persuasive yarn about $750,000 in unprotected drug money sitting in a safe in a downtown disco guarded by an easily distracted crackhead. When things don't quite go according to plan, this bickering quartet of hapless thieves finds themselves at the mercy of Louie "The Little Tuna" Pescatore, a reluctant heir to the criminal empire run by his father. The penalty for stealing from the Tuna is death, but Louie offers them a difficult solution. Tied to chairs and able to move only their mouths, they must now fight for their lives by out-arguing each other as to who deserves to live. Verbal gymnastics and the struggle for self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-love produce a high-octane battle for survival.

June 2017

The Hashtag Series: In Concert

#NoFilter

Directed by Paige Sciarrino

In a day and age where hashtags have become part of our daily vernacular, The Hashtag Series explores what they mean to the very people who use them. Our first concert asked our singers and audience to explore #NoFilter. The evening featured 14 acts- with themes ranging from love, lust, loss, self acceptance, and more. Stay tuned for our next concert!  

February 2017

Redefining Normal

Music Directed by Shannon Molly Flynn &

Adam Magnacca

Redefining Normal kicked off the evening with a raffle & cocktail hour where guests were able to enter to win fantastic items such as: personal training sessions, original artwork, headshot sessions, theater tickets, and more! Our concert portion of the event, hosted by Tayler Yarish, featured Montclair State University alum currently working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in tours and in regional theater. Thank you to everyone whose hardowrk made this magical night possible.

 November 2016

And Then They Came for Me
Remembering the World of Anne Frank

by James Still

Directed by Susan Kerner

And Then They Came for Me is a unique theatrical experience: a multimedia play that combines videotaped interviews with Holocaust survivors Ed Silverberg and Eva Schloss with live actors recreating scenes from their lives during World War II. Ed was Anne Frank's first boyfriend, and she wrote about him in the beginning of her now-famous diary. Eva Schloss was the same age as Anne Frank and lived in the same apartment building in Amsterdam. Her family went into hiding the same day as the Frank family. And like the Frank family, they were betrayed. Part oral history, part dramatic action, part direct address, part remembrance, the ensemble-driven And Then They Came for Me breaks new ground and has been acclaimed by audiences and critics in world-wide productions."

April 2016

Really Really

by Paul Downs Colaizzo

Directed by Shannon Molly Flynn

​A contemporary drama that pushes the edges and embraces the harsh reality of today's youth. At an elite university, when the party of the year results in the regret of a lifetime, one person will stop at nothing to salvage a future that is suddenly slipping away. In this quick-witted and gripping comic tragedy about 'Generation Me,' it's every man for himself.