21ten's Summer Residency Program
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21ten is very excited to have completed our second year of the Summer Residency Program in 2025!
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The mission of the 21ten Summer Residency is to invite theatrical artists to create & produce, whether that be a new play, a devised piece, or already existing domain, that you hope to bring to life.
Residents are selected out of our application process and offered rehearsal, tech & performance time in the 21ten BlackBox Theatre, a production stipend, marketing support, and 21ten resources in order to bring their dream project to fruition.​
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Learn More About the Residency.
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The 21ten Summer Residency is funded in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council and the Arts Access Fund.
2025 Residency Productions
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"The One"
a new work by Andrea Parson
directed by Jessica Wallenfels
July 3rd - 6th, 2025
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In order to love somebody else, you have to love yourself first. That’s what her mother once told her when she was 8 years old.
Thirty years later, Andrea is wondering, was she right? The self help gurus affirm it too! In order to find The One, you not only have to love yourself, but fall madly in love with yourself! Oh God…. In The One multidisciplinary performer Andrea Parson grapples with the notion of self love in an effort to find that special and elusive someone. A romantic partner, herself, something of the spiritual and unseen world, or maybe The One is sitting right in front of her! Or maybe it’s a mangy cat who goes by the name of Couts.
Through evocative movement, storytelling, and a clown sensibility, Andrea juxtaposes her modern day search for love with images of a 14th century medieval anchoress. Who? You know, those radical women who lived enclosed inside a small cell attached to a church as a bride of Christ. For real! Andrea invites the audience to join her as she weaves in and out of a sacred, comedic and personal reflection about love and loving.
"La Mariposa"
created by Sofía Leonila Marks &
Isabel Strongheart McTighe
July 10th - 13th, 2025
All performances ASL Interpreted
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La Mariposa is a devised performance ritual about a girl who has forgotten her name. She is haunted by dreams of her body becoming an expansive landscape. Mariposa searches for her identity in a dream world between a girl’s bedroom and the desert where spirits dance. In these borderlands she cries to her deities for strength and wisdom: Madre Viento, her mother, sings with her; Abuelita Coyote embraces her; and Quetzal Bird teaches her to dance with freedom.
"un/seen"
created & performed by erin rachel
July 17th - 20th, 2025
ASL Interpreted on Friday, July 18th
From local writer and composer erin rachel (unbound: a bookish musical) comes un/seen, a two-part immersive storytelling and sound experience:
Part I: un/seen
un/seen is a narrative experiment, blending storytelling and cinematic soundscapes to follow three generations in the aftermath of a fictional pandemic. the story explores unseen connections and the invisible threads of kindred spirits that guide us home. It is a story about endings and beginnings — but ultimately, it is a story about life, what we (choose to) see, and the choices we might make if we knew the time we have left.
Part II: Sonic Sound Exploration Each performance is followed by a dynamic sonic exploration — an ambient and electronic soundscape designed to deepen reflection, mindfulness, and listening.
Each performance will be unique, inviting the audience to perceive the magic hidden in the everyday.
"The Rainbow Passage"
a new play by Ajai Tripathi
July 24th - 27th, 2025​
Based upon an award-winning screenplay (Geneva International Science in Fiction Award for Best Feature, 2023), The Rainbow Passage follows a recovering drug addict who travels into the memories of his catatonic twin sister, a professor of radio astronomy, in order to rally their family to free her consciousness from being trapped on the horizon line of a black hole. Featuring an all Desi cast of characters, The Rainbow Passage is both science fiction and a metaphysical family drama about meditation, addiction and letting go.
2025 Summer Residents
2024 Residency Productions
Thank You, Sorry
By Annie Trevisan & Shana Torok
July 5th - 7th, 2024
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A one-hour, structured, improvised play about a budding romance between two women from different generations. We explore themes of shame, feeling, age, gender, and ultimately what it means to love.
Do you know how to love? Do you know how to be loved?
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With the collaboration of Chris Harder and Ben Lawrence
Camp Fire Stories
By Murri Lazaroff-Babin
July 11th - 14th, 2024
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Camp Fire Stories is about home and memory; and the attempt to conjure both.
It's about how the idea of home changes over time, and the interesting ways in which we fill in the gaps of blurred memories from childhood.
With the collaboration of
Cristi Miles, Akitora Ishii, Leiana Petlewski, Ken Yoshikawa & Rose Proctor
Laundry Show
By Rachel Wells
July 19th - 28th, 2024
Double Feature with HATERS​
A liminal laundromat, a sock thief, and a never-ending stream of patrons. Quiet glances reveal magic in seemingly monotonous moments - asking what happens when solitary routines become disrupted? At one point everyone you’ve ever loved was a stranger. Laundry Show explores the moments of risk that may surprise us with our next love.
With the collaboration of
Wy DeShong, Dylan Hankins, Rachel Routh & Akitora Ishii
HATERS
By Daye Thomas & Kasia Caravello
July 19th - 28th, 2024
Double Feature with Laundry Show
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Can we attempt to really see one another?
HATERS is an exploration of identity and prejudice, following a Polish woman and a nonbinary Filipino individual as they navigate cultural stereotypes, political tensions, and personal biases through stand-up, traditional martial arts, and folk dance - ultimately finding a common ground in their shared humanity. We challenge our audience to confront their own preconceptions and explore the transformative power of empathy and connection.
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With the collaboration of
Johnathan Billington, Naomi Bowers, Sizheng Song & directed by Amelia Sommer​