In an inner-city classroom, a teacher tries to save an at-risk student by introducing him to American novelist, Horatio Alger, Jr. As the play moves across two worlds—urban America today and 19th-century New York—the conflict between fact and fiction leads to hard lessons about the American dream and the myth that we can all pull ourselves self up by our bootstraps.

Learn more at New Play Exchange 

"You never know a person 'til you walk in her heels. "

1969 New Orleans:  It’s standing room only at The Golden Lantern for “Miss Blanche”, the hottest drag act in the Quarter. A fiery young man takes the stage and with the aid of a mysterious wardrobe trunk explores clues to his family’s past and sets a course to a new future.

Inspired by Tennessee Williams, this seductive musical takes us on one man’s journey of desire, self-expression, and liberation. — Official Website

Tome and I began working on our adaptation of George Aiken's play -- itself adapted from Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel -- as part of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. We felt the play's history had become misunderstood, and the term "Uncle Tom" had become an epithet that reduced the original character to a stereotype of acquiescence and a betrayer of his people. Our adaptation aims to restore Uncle Tom's name and to re-envsion his story as one of self-assertion, faith, and human dignity.