april updates and a special author spotlight!
Good mid-morning to all. This month’s newsletter is chalk full of readings, new releases, and a juicy author spotlight with our very own founder, Sarah Groustra! Happy reading.
announcements
Wonderful website alert: There is a brand new page on our website called “See a Show” where you can view upcoming productions on a map. Find out where 1319 Press productions are being put on and go see a show near you!
upcoming events
Davis Alianiello’s The Farm comes to the Paradise Factory from April 23-26. The Farm is an hour long comedy about language and belief, and an investigation of how we love those we don’t understand. When Tyler returns home after two years in a cult; his sister Sasha must face how his arrival alters her reality. (Sasha and Tyler are played by real life siblings Davis and Beth Alianiello.) After appearing in the Lighthouse Series at SoHo Playhouse, followed by a sold out run at the Providence Fringe Festival (WINNER: Best Comedy and Best Playwriting), The Farm will take the stage once more at Paradise Factory. Tickets here! (They will also be selling copies of Alianiello’s 1319 play, The Mailroom, at the show.)
The Great Impresario Boris Lermontov Would Like To Invite You To Dinner by Tristan B Willis will be running at Sundown Collaborative Theatre in Denton, TX from April 24 - May 3, 2026. The ‘two-hander with a twist’ is directed by Julia Bodiford. Tickets here.
Di Lobontiu’s play, If You’re a Man at Night...You Gotta Be a Man in the Morning will be at The Tank from May 15-23. Check out the press release and @ifyourea_man_atnight on Instagram.
Two of our scripts were also recently licensed for production. 13th Morning by BT Hayes will be at the Barnstorm Theater at UCSC from April 24–25 and Muffed… by Zack Peercy will run at Playhouse at McConnellstown from June 12–17. Congrats to the playwrights and go see one of the productions!
new releases
Reckless Black Dropouts. by Kenndall Wallace
Four Black college dropouts attempt to return to their alma mater through the school’s groundbreaking “Bring Black Kids Back” Initiative. However, in order to return to the university, each student must first explain the reasoning behind their choice to drop out.
Hella Black, Kinda Creepy by Nay Harris
A very incorrect witchcraft play, don’t try this at home. Or do. Personal autonomy’s a thing. Murder and chicken nuggets. Several bowls of plain corn flakes, no sugar needed. A mad scientist’s unconventional gifts to her grandma. A play I really hope Megan Thee Stallion enjoys, if she ever reads it.
All at Once [40th Anniversary Remaster] by Jack McManus
1975. Newlywed musicians Danny Marino and Margaret Thomas record their first collaborative album: All At Once. Over a series of sessions, they fight, laugh, and create. By the end, they are no longer speaking to each other.
2015. A record company remastering All at Once invites Danny and Margaret to give interviews about the songs, the marriage, and the recording process that ended their relationship. They tell all.
Our Mother, Thou Aren’t in Heaven by Caitland Winsett
Blood may be thicker than water, but that just means it can drown you faster. Estranged sisters Quinn and Aurora have known that their entire lives. When the two are forced to reunite at their mother’s funeral, the question of whether or not their relationship is worth the lifeboat takes center stage.
author spotlight
This month, we have a very special author spotlight: 1319’s founder and illustrious playwright, Sarah Groustra! Sarah (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based, Massachusetts-born playwright and theatermaker. Sarah's work has been produced off-Broadway at the SheNYC Festival (Winner, Best Script 2023) and at regional theaters across the country. She was awarded the 2024 Austin Film Festival Stage Play Award, was a finalist for the 2023 Jane Chambers Award, and was named a 2022 Ascending Playwright by Yonder Window Theater Company. Sarah has developed new work with the Valdez Theatre Conference, Under Construction Playwright's Group (the Road Theater), Purple Light Palette Cohort, the Parsnip Ship, Forager Theater Company, and Historically Close Friends. Sarah is an alumna of Kenyon College (2022), the 24 Hour Plays: Nationals (2022), and is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. sarahgroustra.com // @ladypoachedegg
Sarah, can you tell us a little bit about how and why you founded 1319 Press? (We are eternally grateful, by the way.)
I live in New York City, where you could see like three plays a day and still barely scratch the surface of the sheer amount of art happening here. On top of that, so many emerging playwrights can only have productions of their work if they produce it themselves, which is also expensive, which means these cool new plays are sometimes only playing for a few days or even one night. And then they sort of disappear… As a playwright myself, I know how frustrating that space can be, when you know a play is production-ready but that next step is so elusive. New work is often getting stuck in a bottleneck these days, with theater budgets getting smaller and publishing houses merging. 1319 started as a project — an experiment, really — to see if a new philosophy about theater publishing was possible.
Tell us about your writing style, why you write and who you write for?
A lot of my plays are different versions of the same coming-of-age story — a character is usually trying to discover who they are before it’s “too late.” I’m also Gen-Z, a generation stereotypically known for being a little effed up and oversaturated with technology. As we peek over the edge of adulthood, how do we make sense of the world we’re inheriting? Then, this might sound crazy given what I just said, but I usually want my plays to make you laugh a little bit, at least at some point.
What’s a play you love? Or a playwright that inspires you?
I just saw You Got Older by Clare Barron at Cherry Lane and cried so much. It was beautiful. There’s something so special about reading a play (I remember a friend lending it to me when we were in college), loving it for years, and then finally seeing it brought to life and it’s everything you’d hoped it would be. (Ok, I’m realizing that’s kind of the 1319 mission statement, too!) I also just saw Cold War Choir Practice by Ro Reddick at MCC — this was my second time seeing it because I also watched it at Summerworks last year! I love it when a play is so weird it almost defies description. Cold War Choir Practice is so inventive and singular!
Your play, Radio Man, being produced by Underbelly Theatre Company at the Paradise Factory May 1st-10th. What can you share with us about the piece?
Radio Man was performed at the SheNYC Festival in 2023, and I’m so glad it’s getting another life here in New York. This script takes that coming-of-age question I was talking about quite literally, as it’s about three young women banding together in the apocalypse. I wanted to see young, female sci-fi characters who weren’t mothers or love interests, and really interrogate what they would have lost in this new climate. I wrote the first draft of this play when I was 19, and I can see a lot of my own fears about the world reflected in the characters. It’s a dark piece, but I think it does put hope in our ability to adapt and be resilient, especially when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable.
Tell us something weird about you — a quirky fact perhaps...
I’ve never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (allergic) :(
You can pre-order the script for Radio Man on our website now. Underbelly Theatre Co. in association with Reaching Glory Productions is producing Radio Man, directed by Tatiana Baccari. Read more about the premiere.
That’s all for today. Thanks for reading. See you next month.