Children of Combs and Watch Chains by Emily McClain by the Quarantine Players

A Virtual Play Reading

To find all our other performances go to QuarantinePlayers.org

A dark twist on the Gift of the Magi. Della and Jim Young desperately long to be parents. After years of failed fertility treatments and then finding out they are not eligible to be adoptive parents due to Della’s medical history, both embark on their own individual quests to achieve the goal they both believe will bring them the true fulfillment and the happiness they’ve been missing. Each keeps their plan secret from the other- but the hidden costs of their journeys eventually overwhelm their relationship. The consequences of their choices come to fruition and leave them longing for another, less treacherous path.

Directed by Jacob Daniel Sinclair

Produced by A. J. Campbell, Quarantine Players

Stage Direction by Sara Lucchini

Cast

Hannah Reinert as DELLA YOUNG 

Corneilus Franklin as JIM YOUNG

Holly Souchack as POLLY AMANTE 

Debra Marlowe as ESTHER SALGADO

Erin Rae Li as TRICIA MCDONALD 

Robert Coe as JAMIE BULLARD 

About the Playwright

Emily McClain is a professional playwright and theatre educator. Emily is a proud member of Working Title Playwrights and the Dramatists Guild and currently serves as Board President for Gwinnett Classic Theatre. Her play SLAYING HOLOFERNES was co-winner of Essential Theatre’s New Play Festival and received a world premiere production in 2019. The Pumphouse Players held readings of MY BROTHER’S SECRET KEEPER and PARADISE, STAYED. She was a featured playwright with Elephant Room Productions for her play CHEEK BY JOWL. CHEEK BY JOWL was also featured as Essential Theatre’s Bare Essential Reading Series in October 2020. Her full length comedy JULIE’S PLACE was selected for the JOOKMS Spotlight Series in July 2020 and later went on to be a semi-finalist with the New American Voices with The Landing Theatre Company. Her tragedy TERMINUS ANDRONICUS was a finalist at the American Shakespeare Center Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries competition in 2019. Her Risk Theatre play CHILDREN OF COMBS AND WATCH CHAINS was named a finalist for the Risk Theatre International Competition in August 2020. Her short plays have been staged at many professional theaters across the country including Mississippi, California, Wisconsin, Virginia, New York, and numerous venues in Georgia. Her historical drama COPPER ANGEL will be presented by borderless productions as an audio drama in March 2021. She is published through ArtAge, Smiths Scripts, and Stage-Rights and more of her work may be found on New Play Exchange: 

https://newplayexchange.org/users/27781/emily-mcclain

About the Quarantine Players

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We can all sit around and list off the problems with modern theater so I won’t bore you with a recitation of facts we all largely agree upon. The Quarantine Players are a scrappy theater start-up that is in a position to break all the rules. We were told we can’t put out new work all the time. Yes, we can you just have to treat playwrights like we matter, make them part of the process, and value our input.

We are your source for new plays from amazing playwrights. Each week we choose a new play to read for you. We are different because we involve the playwright in every step of the process. Most of our writers will attend all the rehearsals and provide feedback along the way. We don't just honor playwrights by waiting till their work goes into the Public domain so we don't have to pay them. We prefer our playwrights to still have their pulse.

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