NNELS Upgrade

This heartwarming and often hilarious play tells the story of Ernie and George, an estranged father and son who are reunited when a debilitating stroke leaves Ernie with a speech disorder and memory loss. While George is undeniably hurt and betrayed by the man who abandoned him as a child, Ernie can't remember his words, or where he lives. Together they must find a way to make sense of their past and their future through fractured memories and muddled language.

Marion, a working mother with a special-needs child, has discovered a devastating secret: her husband Curtis has been engaging in a torrid love affair with none other than their son's young teacher, Teresa. Armed with love notes between Curtis and Teresa, Marion shows up to a parent-teacher interview to confront the woman who may be the thread that unravels her life. What ensues is a gripping and raw confrontation between two women, one fighting to protect her family, the other fighting for the family she always wanted.

Ruth grew too fast. A young girl over seven feet tall, she struggles to conceal the physical and mental symptoms of her rapid growth, to connect with other children, and to appease her parents, Elspeth, an English seamstress who lost her family to the war, and James, a mailman rethinking his devotion to his wife. Not knowing how to help Ruth, Elspeth and James turn inward, away from one another. As their marriage falters, Ruth finds herself increasingly drawn to Suzy, the dangerous girl next door.

Claudia, single mom of two, pines for her past independent life. Her ex, after all, has moved on to a new wardrobe, new hobbies and—worst of all—new adult friends. But in Claudia's house she's still finding bananas in the sock drawer, cigarettes taped to wrestling figures, and colourful doodles on her MasterCard bills. Then Claudia receives the unexpected news that her mother has died. Shared through the hilarious, honest, and often poignant perspective of a single mother, Roost is the story of a woman learning about motherhood while grieving the loss of her own mother.

Four distinct voices weave together the tale of a dysfunctional Montreal family obsessed with climbing the Kabbalah’s Tree of Life. This literary debut by Jewish Daily Forward editor Sigal Samuel is reminiscent of Nicole Krauss’s The History of Love and Myla Goldberg’s Bee Season. The Meyer family lives in Mile End, home to a mashup of hipsters and Hasidic Jews, where down the street crazy Mr. Katz is building a tree out of plucked leaves, toilet paper rolls, and dental floss.

It's 1934, and the Bell farm in Mulehead, Oklahoma, is struggling as the earliest storms of the Dust Bowl descend. As the Bells wait for the rains to come, Annie and each member of her family are pulled in different directions, and Annie must choose who she is going to become.

There's nothing Cara wouldn't do for Ryan, even now after his death. But inheriting Ryan's share of his family's ranch in west Texas? Cara doesn't understand what he was thinking. Jeth is certain Cara prevented his brother from spending his last days at home, and he's determined to drive this beautiful outsider away--no matter how intriguing he finds her.

In early 1900s Texas, Samantha Gordon, heiress to a large cattle ranch, and Nathan Holloway, a charming farm boy, find their fates intertwined. As changes sweep the rustic countryside, their connection drives this narrative compulsively forward--as they love, lose, and betray.

Mahmood and his wife, Fereiba, live a happy middle-class life until their country is engulfed in war and the Taliban rise to power. Mahmood becomes a target of the new fundamentalist regime and is murdered. Forced to flee Kabul with her three children, Fereiba has one hope to survive: she must find a way to cross Europe and reach her sister's family in England. Fereiba manages to smuggle them as far as Greece. But their fate takes a frightening turn when her teenage son, Saleem, becomes separated from the rest of the family.

Aly Kingston has only ever loved one man: Marshall Wayne. But she put all of those childish dreams behind her ages ago when the Waynes left town. Her father's victory at foreclosing on the Wayne family farm, the betrayal written all over Marshall's face--it all still lingers in her mind and in her heart. But now, years later, when he comes back home to Claiborne, Aly realizes so much has changed since Marshall's been away, and so much remains the same.