Plays Inverse

12/22/2023

After months of work behind the scenes, we're excited to announce that Plays Inverse & 3 Hole Press are now part of the 53rd State Press catalog to be distributed by TCG Books in the new year! Browse the new one-stop shop for indie & experimental theatre at https://bookshop.53rdstatepress.org

Lives change, and too often an indie editor/publisher's career shift can leave dozens of books without a home. I'm extremely proud to be leaving our catalog in hands that will not only keep titles in print, but increase the reach & visibility of these authors' work exponentially.

More soon, but a huge thank you to 53rd State Press's editor Kate Kremer, my comrade in arms 3 Hole Press founder Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, & the TCG Books team. Indie shouldn't mean isolated, and as theatre and publishing communities we can work together to find sustainable futures for all of us.

07/24/2023

LAST CHANCE! Less than 48 hours remain in our anniversary flash sale. Get PDF copies of all 19 books in our catalog plus 4 additional scripts from friends & for $23—just $1/play! 50% of proceeds raised go directly to playwrights, with the other 50% being invested in the press's operations. Help us celebrate a decade of experimental publishing and get an instant indie theatre library in the process!

Celebrate a decade of experimental theatre with 23 digital scripts for just $23.

07/03/2023

YOU ONLY TURN 10 ONCE! Help us celebrate a decade of experimental theatre publishing with the help of our friends 53rd State Press & 3 Hole Press! 23 DRM-free playscript PDFs for $23 USD, available for just 23 days, with 50% going directly to playwrights! Back today!

Celebrate a decade of experimental theatre with 23 digital scripts for just $23.

01/31/2023

The pandemic may have slowed us down, but Jordan Chesnut's How Gross, My Séances is NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER! A book years in the making, we couldn't be prouder to be publishing this new play in verse on grief, language, & love. Releasing February 21, order now for just $12! http://www.playsinverse.com/catalog/how-gross.html

09/14/2022

PLAYS INVERSE IS EMERGING FROM ITS SLUMBER. Exciting changes are in the works, but in the meantime, we're thrilled to have printed a second run of Stephanie Barber's TRIAL IN THE WOODS—available first at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse in Baltimore. Join Stephanie alongside Alicia Puglionesi for a reading and conversation on writing, ethics, and non-human animals tomorrow, September 15 at 7pm. Copies will be back in the online store soon and distributor warehouse soon!

RSVP now for this event at Red Emma's

02/04/2022

Fantastic new conversation between Alicia Puglionesi & Stephanie Barber in JMWW Journal on Barber's play TRIAL IN THE WOODS! Give it a read, and then pick up a copy of your own at http://www.playsinverse.com/catalog/trial-in-the-woods.html!

I’m just writing about these ideas, these characters, and my lack of a clear moral directive became the subject as much as the animals, the crime and the humor are the subject.

12/22/2021

Thank you to BmoreArt for including Stephanie Barber's play TRIAL IN THE WOODS in their year-end roundup of books! Check out the EXCELLENT company it's in, and grab your copy at http://www.playsinverse.com/catalog/trial-in-the-woods.html!

BmoreArt is a creative and critical daily online journal. We believe that Baltimore’s creative class deserves to be discussed, critiqued, and well-informed.

12/01/2021

Thank you to Baltimore Fishbowl for publishing Amy Eisner & playwright Stephanie Barber's conversation about TRIAL IN THE WOODS, our latest play here at Plays Inverse! Read the article, and then follow links at the bottom of the story for an extended transcript of their conversation. You can also buy the book at http://www.playsinverse.com/catalog/trial-in-the-woods.html

In Stephanie Barber’s play Trial in the Woods, a killing and the ensuing trial are lived and re-lived by a cast of forest animals.

11/11/2021

An exploratory staging of our first play, THE HOLY GHOST PEOPLE by Joshua Young, opens TONIGHT at The Brick as part of Gestating Baby Volume 1! Tickets are available for 8pm, Nov. 11-13 at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1080653 or you can buy the play's book at http://www.playsinverse.com/catalog/the-holy-ghost-people.html!

10/22/2021

Excellent new interview with thoughtful responses to Stephanie Barber's play TRIAL IN THE WOODS in BmoreArt, courtesy of Rahne Alexander! Check it out, and then pick up a copy of your own! https://bmoreart.com/2021/10/once-again-into-the-woods-an-interview-with-stephanie-barber.html

BmoreArt is a creative and critical daily online journal. We believe that Baltimore’s creative class deserves to be discussed, critiqued, and well-informed.

09/23/2021

Happy opening to Virginia Grise's YOUR HEALING IS KILLING ME at Cara Mia Theatre! So honored to have published this play, and so thrilled audiences have another chance to see it live. DALLAS: Find tickets & safety info at https://caramiatheatre.org/yhikm || Performances run September 23–October 10

08/31/2021

"I am really interested in sitting uncomfortably in the not knowing. I think it’s important. I’m not a legislator in the criminal justice system (thank god), nor am I an ethicist. I’m a poet and should not be expected to have any answers—only more questions."

Thank you so much to Adam Robinson for interviewing Stephanie Barber on her new play Trial in the Woods for The Art of Everyone! Read the full interview at https://theartofeveryone.com/animal-instinct-poetry-law-an-interview-with-stephanie-barber/ and then pick up a copy of the play at bit.ly/3x05MGd

Stephanie Barber discusses her new book, "Trial in the Woods," and dodges the question, "Which do you love more, All Cats or your cats?"

08/19/2021

"People are animals [. . .] I’d rather spend my time thinking about non-human animals."

Thank you so much to Jordannah Elizabeth for interviewing PI playwright Stephanie Barber about her new book TRIAL IN THE WOODS for TERSE. Read their full conversation at http://bit.ly/3sogcxG and then pick up a copy of your own!

Courtesy of Stephanie Barber Baltimore based filmmaker, Stephanie Barber, whose career has spanned over 20 years, has embarked on a new creative journey that has produced the publication of her deb…

08/17/2021

Nothing makes a publisher happier than seeing a book held by its author for the first time! Stephanie Barber's new play TRIAL IN THE WOODS is available NOW from Plays Inverse! Preview the first two scenes and order your copy today at http://bit.ly/3x05MGd

08/10/2021

HAPPY RELEASE DAY to Stephanie Barber's TRIAL IN THE WOODS, the latest performance text from Plays Inverse and our return post-hiatus!

After a year of delays, we couldn't be happier to be back with this hilarious, insightful, and deeply moving play about a courtroom full of literal animals. Stephanie's wit and poeticism is on full display here, and whether you're a fan of her poetry & film or just a fan of playwriting in general, you're sure to love this book. Grab your copy at bit.ly/3x05MGd

Orders hit the mail today, but our website is still in the process of updating! If you manage to grab a copy before the pre-order price ($10) increases, great! Enjoy the discount as thanks for being an early reader.

A huge thank you to Spencer Printing and Graphics, our printer for nearly 10 years now, for not only delivering on quality but also for hitting our release deadline despite global production delays!

Lastly, thank you to Jackie Milad for our amazing cover art and Laura van den Berg, Jackie Wang, & Zhu Yi for blurbing, and be sure to check out their work as well!

08/09/2021

Our first play in a year, TRIAL IN THE WOODS by Stephanie Barber, releases TOMORROW! Pre-order now for just $10 while you can, and stock up on PI titles before prices increase site-wide this month to reflect increased printing costs! http://bit.ly/3x05MGd

Original cover illustration (pre-inversion) by Jackie Milad

08/04/2021

"When a brutal murder takes place in broad daylight, how hard can it be to pursue justice? With that question, Stephanie Barber's Trial in the Woods takes me to a strange dream, where civic engagement becomes a carnival of death and the excitement of the crowd turns into a collective paralysis. At first it seems so odd how peacefully these wild animals live with each other—I can't help but wonder how much blood was shed to reach that social agreement. And now it's broken. How far and how deep will these talking animals go to examine the contract that they hold together?"

—Zhu Yi, author of Alien of Extraordinary Ability

Releasing August 10 (next week!) pre-order Stephanie Barber's upcoming play TRIAL IN THE WOODS today for only $10! bit.ly/3x05MGd

Cover illustration by Jackie Milad

07/27/2021

"If Eugène Ionesco were commissioned to write a posthumanist spoof of The Stranger and wellness culture while on acid, the result might look something like Stephanie Barber's rollicking and thoroughly enjoyable Trial in the Woods, a play that casts forest animals to act out our (human) legal rituals. With humor and lyricism, Barber uses absurdist allegory to poke holes in the foundational assumptions of social contract theory. Trial in the Woods raises probing questions about the performativity of law and the relationship between abolition and animality, all the while gracefully balancing philosophical insight and madcap wit."

—Jackie Wang, author of Carceral Capitalism & The Sunflower Cast A Spell To Save Us From The Void

Releasing August 10, pre-order Stephanie Barber's upcoming play TRIAL IN THE WOODS today for only $10! bit.ly/3x05MGd

Cover illustration by Jackie Milad

07/20/2021

"Stephanie Barber's visionary latest, Trial in the Woods, is a philosophical and frequently hilarious dive into violence, blame, truth, communal responsibility, and the absurdity of our institutions. On the surface, this play concerns a crime and a trial, and moves with the deliciously swift pace of a courtroom procedural, but as the interrogations progress the animals at the center of the trial have much to reveal about the essence of human nature. I love the way Barber's work never does quite what I expect, always resists the familiar path, so I emerge from her worlds exhilarated and even changed."

—Laura van den Berg, author of I Hold a Wolf by the Ears & The Third Hotel

Releasing August 10, pre-order Stephanie Barber's upcoming play TRIAL IN THE WOODS today for only $10! bit.ly/3x05MGd

Cover illustration by Jackie Milad

06/29/2021

After a year-long hiatus, we're happy to announce Stephanie Barber's TRIAL IN THE WOODS will release August 10, 2021! One part crime procedural and one part fable, TRIAL IN THE WOODS is a bold new play about ethics, the efficacy of punitive justice, and our (human, American) criminal justice system. It's also very, very funny. Cover art by the amazing Jackie Milad, and pre-orders are available NOW for only $10 at http://www.playsinverse.com/catalog/trial-in-the-woods.html

03/03/2020

After talking with 3 Hole Press & 53rd State Press, the 3 of us have decided to cancel our plans this year and instead shift that time, energy, & investment elsewhere as we continue to champion & care for our authors (who are pretty great by the way: http://playsinverse.com/catalog.html)

We'd also like to echo 3 Hole Press in saying that this situation highlights the

"importance of healthcare reform, specifically as it relates to publishing. We cannot adequately serve you and our readers if conferences are ghost towns. We cannot support your readings and productions if people will not go to public spaces. Books play an important role in drawing people together—but civic spaces cannot exist when our collective health is as poor as the most neglected person's health."

— Rachel & Mary Marge, 3 Hole Press

02/28/2020

Next week Plays Inverse will be at table T2238 with 53rd State Press & 3 Hole Press for —selling plays, taking pitches, & talking up amazing forthcoming titles from Stephanie Barber, Jordan Chesnut, Mike Corrao, & Logan Berry. Come fall in love with experimental theatre:

01/22/2020

Our latest collection of plays, AN ICE CREAM TRUCK STALLED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD by Jon Cone & Rauan Klassnik, is now available! Featuring art by Scrap Princess and heralded as "a gateway drug to a new theatrical idiom," preview & pick up your copy today at our website today!

Pog sprawls on a couch. Gomey stands by a large globe. Pog sits at the counter. Gomey sits at a table. Two broken lawn chairs, center stage. Pog and Gomey listless in these chairs. Pog and Gomey seated, next to each other, but at different tables. Pog dressed as Punch, or Judy. Gomey dressed as Judy...

01/09/2020

A new (glowing!) review of Justin Limoli's plays BLOODLETTING IN MINOR SCALES [A CANVAS IN ARMS.] and ON ROMULUS, WHILE ABEL SLEEPS [A CHTHONIC SONG.] in Entropy! Daniel Breithaupt does a fantastic job digging into what makes these works so great—both on their own and in conversation with each other. Check it out, and then buy both titles from as a bundle from us for only $15!

Bloodletting in Minor Scales [A Canvas in Arms.] by Justin Limoli Plays Inverse, 2014 85 pages / SPD / Amazon / Plays Inverse On Romulus, While Abel Sleeps

01/07/2020

Excited to share that our next collection, AN ICE CREAM TRUCK STALLED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD by Jon Cone & Rauan Klassnik, is now available for pre-order! Featuring art by Scrap Princess, click through to read a preview of the first two plays and glowing blurbs from Blake Butler, The Runaways Lab Theater, & Darcie Dennigan. Pre-order your copy by January 21 for only $10 & free domestic shipping! https://bit.ly/39JT82N

10/29/2019

Our latest play in verse if now officially available! A reworking of Ovid's METAMORPHOSES, FAUN by Brandi George reflects on sexual violence in the mythic as well as the sudden erasure of human & nonhuman populations from her hometown of Ovid, Michigan through various voices, forms, and media. One of our most ambitious projects yet, preview & purchase your copy today at https://bit.ly/2M5pWcM!

The book flinches like a school of fish, a murmuration, a murder nation, my colonizer's baby handprint on a paneled wall in a farmhouse in Ovid, Michigan. The book unearths burial mounds and flattens them into fields. My ancestors removed the bones, and I removed arrowheads from the creek, and I hel...

10/11/2019

Excited to share that FAUN by Brandi George—a play in verse exploring the sudden erasure of human & nonhuman populations from the author's hometown of Ovid, Michigan—is available for pre-order! Releasing Oct. 29, preview the text & order now for $10 w/ free US shipping! https://bit.ly/2M5pWcM