Truepenny Projects
current projects
Squidsbury
Written by Chad Short
Directed by Tessara Morgan
Featuring Dorian Elie, J P Hargrove, Bobby Henneberg, Shana Herndon, Maria Ortiz Marquez, O'Malley Steuerman, and Caitlin Weaver
Puppeteering by David Brasington, Isaiah Harvey, and Jess Rasp
Tina is a squid who is forced to wear a human suit by her husband, Tim. She has lived this way since Tim rescued her in a boating accident. It’s the only way Tina can live in a society that has a great disdain for the sea creatures that have migrated on to land. But Tina has finally begun to feel the confines of the suit and yearns for her true home of the ocean. Finding no support from Tim, Tina turns to her friend Teensy. Together, Teensy and Tina hatch an escape plan involving an upcoming cruise and a dramatic dive.
Mercury Theatre, Baltimore, MD
July 15th through July 31st, 2022
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at the violet hour
A shadow puppet show
based on He Do the Police in Different Voices by Stephen Nunns which is based on The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot
Directed by Tessara Morgan
Designed by Oli Brann
Vivienne and her husband Tom are struggling. Tom is haunted by a dead lover from the war and pays little attention to Vivienne. As a way to keep her mind busy, Vivienne often wanders the city. But this distraction fails as she continues to encounter abuse, and ugliness, and rot. It only reminds Vivienne of her hopeless situation at home. Spiraling downward, Vivienne feels her only choice is to enact
revenge against her husband.
Art-O-Mat, Baltimore, MD
November, 2022
Tether
Co-Curated by Luke Farley and TBD
Featuring: TBD
Tether is a group gallery exhibition featuring artists from Baltimore City. Tether will follow a loose concept of how these artists have either addressed or not addressed the past years of isolation. The title "Tether" creates a juxtaposition. The conflict of being tied or restricted, while also experiencing it in solidarity with an entire world.
Baltimore, MD
Winter, 2022
Retreat
Curated by TBD
Featuring work by Luke Farley
Retreat will be a solo gallery exhibition of Baltimore based Luke Farley's painting. Retreat will explore the ways in which we confront or shy away from what is in front of us.
Baltimore, MD
Winter, 2022
Past projects
IMmortal: A Collection of Plays
Featuring new work by Molly Shayna Cohen, Lauren Davis, Tatiana Nya Ford, Megan Livingston, Chad Short, Elizabeth Ung, and Aladrian C. Wetzel
Every play in this collection featured a unique exploration of immortality. Each performance night, an audience of 10 gathered at the back gate of Inadequate Lighting. A guide brought the audience through the space to experience each play individually.
Inadequate Lighting, Baltimore, MD
September-October 2021
Can I Testify?
CAN I TESTIFY is a virtual narrative-based virtual exhibition that explores synergizing the reflections/testimonies of five DMV-based artists, to form one powerful narrative and dialogue. By reflecting on and sharing those moments that resonated with them personally, they explore how those stories have translated through both their practice, and as individuals, specifically in the DMV. But through the combination of their journeys, they show how dialogues can be manifested during times of separation.
Baltimore, MD
March-May 2021
Curated by Gabriel Amadi-Emina
Featuring Redeat Assefa, Dyyo, Jerrell Gibbs, Lynn Hunter, and Will Watson
Close Your Eyes and Sleep
Written by AJ Clauss
Directed by Tessara Morgan
Featuring Dave Iden, Jamil Johnson, Megan Livingston, Martha Robichaud, and Chad Short
In the near future, it rains all the time, journalists are disappearing, and hypnotherapy can help you erase the past. Welcome. Close Your Eyes and Sleep follows a small family of friends who, through time and space, have found themselves in the middle of a national crisis. History is trauma. But is it as easy as they say it is to forget?
Mercury Theatre, Baltimore, MD
March, 2020 - Cancelled DUE TO PANDEMIC
Dali's Liquid Ladies
Written by Savannah Reich
Directed by Tessara Morgan
Featuring Molly Corkins, Nick Narcisi, Keighley Sadley, Kat Wodtke, and Ben Yela
A dark comedy about Salvador Dali's “Dream of Venus” funhouse, built for the 1939 World's Fair, and the women who put on rubber tails to work as “mermaids” in the surrealistic peep show inside.
Milwaukee, WI
October, 2016
The Secretaries
Written by The Five Lesbian Brothers
Directed by Tessara Morgan
Featuring Cari Dulan, Amanda Eaton, Amy Hansman, Kristin Johnson, and Madeleine Wakley
Be on the lookout, because there’s a band of murderous secretaries on the prowl and they are thirsty for lumberjack blood! This dark comedy gives its audience a unique look into the life of a modern woman and her hardships.
Milwaukee, WI
June, 2016