Produce a Play
World Communities plays are created through intimate, ongoing relationships with their subject matter. They are the result of years of interviews and research. As such, they provide a privileged view into the worlds they embrace. Performing a World Communities play is a special event. The play can either be offered as a script to a producing organization, or a partnership can be created with World Communities for the production of the show.
The play begins a journey that continues to other places. World Communities links the performance of its plays to optional travel related to the subject for a rich cultural experience. The international trips or domestic cultural immersion opportunities are tailored to fit the needs, budget, and interests of the group. While not all of those attending a production will be interested in making the trip, World Communities offers the unique opportunity of seeing a show and traveling to the source of its inspiration.
Sometimes, World Communities will announce a trip itinerary available for any group who produces a particular World Communities play. Information about these happenings will be posted on the website.
Always, World Communities shows are a springboard to other events, such as symposiums, cultural festivals, speakers, and classes. World Communities works with its partners to realize the full cultural and educational opportunities of each story we present.
Below is a summary of plays available for performance, as well as a description of the place where it was created, notes from the playwright on the process of creating the play, and an overview of the travel-related experience offered.
The American POW Drama
Andersonville Civil War Stockade
American Ex-Prisoners of War from many conflicts take their stories to the stage in this courageous and moving drama set within the context of wars’ very first prison.
Following Our Fannie
Americus, Georgia
What were once vaudevillians later became circus people. This play reunites the two in telling the story of a historic theater.
Home Again
Oregon City, Oregon
America’s great westward expansion created a juggernaut of cultural misunderstanding between pioneer and Native American cultures that this play tries to resolve.
Birth of a Spirit
Japan
The play began in the home of a president and traveled to the town in Japan where it most resonated. Carter’s fight against racial prejudice reveals the birth of his spirit.
Streets of Gold
Western Pennsylvania Coal Fields
Industrialized America was fueled by the coal beneath the earth and the miners who came from all over the world to create a new day. Their story continues through generations.
Jimmy and Billy
Plains, Georgia
As Jimmy Carter rose to be president, his brother Billy rose a beer above his head—again and again. Except it was a lot more complicated than that.
Prayer of America
Monongah, West Virginia
What happens when everyone and everything you’ve known is gone except for the children who need you? The story of immigrant women after America’s deadliest mine disaster.
The Reach of Song
Southern Appalachia
An Appalachian drama, it is also the story of rural America before and after World War Two. So moving, it was named the State Historic Drama of Georgia.
Searching for Innocence
Cambodia
See through eyes who have seen the unimaginable during the reign of the Khmer Rouge when the world looked away from Cambodia, only to later flood it with good intentions.
Transcendence
Plains, Georgia
Likely the only time a playwright was commissioned to work with a president of the United States on a play about his life. This is the Jimmy Carter story.
The American POW Drama
Andersonville Civil War Stockade
American Ex-Prisoners of War from many conflicts take their stories to the stage in this courageous and moving drama set within the context of wars’ very first prison.
Birth of a Spirit
Japan
The play began in the home of a president and traveled to the town in Japan where it most resonated. Carter’s fight against racial prejudice reveals the birth of his spirit.
Stalinka
Bulgaria
Worlds that changed 180-degrees after the fall of Communism struggle to make sense of life and art in the wild, wild west of Eastern Europe circa the late 1990’s.
Darkness Lifting
Ghana, Sandtown Baltimore, Fiji, Northern Ireland, and Chiapas Mexico
Habitat for Humanity works in all fifty states and more than eighty countries. This is the story of the people throughout the world who live in their houses.
Searching for Innocence
Cambodia
See through eyes who have seen the unimaginable during the reign of the Khmer Rouge when the world looked away from Cambodia, only to later flood it with good intentions.
How to Beat Diabetes
Labasa, Fiji
These plays helped diabetics in Fiji overcome the disease. And is a great example of how theater can further the mission of an NGO, especially in the developing world.