RAFETUS Workshop

by Ali Skye Bennet

Directed by Jill DeArmon

Friday, September 28, 2018

11:00am | 2:30pm

305 West 38th Street
between 8th & 9th Aves.
3rd Floor, Studio #312
Ripley-Grier Performance Space

[email protected]

In a near-forgotten corner of the Suzhou Zoo in China, the last male and female Yangtze giant softshell turtles unknowingly find themselves in the spotlight when suddenly thrust into confinement by a team of Scientists, who are prepared to rewrite the laws of science to get the Turtles to breed and the species to perpetuate. But when the lovestruck Turtles finally grasp the full implications of their circumstances, the line between responsibility and self-preservation starts to blur...

In the animal kingdom, held in captivity in a race against the biological clock, at what point does nature’s instinct finally overpower free will? In RAFETUS, “freedom of choice” takes on a whole new meaning -- or perhaps is rendered meaningless.

Based on a true story.

RAFETUS was developed in part at the HBMG Foundation's National Winter Playwright's Retreat,
is a 2019 Blue Ink Playwriting Award Finalist, a 2018-19 Woodward/Newman Drama Award Finalist, and a
2017 Finalist and 2018 Semi-Finalist for the National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.