About the Show

Festival@First 14: Just Deserts presents 9 original short plays by New England playwrights, and our theme this year asks a simple question: What do people deserve? Really? Are you sure about that? 

These plays explore justice, consequences, and redemption through turns which are unexpected, provocative, and satisfying. This is not a festival about punishment or retribution, but transformative justice glimpsed through an artistic lens. 

The stories told are funny, odd, moving, philosophical, emotionally resonant; tales of second chances, unusual karmic returns, or characters who get what they want (in all the wrong ways). 

Come and join us for a festival of short pieces that may delight, interest, unsettle, or change your mind! 

Content note: References to homophobia, elder abuse, and emotional trauma. 

Auditions

Reservations are now open for auditions, Monday, June 8 and Tuesday, June 9. Auditions are by reservation only. See our Auditions page for more information and to sign up for a time slot!

Performances

Friday, August 14, 2026 at 8pm

Saturday, August 15, 2026 at 8pm

Sunday, August 16, 2026 at 4pm (matinee!)

Thursday, August 20, 2026 at 8pm

Friday, August 21, 2026 at 8pm

Saturday, August 22, 2026 at 4pm (matinee!)

Location

Festival@First 14 will be presented at Unity Somerville, 6 William Street, Somerville.

The performance space is not wheelchair-accessible.

Parking on William St is by permit only. General parking is available on College Ave. Please read signs carefully to avoid ticketing.

After his last client (and love interest), the beautiful Elisabeth Kentworth, turns out to have been the villain all along, PI Hank Wolfe reckons with the emotional fallout.

TBD — Hank Wolfe

TBD — Hank Wolfe's Voiceover

TBD — Este Shmeckbetski

TBD — Elizabeth Kentworth

TBD — George Kentworth

Fed up with years of neglect and exploitation, renter Nicky takes their landlord hostage—only for a well-meaning neighbor to stumble into the situation and discover that keeping someone alive can be harder than hurting them.

TBD — Nicky

TBD — Donovan

TBD — Margaret

TBD — Technician

A visiting nurse sits down with the wife of an Alzheimer's patient. She listens as the present fades and the past comes into focus, as lies are forgotten and truths are revealed.

TBD — Miranda

TBD — Manny

TBD — Nurse

A cop tries to talk a wealthy, glamourous woman with her murdered husband in the living room out of jumping off a ledge ten stories high.  

TBD — Francine Hansen

TBD — Tommy Dunlop

An officer is sent to bring a woman in for questioning who has been stealing the baby Jesus from churches and town commons. He returns, stunned, with a present for his supervisor.

TBD — Officer Luther McEvoy

TBD — Officer John Albilai

After a lifetime of suffering, Dylan kidnaps Eros, the god of love, convinced he’s finally earned the perfect romance—but Eros challenges whether pain truly entitles anyone to a happy ending.

TBD — Eros

TBD — Dylan

In this affectionate parody of reality TV drama, three unflappable Vermont neighbors calmly work through a property dispute while a visiting daughter-in-law from New Yorker is baffled.

TBD — Helen

TBD — Alice

TBD — Wanda

TBD — Tracy

A doomed villain arrives in a bureaucratic afterlife office to select their own dramatic death, only to begin questioning the story, and the system, that insists villains must always lose.

TBD — The Judge

TBD — The Fallen

A passer-by wants to push the button. A security officer is charged with guarding it.

TBD — Samuel

TBD  — Albert

Jason Rhode — Director

Chloe Trepanier — Technical Director

Audra Congress — Assistant Technical Director

Vivian Greenberg — Co-Producer

Emily Osterloh — Co-Producer

Karishma — Stage Manager

Xuan Li Leong — Assistant Stage Manager/Rehearsal Assistant

Bethany Croteau — Assistant Stage Manager/Rehearsal Assistant

TBD — Set Designer

Patrick McMichen — Lighting Designer

Juan José Boschetti Muñiz — Sound Designer

TBD — Costumes Designer

TBD — Hair & Makeup Designer

TBD — Properties Manager

Andrea Humez — House Manager

Sarah Passinhas-Bergman — House Team Member

Christian Krenek — Publicity Manager

Cari Keebaugh — Intimacy Coach / Choreo

TBD — Graphics Designer

If you are interested in joining the Production Team, or being a House Volunteer, please email us!