Ayushi and Grace have just met. Both are pastor's wives from the Midwest. Both are being held captive, locked in the basement pantry of a serial cannibal. But today, food isn't the only thing on his mind. If Ayushi and Grace are to survive, they must win a series of mind games with their captor - a man with a peculiar, and frightening, dogma all his own.
“When I've seen women in ministry portrayed —and it's not often — they're framed as either stiff-necked killjoys or vessels of grace existing primarily to serve others. I had never, ever seen a theatrical narrative with this type of protagonist who tries to outmaneuver a very violent antagonist. I wondered what it looked like for a woman with that kind of ideologue-grit and buried self-doubt to face off against someone who is confidently, and authentically evil? So, I wrote Mice” - Schaeffer Nelson; Playwright
Playwright Schaeffer Nelson's Kings of Israel received the Editor's Pick, Best Productions of 2013-14 season, KC Metropolis - KC Fringe Festival); Outspoken KC: Love and Marriage (GLAMA), and Box 7 (EST/LA Launchpad Series). His prose has appeared in Camp Magazine and Palaver, and received readings at True Story LA, Homo-Centric, The Writer's Place (Kansas City), and the West Hollywood Book Fair. He is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre LA's New West Playwrights Unit. He has a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. He has soft spots for horror and theology; give him a Bible and a copy of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and he's set for the weekend.
CAST: Kevin Comartin (Mouseman), Sharmila Devar* (Ayushi), and Heather Robinson (Grace)
EST/LA is dedicated to developing and producing new work by established and emerging American playwrights, providing a lifelong artistic home to our membership of theatre professionals and sustaining live theatre – the vital and unique interaction of artist and audience.