2026 Programming
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HALF-BAKED FESTIVAL OF EMERGING WORK 2026 SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23
7:30PM at The Waiting Room (19 3rd St. Troy, NY)
The Thing About Jeremy...
By Shayne David Cameris
Directed by Katie Pedro
You ever talk to someone you haven’t spoken to in years and just get that nagging feeling that something’s...wrong? like...really wrong? Well this play is about that...and it isn’t pretty...
The thing about Jeremy... is a horror play that looks at our relationship to our past and what we do when it comes knocking. Let’s say...someone shows up at your door in the middle of the night and you haven’t seen them in a decade...do you let them in? Do you do the right thing? What is the right thing? Do you even...know this person anymore? Sometimes it’s best to trust your gut. For example, you never know when that gut of yours is trying to tell you that this person is actually not a person at all...and it has plans... Is the thin veneer of nostalgia enough to welcome someone you hardly even recognize into your home? We’ll follow Chase and his closest friend, Skyler, as they try to answer that very question about their old pal Jeremy...
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24
7:30PM at The Waiting Room (19 3rd St. Troy, NY)
You've Changed
By Ben Botwick
Directed by Ethan Botwick
After an evening partying in a rented cabin, Randall wakes up in his friend C.J.’s body. But C.J. is nowhere to be found, and Randall’s girlfriend Joan has a tough time believing her boyfriend has hopped bodies. Once he manages to convince her, they discover that their vision for a corporeal reunion may not align, and assumptions about a binary switch are challenged when it becomes clear that the thing walking around in Randall’s body may not be their friend C.J. You’ve Changed by Ben Botwick, is an attempt to take the body-swap premise that endured as a comedic vehicle and explore its potential in horror. It is a three-person play set in the present day, and it touches on the fluid nature of identity and its effect on our relationships.
Untitled Student Loan Horror
By Leah Barker
Directed by TBD
Untitled Student Loan Horror is a new horror-comedy play (very much still in development) by Leah Barker. It follows a thirty-something failed actress with six-figure debt from an expensive BFA program. Her acting career never took off, and she’s working a low-paying office job while performing with an audienceless indie theater company at night. Determined to pay off her loans and harboring some deep resentments towards her wealthy friend who made it big, she ventures down a twisted path that’s part “Rumpelstiltskin,” part American Psycho.
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28
7:30PM at The Waiting Room (19 3rd St. Troy, NY)
The Lady in the Cage
By Sarah Saltwick
Directed by Rigel Harris
Once upon a time, Naomi, a remarkably beautiful woman, was put in a cage. There she sits, awaiting her judgement and cursing the King who put her there. The King who was once her lover. The King who had promised her the world based on her face. All she has for company is the unremarkable Hilde (her sister disguised as a servant), Marcus (who is far from a King), and Abigail (an innocent girl). None of them will bring her a mirror. Or a key. Will she make it out? Will her beauty last? Without this beauty, what power does she have left?
The Lady in the Cage by Sarah Saltwick is a dark fairy tale, inspired by Angela Carter (especially The Bloody Chamber) and Caryl Churchill’s work like The Striker and Far Away, as well as visual artists like Hilma af Klint and Lenore Carrington.
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29
7:30PM at The Waiting Room (19 3rd St. Troy, NY)
The Dark on Fire
By Sarah Fiete
Directed by David Girard
The town of Clemence has four residents.
After a failed experiment turns the small American town’s crops to mush and poisons the water, Mayor Juliette “Jules” Hart, her scholarly husband Jack, their young son Noah, and their peculiar neighbor Marianne choose to build a life in the place others had to evacuate.
Then, a knock.
Lillian and Jordan show up from the CDC and CPS, respectively, to gather data about the Harts and their ability to care for Noah in a house slowly being sucked into the ground. But their visit causes a disturbance in the household, and unnerving questions emerge. What is Jules doing in her room all the time, and how come no one sees her anymore? What provokes Marianne’s violent outbursts? Who is the man skulking around in the dark? The two women soon discover that yes, the town of Clemence has four residents. But they are not who you think they are.
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30
7:30PM at The Waiting Room (19 3rd St. Troy, NY)
The Thing About Jeremy...
By Shayne David Cameris
Directed by Katie Pedro
You ever talk to someone you haven’t spoken to in years and just get that nagging feeling that something’s...wrong? like...really wrong? Well this play is about that...and it isn’t pretty...
The thing about Jeremy... is a horror play that looks at our relationship to our past and what we do when it comes knocking. Let’s say...someone shows up at your door in the middle of the night and you haven’t seen them in a decade...do you let them in? Do you do the right thing? What is the right thing? Do you even...know this person anymore? Sometimes it’s best to trust your gut. For example, you never know when that gut of yours is trying to tell you that this person is actually not a person at all...and it has plans... Is the thin veneer of nostalgia enough to welcome someone you hardly even recognize into your home? We’ll follow Chase and his closest friend, Skyler, as they try to answer that very question about their old pal Jeremy...
WELCOME TO AMERICANA COSPLAY!
Troy Foundry Theater & Die-Cast are teaming up again to bring you Americana Cosplay, a new immersive, mixed-media performance created by Die-Cast and directed by Brenna Geffers, that interrogates the myths underpinning American identity, all performed at the historic Paine Castle in Troy, NY. The United States of America may have been conceived in 1776, but it was born in the turmoil of the decades following the Civil War. Americana Cosplay is a rowdy, raucous look at how we reimagined American identity in the years 1870 - 1890 and then somehow forgot that we made that whole identity up. From solo gunslingers of the west to the new capitalists in the north, we are still basing our current mythos on these imagined anti-heroes. Join us for a new immersive performance that invites you into a private club for a little american cos play. There are political assassinations, backroom business deals, gothic stories of forbidden love, and some good ol' fashioned TikTok line dancing. You get to choose your fantasy, but only up to a point. Just in time for America’s 250th birthday! Yeah!
WHAT:
AMERICANA COSPLAY
Created by Die-Cast
Directed by Brenna Geffers
Produced by Troy Foundry Theatre
WHERE:
Paine Castle
49 2nd St, Troy, NY 12180
WHEN:
Wednesday March 4 @ 8pm
Thursday March 5 @ 8pm
Friday March 6 @ 8pm
Saturday March 7 @ 8pm
Wednesday March 11 @ 8pm
Thursday March 12 @ 8pm
Friday March 13 @ 8pm
Saturday March 14 @ 8pm
PAY WHAT YOU CAN TICKET LEVELS FOR 2026:
*All of our performances are pay-what-you-can The levels below are available online for pre-purchase.
You can give ANY amount at the door, but we only accept cash, PayPal, or check.
Online Levels:
$15 Caster
$30 Moulder
$50 Bellfounder
$100 Iron Turner
$500 Galvaniser
A portion of our proceeds from this performance will go to support The Ability Experience, with a mission of empowering people with disabilities and reshaping the way society views disabilities. If you would like to make a donation to support The Ability Experience, please CLICK HERE or visit https://www.abilityexperience.org/.
