DRY LAND 10th Anniversary Benefit Reading
by Ruby Rae Spiegel
directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt
April 21st, 2025 - 7pm
The Newman Mills Theater- MCC TheateR
A play about girls, abortion, bath salts, bathing suits, rashes, love, and what happens in one high school locker room after everybody’s left.
100% of net proceeds from the evening will benefit the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF), which supports New Yorkers and people traveling to New York State to access abortion care through financial assistance, case management, and connections to other resources.
“When we first produced this play ten years ago, Ruby was 20 years old, and medical abortions were pretty new. Despite the fact that one in three women experience abortion, and the majority of the U.S. population supports reproductive health care, there are overwhelming obstacles to access” said Director and Founding Artistic Director of Colt Coeur, Adrienne Campbell-Holt. “Dry Land was one of the first plays that centered young women’s experiences: of pregnancy, choice, and body autonomy. I never imagined that Roe would be overturned and the roll back of family care so prevalent, defying democratic choice and public opinion.”
“Level Forward is honored to be collaborating with Colt Coeur and the New York Abortion Access Fund to bring Dry Land back and share it with new generations. Addressing the narrative and groundwork gives us the chance to engage at both ends of the fight for family healthcare and reproductive freedom,” said Julia Dunetz, Producer, Level Forward.
Starring: Maya Hawke, Eden Marryshow, Alice Kremelberg, Alyah Chanelle Scott, and Dominic Sessa.
“Feelings seldom come singly in “Dry Land,” the remarkable new play by Ruby Rae Spiegel. [...] “Dry Land,” a Colt Coeur production directed with rippling fluidness by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, is about abortion. No, that’s not correct. It’s about the complexities of friendship and the fears of the future that grip kids arriving at the threshold of adulthood.
-The New York Times
“Watching Ruby Rae Spiegel’s ruthlessly honest Dry Land, you wonder: Girls, how did theater miss you?!? Everything else belongs to them: film, television, fiction. Yet it takes Spiegel’s simple, fierce play to put a young woman’s capacity for pain center stage—and the choice feels thrilling, even political.[...] Director Adrienne Campbell-Holt of the reliable company Colt Coeur enables startling performances.. There’s a glitter to the young: The company, the director, the writer and the actors all shimmer with it.”
-Time Out
“A thrilling and difficult new play, every inch filled with emotional integrity and a thrilling examination of the human side of political discourse.
-TheaterIsEasy
“Few things are as bracing as the shock of new talent. In 10 years — or more likely in 10 months, considering our accelerated hatching cycle — you’ll be able to say you were there for Ruby Rae Spiegel’s first full-length play. [...] Keenly directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt for the tiny but excellent Colt Coeur company.” - The New York Post
