Productions
Work we produce, work we champion, and the companies we've helped make it.
PRODUCING
The Lady Doth Protest
Producer, with Feminine Productions
A play that swerves from high-minded satire into dark, physical comedy. Two people locked in a volatile power struggle fight over whose voice counts as expert, until the polite debate falls away and what's left is a raw fight to be heard. It asks what happens to people who lean on tradition to hold on to control, and who gets silenced when they do.
Praise from the Fringe: “Sharply funny.” “Physical.” “Fast.”
From first draft to the Fringe
Playwright Mark Blankenship began writing the play in Fido's, a coffee shop in Nashville. Joy Powered Productions came on as producer and built the company around it: director Evan Zes, actors Liam Craig and Nealy Glenn, and composer and musician Will Holshouser, with a full design team. Here's how the play grew, one stop at a time.
STOP 1 · NASHVILLE
Workshop and presentation
May 4–7, 2026
The play came full circle in the city where it was written: table work around a dining-room table, the music taking shape on accordion, and a public reading for a packed house.
STOP 2 · NEW YORK
East to Edinburgh
July 16–19, 2026
The play made its New York premiere at East to Edinburgh, and the run sold out on its way to Scotland.
STOP 3 · EDINBURGH
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Greenside at George Street (Venue 236, Olive Studio) · August 17–29, 2026
After tech day on August 16, the play had its international premiere in the Olive Studio and ran through August 29: Joy Powered Productions' international debut, co-produced with Feminine Productions. Audiences spread the word all month, and the company came home already looking ahead to the play's next chapter.
Creative team
Writer: Mark Blankenship
Director: Evan Zes
Performers: Liam Craig, Nealy Glenn
Composer and musician: Will Holshouser
Fight and intimacy: Jose-Maria Aguila
Costumes and scenery: Bella Costantino
Lighting: Dani Jeannette Draper
Sound: Ryan McCurdy
Dialect coach: Deb Hecht
Producer: Melle Powers, Joy Powered Productions
Co-producer: Feminine Productions
Stage manager, East to Edinburgh: Rachel Rice
Stage manager, Edinburgh: Alexei Veprentev
IN DEVELOPMENT
Allegedly
YouTube series · In development
She grew up reading about them. Now she wants in. In this comedy, Celeste leaves small-town Maryland and a perfectly decent fiancé for New York City, where a job at The Meridian puts her within reach of the Black arts crowd she grew up idolizing. A reunion with an old friend sparks a scheme to get a pinky toe in the door before the magazine folds. She's plotted her way to New York. Wish her luck planning what happens next.
Allegedly was inspired by a The Make Good Project trip to the Martha's Vineyard Museum and its exhibit Inside the Edit: Dolores Allen Littles, TIME-LIFE, and Martha's Vineyard. Littles started at the clip desk of LIFE magazine and rose to director of photography for Time-Life Books, at a time when few doors opened for women of color in publishing. Her story sparked Celeste's. The covers of EBONY magazine, which chronicled Black life and culture for generations, are another touchstone for the world of the show.
The inspiration: Inside the Edit at the Martha's Vineyard Museum.
CO-PRODUCING
Celebration of Black Voices
Co-Producer · Barrington Stage Company · 2021–2025
A free annual festival in downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts, amplifying local Black artists through music, dance, gospel, poetry and youth performances. Barrington Stage's Director of Community Engagement, Sharron Fraizer-McClain, began the festival in 2020. More about the festival
Culture & Community credits
A Midsummer Night's Dream (national tour) · The Acting Company · Culture & Community, with Kate Sussman (January 2027)
Richard II · Red Bull Theater · Culture & Community and Cultural Dramaturgy
Medea Reversed · Red Bull Theater · Culture & Community and Cultural Dramaturgy
The Imaginary Invalid · Red Bull Theater · Culture & Community
Titus Andronicus · Red Bull Theater · Culture & Community and Cultural Dramaturgy
Les Misérables · Hudson Valley Shakespeare · Culture & Community and Cultural Dramaturgy
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window · BAM and Broadway · Culture & Community and Cultural Dramaturgy
Summer season · Barrington Stage Company · Culture & Community and Cultural Dramaturgy