EXCLUSIVE: A one-night 10th anniversary Off Broadway benefit reading of Ruby Rae Spiegel’s Dry Land will star Maya Hawke, Alyah Chanelle Scott, Dominic Sessa, Eden Marryshow, and Alice Kremelberg, who is reprising her role from the original production.
Set for Monday, April 21 at 7 p.m. at The Newman Mills Theater in the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space, the reading will benefit the New York Abortion Access Fund and be presented by Colt Coeur, the Brooklyn theater company that produced the original staging, and Level Forward, an entertainment company that most recently was a producer of Broadway’s Romeo + Juliet starring Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler.
The play’s synopsis: Dry Land is a play about girls, abortion, bath salts, bathing suits, rashes, love, and what happens in one high school locker room after everybody’s left.
All net proceeds from the evening will benefit the New York Abortion Access Fund, 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.
The reading will be performed on the set of All Nighter on that production’s dark night. Tickets begin at $49.
“When we first produced this play ten years ago, Ruby was 20 years old, and medical abortions were pretty new,” said Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Director and Founding Artistic Director of Colt Coeur. “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. 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.
Hawke is best known for her role on Netflix’s Stranger Things, while Scott stars as “Whitney Chase” on Mindy Kaling’s Max comedy series The Sex Lives of College Girls.
Kremelberg can most recently be seen playing Sofia Wilmot in Renegade Nell for Disney+, and will be in the upcoming Duffer Brothers project The Boroughs for Netflix. Sessa made his feature film debut in 2023 in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers and will star as the young Anthony Bourdain in Matt Johnson’s feature Tony for A24 which starts shooting this summer. Marryshow’s credits include New Amsterdam, Archive 81, Jessica Jones and The Equalizer, among others.
