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Compensation

new full-length comedy

Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, November 2019

"I don’t know what we are to each other. Not exactly. But... I know you first. And you know me first. And that means something."

"Unbeknownst to her mother, Tara drops out of college and becomes a surrogate for Gabriel and Elliott, a well-established gay couple. Suddenly, Tara finds herself carrying not only their future child, but a terrible secret as well. Compensation is a dialogue about the complex systems that coerce women into outsourcing their bodies for income, the ethical implications of men purchasing access to those bodies, and the profound yearning for family that drives these people to entangle themselves in these systems in the first place."

Two men hold hands as they dance in a modern living room set, staged in the round. Behind them, a woman sits on the couch and watches them. The scene is bathed in soft blue and purple lighting emanating from a large blue ring light that hangs above the circular stage.

Written & Directed by Hannah Manikowski

Dramaturgy - Carley Johnson

Asst. Dramaturg - Sabrina Zanello Jackson

Set Design - Mark Ivachtchenko

Lighting Design - Hannah Kerman

Costume Design - Alexa James-Cardenas

Stage Manager - Emma Patterson

Production Manager - Evan Schild

Ensemble:

ELLIOT - Christopher Chene

GABRIEL - Darius Fraser

TARA - Clementine Wurzbach

Asst. Costume Designer - Laura Riviere

Asst. Stage Manager - Chris Chase

Asst. Production Manager - Mary Emily Landers

Photography - Louis Stein

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