A trilogy of surreal plays by Katrin Arefy, directed by Ali Jamali.

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PMU aims to question the idea of us versus the other. In the first play of the trilogy, THE ELBISNOPSRES!, breaking news about a distant civilization turns the prosaic tedium of a middle-class households day to a tempest in a teapot. Their attempt to overcome their fear-inducing ignorance by turning to their limited resources results in a farcical event. In the second play, A MASSACRE, discovering a pile of dead bodies in the middle of an office, work colleagues become embroiled in repetitive, predetermined, and nonnegotiable discussions. In the final play, LOVE IS A CARROT! OR CAN YOU LOVE THE UMBRELLA?, six pseudo-intellectual housemates get into endless groundless arguments, contradicting themselves and creating a cacophony of mad unreason. Unable to listen to each other or think outside of their very limited open minds, the characters are truer to our own world than we would like to believe.

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The production is directed by Ali Jamali with a cast featuring Isaac J. Conner, Marie Dinolan, Louise Heller, Ali Jamali, Ben Jorgensen, Feryal Kilisli, Andy Lachman, Anuj Parikh, Giselle Samson, and Danny Schwarz.

Katrin Arefy is an essayist and playwright based in Berkeley, California whose creative nonfiction has appeared in FREE STATE REVIEW, MEAT FOR TEA: THE VALLEY REVIEW, and WATER~STONE REVIEW, and was received with acclaim at numerous literary events in California, including Action Fiction in San Francisco and Roar Shack in Los Angeles. Her first play, THE ELBISNOPSERS!, was produced at the 2016 Midtown International Theatre Festival and reached the semifinalist round of the Ivoryton [Connecticut] Playhouse's inaugural Women Playwright's Initiative later that year. The play was selected for the Iranian Drama Festival held annually in Heidelberg, Germany, and was also performed at Central Stage in Richmond, California, in Spring 2019.

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Ali Jamali is a New York-based artist with an interest in developing new works and devising immersive and site-specific pieces. He has presented work at 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, The Drama League, Madison Arts Barn, Midtown International Theatre Festival, New York Theater Festival, The Tank, and Wesleyan University, among others. Ali Jamali's official website: Alidirecting.com

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PEACE, A MASSACRE, AND THE UMBRELLA will be performed Friday, Saturday & Sunday,  June 14-16, at 8pm at The Plaxall Gallery. PMU is supported by Long Island City Artists, Inc. and The Plaxall Gallery.

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TICKETS are available for advance purchase online at https://pmutrilogy.bpt.me as well as the venue's box office starting an hour prior to each performance.