To save herself from her chronically incessant thoughts, Nicky converts them into sounds so she can fall asleep to the sound of rain. This works until, during a bout of crippling social anxiety at college, a thought about her mother turns into a vicious storm. Nicky outruns the storm all the way home, where she returns to her old job at the Container Store and to Mom… who hasn’t left the apartment in five years. While searching for self-help books at the Last Borders Bookstore on the Planet, she meets Borders Guy, the Last Borders Employee on the Planet, who introduces her to the mysterious Aleph, a Borges-inspired point of overwhelming omniscience he guards in the back of the store. Through a chain of “self-help” both comic and poignant, Nicky, her mother, and Borders Guy struggle to smash down the walls that enclose their lives.
A fantastical new drama about the power of human connection, THE ALEPH COMPLEX is the 2020 Maxim Mazumdar New Play Award Winner.
Pay What You Can Previews: February 10, 11, 12, 14
Playwright Chats February 12 & 14 following the performance
Opening Night February 15
Industry Monday February 20
Afternoon Matinee February 25
***Please note the performance time scheduled for 2/12 has changed from 7:30pm to 2:00pm.
THE ALEPH COMPLEX received the 2020 Maxim Mazumdar New Play Award and was developed at The New Harmony Project.
Match these colors to the calendar to help guide your performance choice!
Green dates are Pay What You Can PREVIEW PERFORMANCES.
Red/Orange is OPENING NIGHT
Yellow is INDUSTRY MONDAY
Arts Access tickets are only valid during Pay What You Can Preview Performances
Subscriber tickets are not available for Preview Performances.
Masks are optional throughout the theatre at this time. See the full Covid safety policy here.
Deborah Yarchun is a New Jersey-born, Air Force-raised, and Austin-rooted playwright; her plays are just as geographically discombobulated. She’s currently LA/NYC-based. Her plays have been produced and/or developed at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, The Civilians’ R&D Group, Capital Rep, The New Harmony Project, Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, Amphibian Stage Productions, The Great Plains Theater Conference, Jewish Ensemble Theater, The Playwrights’ Center, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, TheatreSquared’s Arkansas New Play Festival, the William Inge Center for the Arts, Jewish Plays Project, the Minnesota Fringe, Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, Northern Stage, the Philadelphia Fringe, The Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival, Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theater by Young Playwrights Inc., Williams Street Rep, and at theaters and universities across the United States and in Canada.
Deborah’s honors include two Jerome Fellowships at The Playwrights’ Center, a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, an EST/Sloan Commission, Dartmouth’s Neukom Literary Arts Award for Playwriting, The Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, the Kernodle New Play Award, the Richard Maibaum Playwriting Award, and Women in the Arts & Media Coalition’s Collaboration Award. Her play GREAT WHITE was an Honorable Mention for the Relentless Award and her play ATLAS, THE LONELY GIBBON was a finalist for the 2021 National Playwrights Conference. Deborah is a 2021-2024 Core Writer at The Playwrights’ Center and a New Georges Affiliated Artist. She earned her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow.
This production runs approximately 2 hours including one intermission, and employs the use of theatrical fog, strobing lights, and loud sound effects.
As a rule, Alleyway Theatre does not issue content or trigger warnings for any of our individual productions. If you have questions about show content, or request more information about production elements like fog or strobes, or age-appropriateness, please call the box office at 716-852-2600.
Alleyway Theatre is a member of the National New Play Network, Theatre Communications Group, Theatre District Association of Western New York, and Theatre Alliance of Buffalo.
1 Curtain Up Alley, Buffalo, NY 14202 | 716-852-2600
Alleyway Theatre, Inc. is a 501c3 organization. EIN: 22-2779994
