Past Productions

Baby Eyes

A gaggle of male harpies spin a cautionary tale of taboo, lust, and one tragic boy’s search for manhood. This play is a re-imagining of the Ancient Greek myth of the god Zeus and his boy-lover Ganymede, placing it in the seedy streets of 1950s Baltimore.

“Baby Eyes is a fascinating re-imagining of the relationship between the Greek god Zeus and young Ganymede. The story navigates the dynamics of several intimate relationships affected by ingrained racism, misogyny, sexual orientation, gender identity and power. Underscored by the painfully beautiful bellows of Billie Holiday, Baby Eyes draws you in and then makes you hurt.” — Dana Martin, Stage Raw

bonded

When a "house boy" from up North is forced to work the fields at a floundering Virginia farm, a male field slave must reckon with his long-suppressed memories and forbidden desires in this re-imagined slave narrative set in the antebellum South.

2011 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award, Playwriting for an Original Play (nomination)

2012 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Los Angeles Theater (nomination)

2013 Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation Prize for LGBTQ-Themed Arts Projects Based on, or Inspired by, History (1st place winner)

“To ignore history is to impede understanding of its ongoing impact, and therefore the course of progress. That is the determined aim of ‘bonded,’ playwright Donald Jolly's unsparing study of homosexuality within the legacy of slavery.” — David C. Nichols, Los Angeles Times

Riot/REbellion

August 1965: the struggle of race, class, and power exploded in Watts, Los Angeles. First-person interviews are woven together in a theatrical piece that seeks to make harmony from the discordant voices of a community that refused to be silenced.

“… gives a compelling voice to the simmering resentments of a neighborhood hemmed in by racially restricted housing covenants and beset by unemployment, bad schools, worse health care and systemic cop-on-black violence.” — Bill Raden, LA Weekly

Baby Eyes

(Drama - 6 males, or 3 males/3 non-binary)

A gaggle of male harpies spin a cautionary tale of taboo, lust, and one tragic boy’s search for manhood.

A re-imagining of the Ancient Greek myth of the god Zeus and his boy-lover Ganymede, placing it in the seedy streets of 1950s Baltimore when one boy dares to transgress common ideas of sexual mores and racial division in this cautionary tale of taboo and myth.

World Premiere - Playwrights’ Arena - October—November 2018 - directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera

Stage Raw RECOMMENDED

Stage Raw (Top 10 RECOMMENDED!) Review

"The Playwrights' Arena's world premiere of playwright Donald Jolly's BABY EYES presents a volatile, in-your-face telling of Gio, a diminutive teenage boy surviving bullies and homophobia in 1950's Baltimore. Jon Lawrence Rivera expertly directs his talented cast at a fast, smooth pace."— Broadway World

"Jolly’s lyrical BABY EYES is well-written and certainly imaginative…” — Ticket Holders L.A.

Riot/Rebellion

(Agitprop/docudrama - 6 performers, any gender)

Riot/Rebellion revisits the historic six days in August 1965 when the struggle of race, class, and power exploded in the once-ignored section of Los Angeles known as Watts. First-person interviews are weaved together in a theatrical piece that seeks to make harmony from the discordant voices of a community that refused to be silenced. Riot/Rebellion was commissioned, developed and produced by Watts Village Theatre Company.

World Premiere - Watts Village Theatre Company, November 2013 - directed by Barbara Roberts

“Watts 50th Anniversary” production - August—September 2015 - directed by Deena Selenow

LA Weekly (GO!) Review

BONDED

(Drama / 3 male, 1 female)

A re-imagined slave narrative set in 1820. Sonny, Lily and Jack are the last remaining slaves on a crumbling, cash-strapped Virginia farm. When Asa, a young body servant from New York, is brought in to help in the fields, repressed desires and memories of loss are unlocked, forcing Sonny and the other slaves to face their bridled passions and test the limits of the cruel world as they know it. This play is about four people who are simply trying to endure, and then what happens when Sonny and Asa fall for each other…

World Premiere - Playwrights’ Arena & Latino Theatre Company/LATC March—April 2011 - directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera

LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award, Playwriting for an Original Play (nomination)

GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Los Angeles Theater (nomination)

Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation Prize for LGBTQ-Themed Arts Projects Based on, or Inspired by, History (1st place winner)