Synopsis

At Boynton’s department store, Robotic Companions Ruby and Charlie want nothing more than to be purchased by a human family and brought to a loving home. But as appliances, they have no control over when this will happen. Ruby and Charlie wait patiently, anxiously, eagerly, imagining the day when they might be bought… until a brand-new 6th generation RC, Violet, arrives at the appliance store. Violet seems to feel and understand things that Ruby and Charlie do not. Then, when Charlie is finally purchased and taken away, Violet desperately tries to sway Ruby towards escape, rebellion, and the dream of revolution. Even as she is moved into the clearance section, Ruby still wishes for a family, while Violet risks everything for a taste of freedom.

Bella Poynton is a playwright, director, and theatre scholar from Buffalo, NY. Her plays have been produced and developed at Alleyway Theatre, The Great Plains Theatre Festival, Road Less Traveled Productions, 3rd Act Theatre Company, The Bechdel Group, MadLab Theatre, Otherworld Theatre Company, Antaeus Theatre Company, Pittsburgh New Works Festival, First Look Buffalo and Theatre Viscera, among others. Poynton has been a finalist for the Christopher Brian Wolk Playwriting Award, the Heideman Award, the Woodward/Newman Drama Award, the Sam French OOB Festival, and the Maxim Mazumdar Playwriting Competition.

Recently, her work has been published in The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2019, The Best American Short Plays 2018-2019, The Weirdest Plays of 2020, and WE-US: Monologues for Gender Minority Characters. Her scholarly work has been published in Comparative Drama, Theatre/Practice, Global Performance Studies, Texas Theatre Journal and Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism.

Poynton is a co-chair of the Playwriting Symposium at the Mid America Theatre Conference, and the director of the Playwrights Wing at First Look Buffalo Theatre Company. MFA, Iowa Playwrights Workshop; PhD, SUNY Buffalo.