A HILARIOUS AND BITTERSWEET PLAY FOR “PARROTHEADS” SET IN A FLORIDA RETIREMENT COMMUNITY.
TRIP AROUND THE SUN
Written by Jake Brasch
Directed by Shelley Butler
Life is good for Phil and Suze in their Florida retirement community. They fill their days with virgin margaritas and Jimmy Buffet karaoke. But the night before Suze’s big birthday cruise, Phil decides to shake things up one last time.
Sunday, July 26
Symphonic Hall at Marist University
1:00pm
TRIP AROUND THE SUN was developed at the South Carolina New Play Festival and originally workshopped and developed in the 2025 Pacific Playwrights Festival as part of The Lab@South Coast Repertory
Jake Brasch | Playwright
Jake Brasch (he/they) is a writer, performer, composer, and clown, and a recent graduate of The Juilliard School. In 2025, his play THE RESERVOIR was produced by Atlantic Theater Company/Ensemble Studio Theatre, as well as the Denver Center, Alliance Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, and Berkeley Rep. With playwright Nadja Leonhard-Hooper, Jake is a co-founder of American Sing-Song, a collective that writes and performs filthy, comedic musicals. Their musical HOLE! will be produced in London, Edinburgh, and New York this year. Jake is a proud alum of Youngblood at EST and the Page 73 Writers Group. He is developing a series based on his cursed decade as a birthday party clown. Jake has three brothers, 26 pairs of glasses, and lives in Brooklyn with his brilliant husband, Tyler Brasch.
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Shelley Butler | Director
Shelley Butler has over 50 Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional credits to date working extensively with writers on new plays and musicals at theaters across the country. Notable productions include the world premieres of Lucas Hnath’s A DOLL’S HOUSE PART 2 at South Coast Repertory, Kate Hamill’s THE SCARLET LETTER for Two River Theater and Jake Brasch’s THE RESERVOIR in a Denver Center, Alliance Theatre & Geffen Playhouse co-production along with the off-Broadway premiere in an Atlantic Theater/E.S.T. and co-production . Shelley is the recipient of a Drama League Fall Directing Fellowship, a 2018 Drama League Directing Resident, a 2005 Director’s Guild of America Trainee, and a proud member of SDC. She currently serves as Artistic Director for the newly created South Carolina New Play Festival.