Written by Karen Houppert, and directed by Stephen Nunns, Tragedy in 9 Lives premiered on July 13, at P.S. 122 (150 First Ave.) in the Mabou Mines studio. Developed while Karen was a resident artist in the Mabou Mines/Suite, it was produced by Sightlines Theater. Tragedy is a rock musical about the pop cultural explosion in the 1960s—set in the epicenter of that phenomenon, the notorious Andy Warhol's Factory. Drawing on the 1968 Scum Manifesto, penned by the radical feminist Valerie Solanas—and reimagining her relationship with Warhol—Tragedy dips into a historical moment when idealists like Solanas, who believed anything was possible slammed into cynics like Warhol, who believed anything worth doing had already been done.

The play was directed by Stephen Nunns and featured original music by Aaron Maxwell, Alex MacSween, and Stephen Nunns.

Featured in the cast were Juliana Francis (2002 OBIE Award MARIA DEL BOSCO), T.Ryder Smith (SHE STOOPS TO COMEDY, UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL), James “Tigger” Ferguson, Laura Flanagan and Chris Spenser Wells. Video was Marilys Ernst, set design by Ben Keightley, light design by Shaun Fillion, choreography by Schellie Archbold, and sound design by Eric Shim.

Written by Karen Houppert and Stephen Nunns, and performed at the 78th Street Theater Lab, THE PACKWOOD PAPERS premiered on the heels of the Senate Ethics Committee’s investigation into the charges of sexual harassment levied against Senator Bob Packwood. Based on her Village Voice coverage of the Ethics Committee probe and drawn verbatim from the 10,000 pages of documents the senate hearings generated (including transcripts of the senator’s diaries), Houppert, along with Nunns, crafted a play that explored both the personal motivations of the senator and exposed the duplicitous world inside the Beltway, which allowed Packwood’s machinations to go unchecked for so long. The play was directed by Eric Nightengale and featured Toby Wherry as Bob Packwood. Performing in the ensemble were Katherine Heasley, John Marino, Ruth Nightengale, Michael Puzzo and Kimberly Reiss.

Written by Karen Houppert and Stephen Nunns, The Boys in the Basement, was developed in the Mabou Mines/Suite and received a New York State Council on the Arts grant for development. It is a drama based on the 1990 trial of a developmentally disabled girl who was raped by a gang of neighborhood boys in Glen Ridge, New Jersey on March 1, 1989. Luring her into a basement with the promise of a date with a popular athlete at the school, the boys penetrated her with baseball bats, broomsticks, and bottles—then bragged about, facilitating their arrests. This play uses court transcripts from the months-long trial Houppert covered, found material from an internet chat room “rape,” and a turn-of-the-century advice book on how to speak to your daughter about sex. Interweaving the various elements, along with music and movement, the show took on themes of sex, sexuality, friendship and betrayal.

The play had a 4-week run at HERE. It was directed by Stephen Nunns, with music by Nunns and Alex MacSween. Featured were Toby Wherry, JoAnna Adler (who won an OBIE that year for her performance in this play), Christina Campanella, David Kennedy, Gary Brownlee, and Joan Lunoe. Lighting design by Joanna Settle.