THE POINT
(River’s Edge meets Mare of Easttown)
The Point, which boasts Boston accents, drug busts, brutality, and Bon Jovi, is a dark, comedic, and menacing thriller based on the true story of a murder in the woods amongst ‘friends’
Funny, raw, and shocking, THE POINT explores dating violence, class inequity, and the growing opioid crisis all within two small neighboring towns. The story, told out of sequence, follows the aftermath of a townie love triangle and murder of a co-ed.
On a macro level it examines the rise of economic inequity along with corresponding opioid and Fentanyl deaths.
THE POINT is set behind the “Tofu Curtain”, an invisible county line that divides the quaint Ivy college town of Northampton from the run-down factory town of Holyoke in Western Massachusetts.
While Northampton boasts Smith College, Holyoke has the highest rate of pregnancies, STDs, and the largest heroin and Fentanyl trade in the New England area.
Ali’s play version, , was selected out of over 900 submissions for The Road Theatre’s 15th Annual Summer Playwrights Festival. It was
first developed with the help of Summer Salt on Cape Cod, Antaeus Theatre Lab, and EST/LA’s Winterfest, and is published by Smith&Kraus
Ali speaks about her play:
The feature film version is currently being developed.
FINAL RESTING PLACE
Ali’s play, Final Resting Place, the TRU Voices 2025 selection, was filmed and streamed live at Tin Mirror Studios in New York in 2025.
Final Resting Place – “A dramatic portrayal aimed at shedding light on the often-silenced issue of violence against women.” was part of Theater Resource Unlimited’s TRU Voices Play Reading Series
The play was filmed on 12 different sets as a a hybrid live/virtual performance at the Long Island production studio.
The cast included film, television and theater veterans Allison Blaize, Seamus Dever, Ali MacLean, Judith Feingold, Cheryl Games, Alina Gloria Garcia, TT Jones, Anamari Mesa, Nikki Neurohr, Eileen Sugameil, Alison Wien and Jasmine Reneé Williamson.
Final Resting Place was directed by award-winning Kathryn Keats, written by award-winning playwright, actor, and television writer Ali MacLean, and produced by award-winning and entertainment veteran John Lant in association with Write Act Repertory and Tin Mirror Studios.
FINAL RESTING PLACE shines a light on violence against women in the current age of multi & social media. The story gives a voice to women whose deaths are sensationalized, but whose stories often go untold. The project is a composite of monologues from a diverse group of women, some victims from beyond the grave, some family left behind, others are survivors who remain nameless while the killer has become infamous.
These confessions are intertwined with a satirical, behind-the-scenes peek at a slasher movie franchise based on the murders as well as a dialogue between two true crime loving housewives. Soon the audience can’t tell fact from fiction. And that is exactly what Final Resting Place hopes to highlight. Our country’s obsession with true crime, murder podcasts, and horror porn flicks that have made the killing of women America’s favorite pastime.
The live stream was part of the TRU Voices series and was followed by a TRU’s “Dollars and Sense” industry talk back with Broadway veterans R.K. Greene, Lorca Peress, and special guest Kimberly Harris of Women’s HQ. A domestic violence survivor and advocate, Ms. Harris lead 1-1 crisis management for victims of domestic and physical violence, and was a democratic special advisor to the past Obama administrations.
FRP was a final rounder for the Women’s Playwriting Prize UK, Ojai Playwright’s Festival, and the Parity Project Commission. It won the Amy Oestreicher grant and was presented at the Broadwater Stage in Hollywood starring Betsy Brandt, Retta, and Dale Dickey.
More news about the play is coming soon. In the meantime, it can be found at NPX.
THIS WILL BE OUR YEAR
THIS WILL BE OUR YEAR a rock-n-roll romance
Have you ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn’t have fallen in love with?
Ali adapted her play about rock-star crossed lovers, This Will Be Our Year, into a musical, collaborating with rock singer Craig Finn from the band The Hold Steady.
This Will Be Our Year is a rock-n-roll Greek tragedy about a star-crossed love affair between Hugo, a British rock star and Gen, a New York designer.
The story tackles addiction, toxic love, and fate. Someone recently called it Sid and Nancy meets Notting Hill. but they call it A Star is Born meets The Last Five Years and American Idiot.
Hugo’s band, May Day, serves as an indie rock Greek chorus, playing out Hugo’s emotional soundtrack at different stages of their lives – and a decade of ever-changing music in the late 90s and early aughts.
“Riveting and heartbreaking. This Will be Our Year is the perfect tragedy”
“An incredible piece of theatre.”
“This play draws you in like a romantic comedy then punches you in the gut like the tragedy it ultimately is. Yet we still hold out hope for Hugo and Gen.”
“A Devastating portrait of unrequited love replete with beauty, pain, humanity, and humor. With wickedly funny, rapid-fire dialogue, Ali creates a star-crossed pair who are destined to love each other as fiercely as they push each other away–and yet we root for them from start to finish.”
“If you hate rom coms with a passion, still secretly believe in love, but will shiv someone before admitting it, this is the show for you.”
“An incredibly gripping and meticulous implosion.”
“MacLean, with brutal honesty, draws us into the decade long affair between sexy Brit rocker Hugo and sassy American love interest, Gen.”
“Hugo and Gen are packed with humor, passion, guilt, selfishness, need, longing, and most of all, love. You root for them, want to warn them, love to weep with them. This play stays with you.”
ALI MacLEAN 