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It’s the 1990s in the suburbs of Riverside, California, and Wendy, a broke young mom, has just moved to town. Lonely and under financial stress, Wendy is drawn to Tara Lee, her neighbor and boisterous personality who introduces Wendy to an amazing business opportunity – as a consultant for burgeoning multi-level marketing company, SimpleLife. As Wendy becomes more and more intertwined in the strange community of SimpleLife, the relief she finds in connecting with her neighbors slowly transforms into a waking nightmare. Wendy becomes more disconnected than ever, developing a complicated relationship to her VHS recruitment tape that teaches her sales techniques, tools to build her confidence and how to recruit others to her team. Wendy’s reality warps in real time as she becomes more desperate to maintain her new social status and dig herself out of her worsening financial situation, losing her identity in the process. When her SimpleLife Tonic Bottle begins speaking and becomes her new best friend, Wendy thinks she has finally reached independence from the life she left behind – but the Tonic Bottle has other plans. As Wendy’s desperation and despair increase, Wendy must either claw her way to the top of the pyramid or lose everything by leaving.

Madison New Works Laboratory started at JMU in 2018 and is a national destination for new work development. Our writers and composers have gone on to win awards and fellowships from the Theatre Communications Group, Dramatist Guild, and the Playwright’s Center. Last year, 2018 MNWL Playwright Briandaniel Oglesby returned with his play Basement Demons and Trailer Saints as a part of the JMU Forbes Mainstage Season. Artists-in-residence from across the country join our student actors, stage managers, and faculty for a 10-day residency, collaborating through conversations and rehearsals to develop their work. Each play for the 2026 season was selected through a competitive national search and will receive a staged reading in the Studio Theatre. Join us for a free public reading, where you’ll meet the playwrights, take part in a post-show conversation, and get an inside look at the creative process behind bringing a play to life.