Weather 
By Aaron Krause
Rachel Bublitz likes to describe her play, Burst, as a “bullet train…a powerhouse barreling ahead at tremendous speed not noticing if it’s going to crash.” Yet the dark comedy’s central character is intent not on destruction but on saving the world.
The piece opening July 11 from New City Players centers on a CEO, Sarah Boyd, in an office on an awful night. When Boyd, founder of Tactix – a tech startup on a mission to eliminate plastic from the earth – finds herself facing a relentless journalist and a wavering chief technology officer (CTO), the gap between her company’s promises and its reality begins to show.
What begins as a high-stakes interview careens through corporate responsibility, scientific integrity, and the seductive machinery of belief, arriving somewhere funny, unsettling, and impossible to look away from.
The 90-minute corporate thriller-comedy will run through July 26 at Island City Stage’s (ICS) intimate black box theater in Wilton Manors.
In addition to 11 performances spread out over two-and-a-half weeks, New City Players (NCP) has planned post-show events that will take audiences beyond the stage. A A pay what you wish preview is set for July 10.
NCP “believes great theater should be accessible to everyone,” the company said in a statement. “Our Pay What You Wish Preview offers tickets at any price you choose (as low as $5), removing financial barriers so that cost is never the reason someone misses a great show.”
“I’m really excited to see New City Players’ interpretation of my play,” said Bublitz, an award-winning and internationally-produced playwright known for telling stories about women – tales that are often funny and sometimes dark.
“Everything I write has a varying degree of comedy in it, I can’t help that, and this play is absolutely dark,” Bublitz said.
Several factors inspired Bublitz to write Burst.
“The first was me wanting to write an office play with women, the second was a lot of news articles popping up about tech companies bending the truth to a criminal degree, and the third was the idea of Shakespearean anti-heroes. I wanted to write a character as big and bad as the Bard’s,” Bublitz said.
She added that at its core, Burst is about ambition.
“All of the characters have tremendous ambition, which at times is set above pesky things like truth,” Bublitz said.
NCP’s cast includes Nicole Hulett as Boyd, Mary Gundlach as Jennifer Weaver, the brilliant, introverted CTO and co-founder of the eco-tech startup Tactix, and Dayana Morales as journalist Alexis Lyons.
“Holy cow, it’s like a story like this has found its moment,” said director Elizabeth Price said. The play is “a little brighter, bigger, and sharper than realism, which is so entertaining to watch.”
Price said she heard about the play from a friend from her Tulane Alumni group who saw Burst’s world premiere production in 2022 at Alleyway Theatre in Buffalo, N.Y. Price’s friend “loved it and thought it would be a great play for me to do. I read it and thought it was so sharp and funny and compelling, so I shared it with (NCP Producing Artistic Director) Tim Davis.”
At the time, NCP’s season was already set, but Davis expressed interest in staging Burst a couple of years later.
“Tim said he wanted to do it and asked if I wanted to direct it, which I was stoked to do,” Price said.
The director said Burst is “brilliantly written, so I just have to get the actors to lean way in and trust the writing itself balances the humor and tension.”
Staging the play in a tiny theater which can seat about 70 “makes it so much fun,” Price enthused. “It’s like the audience is sitting in this CEO’s office, too, and they are a part of every moment.”
The play “keeps getting funnier and funnier to me as we put it on its feet and bring it to life,” Price said. “That has been awesome.”
She predicted that “everybody will love to hate our anti-hero and will be talking about that. They’ll also talk about the incredible power behind the cult of personality and how we want to believe more than anything that someone can save the world.”
“Burst points a funny and perceptive finger at corporate responsibility, power, and the lengths a person will go to make their dream a reality,” Davis said. “It’s the kind of play that will make you laugh and squirm in your seat at the same time. I can’t wait for audiences to get in this pressure cooker of a dark comedy for 90 minutes.”
Once those 90 minutes are up, the characters’ collision leaves nothing, and no one, intact.
In the aftermath, we’re left to wonder: Are lies okay if they’re told for an ultimate greater good?
Burst from New City Players July 10-26 at Island City Stage, 2304 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors. Performances 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Tickets $40-$45 at www.newcityplayers.org. For student and group discounts, email [email protected] or call (954) 376-6114.
BEYOND THE STAGE: Opening Night Reception. Celebrate the southeastern premiere of Burst with libations and small bites with the cast and creative team immediately following the 8 p.m. performance on Saturday, July 11.
SUNDAY TALKBACKS will feature interactive post-show discussions with the cast and creative team connecting the themes of Burst to real community voices. July 12 features a special talkback with Bublitz, while the July 26 event is co-presented with NAWBO South Florida, bringing women business leaders into conversation with the artists.
WEEKEND WINE DOWNS are casual conversations and libations after Friday and Saturday night performances where patrons can discuss the play with each other and members of the creative team.
POETS IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE is a one-night-only live poetry performance after the July 25 performance. Featured poets from the exhibition will bring their original works from the lobby walls to the stage. Curated by Wild Bloom Society.
Bublitz will be present opening weekend, participating in a post-show talkback on July 12 and leading a playwriting masterclass on the evening of July 13.
