Hotel Limbo (full-length play-in-progress)

by Alice Eve Cohen

HOTEL LIMBO is a tale of family love and looming loss, a neighborhood in turmoil over housing the unhoused, a talking building, and a deep dive into affordable housing and homelessness – all told through the lens of the Hotel Belleclaire. Combining drama, humor, and magic realism, and based on actual events, it is set in New York City at the height of the pandemic. When Abigail’s home, the Belleclaire Hotel, is...

HOTEL LIMBO is a tale of family love and looming loss, a neighborhood in turmoil over housing the unhoused, a talking building, and a deep dive into affordable housing and homelessness – all told through the lens of the Hotel Belleclaire. Combining drama, humor, and magic realism, and based on actual events, it is set in New York City at the height of the pandemic. When Abigail’s home, the Belleclaire Hotel, is turned into a homeless shelter, she’s terrified – torn between her fierce drive to protect her immunocompromised husband, and her commitment to social justice. Should she join the neighborhood fight to shut down the hotel shelters? Or can she welcome her new neighbors and reject the community’s rage? Her soul-searching leads her to Kelvin, a Belleclaire shelter client. Abigail and Kelvin become friends through their collaboration as housing activists. But Abigail makes a mistake that jeopardizes their friendship, and she realizes she’s not as enlightened as she would like to believe. Characters include Kelvin, Abigail, her husband Daniel and their 20-year-old daughter Zoe; the talking Building (the Belleclaire is Abigail’s alter-ego and confidante); Maxim Gorky, who stayed at the Belleclaire in 1906; and the Architect who designed the Belleclaire in 1903. The magic realist characters serve as a comic trio throughout the play. The Facebook Greek Chorus animates verbatim social media posts from this time and place.
HOTEL LIMBO interrogates privilege – racial, financial, and housing privilege – and brings us into the heart of the homeless crisis, inspiring audiences to question their own biases and privilege. It is an important story that needs to be told.

A note from the Playwright
HOTEL LIMBO is set in the Belleclaire Hotel, my home of many years. In 2020, the Belleclaire was transformed into a homeless shelter as part of New York City's plan to reduce the spread of COVID19. When two more hotel shelters opened nearby, an epic fight ensued, manifesting in a battle for the "soul" of the neighborhood. When the predominantly white and wealthy community group tried to kick out our predominantly black, unhoused neighbors, I found myself in the middle of an escalating war. My building was a homeless shelter for 14 months. In HOTEL LIMBO, I investigate this time of crisis – in my family, in the building, and in the neighborhood.

90 minutes, cast of 5 (3F, 2M)

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Hotel Limbo (full-length play-in-progress)

Recommended by

  • Crystal Skillman: Hotel Limbo (full-length play-in-progress) by Alice Eve Cohen
    “

    Hotel Limbo is an extraordinary new theatrical play. Set during the pandemic, the piece follows a writer who loses herself in fiction but must deal with a harsh reality: her husband has stage four cancer. Abigail desperately tries to keep him safe at all costs during the spread of the pandemic, yet her own community is changing. An influx of new people has entered the building which is now housing the homeless. But when Kelvin, one of the new guests at the Hotel Belleclaire befriends her, the building itself challenges her to rebuild herself and her activism.

    Hotel Limbo is an extraordinary new theatrical play. Set during the pandemic, the piece follows a writer who loses herself in fiction but must deal with a harsh reality: her husband has stage four cancer. Abigail desperately tries to keep him safe at all costs during the spread of the pandemic, yet her own community is changing. An influx of new people has entered the building which is now housing the homeless. But when Kelvin, one of the new guests at the Hotel Belleclaire befriends her, the building itself challenges her to rebuild herself and her activism.

    ”
  • William Steinberger: Hotel Limbo (full-length play-in-progress) by Alice Eve Cohen
    “

    Hotel Limbo is a theatrical, surprising story with incredible characters and relationships at its core. Abigail's friendship with Kelvin and Kelvin's relationships with his ex are so well illustrated. I love the ways this play brings the Hotel Belleclaire to life, too, through its own character as well as its one-time guest Maxim Gorky. This is a funny, meaningful play with a smart attention to the question of what it means to live in a city.

    Hotel Limbo is a theatrical, surprising story with incredible characters and relationships at its core. Abigail's friendship with Kelvin and Kelvin's relationships with his ex are so well illustrated. I love the ways this play brings the Hotel Belleclaire to life, too, through its own character as well as its one-time guest Maxim Gorky. This is a funny, meaningful play with a smart attention to the question of what it means to live in a city.

    ”
  • Premiere Stages at Kean University: Hotel Limbo (full-length play-in-progress) by Alice Eve Cohen
    “

    Premiere Stages, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University, is pleased to recognize “Hotel Limbo” by Alice Eve Cohen as a Semi-Finalist for the 2023 Premiere Play Festival. “Hotel Limbo” rose through a competitive selection process conducted by Premiere staff and a panel of outside theatre professionals to become one of 40 Semi-Finalists out of 701 submissions. The panel was particularly impressed by the depth of engagement with homelessness and structural issues at work in our cities. Our congratulations and thanks to Alice.

    Premiere Stages, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University, is pleased to recognize “Hotel Limbo” by Alice Eve Cohen as a Semi-Finalist for the 2023 Premiere Play Festival. “Hotel Limbo” rose through a competitive selection process conducted by Premiere staff and a panel of outside theatre professionals to become one of 40 Semi-Finalists out of 701 submissions. The panel was particularly impressed by the depth of engagement with homelessness and structural issues at work in our cities. Our congratulations and thanks to Alice.

    ”

Development History

  • Reading, New York Theatre Workshop Mondays@3 Series, 2023
  • Workshop, University of California Irvine & Practical Cats Productions, 2023
  • Reading, Plays for Us reading series at Axis Theatre, NYC, 2023
  • Reading, The Actors Center, NYC, 2022
  • Residency, The Orchard Project 2022 Audio Lab, 2022
  • Reading, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, 2022
  • Workshop, The Orchard Project, 2022
  • Reading, Ensemble Studio Theatre, 2021

Awards

  • McKnight National Residency and Commission
    The Playwright's Center
    Finalist
    2022
  • The Civilians R&D Group
    The Civilians
    Finalist
    2024
  • Orchard Project Audio Lab Artist Fellowship
    Orchard Project
    Selection
    2022
  • 2023 Premiere Play Festival
    Premiere Stages At Kean University
    Semi-Finalist
    2023