PLAYS
FULL LENGTH
The Z.U.M
Following a financial emergency back at home, Ash; A genderqueer 18 year old with an affinity for makeup, is sleeping in their car and starting work at some Zumiez in some mall in some middle-class middle of nowhere. Here they meet Ez; The assistant manager of the Zumiez and an aspiring rave musician, who also knows a thing or two about makeup. As they grow closer, and learn that their store is under threat of closing in a month, Ez and Ash hatch a scheme to throw a rave in the store overnight playing Ez’s music to secretly pay off their debt, and save both of their jobs. But, as the two grow closer and tensions rise, they must grapple with their dreams, living versus survival, and how much one is willing to give in order to see their dreams come true, even at the expense of themselves and the ones they love. Jaden Alvaro Gines's ‘THE Z.U.M’ explores queer identity in a world where it pays to assimilate, asking the question; How can we truly survive if we aren't really living?
The Z.U.M received a developmental reading through the Elif Collective’s Elif Bet reading series in July 2024. It then had a staged reading with Permafrost Theatre Collective in February 2025.
By Jaden Alvaro Gines
Delivery Boy
With two hours to midnight on New Years Eve, Delivery Boy is stuck delivering pizzas on his old, rusty bicycle in the center of working class suburbia. After years of economic strife, a raging dependency to Marijuana, and physically and emotionally unavailable parents, Delivery Boy has accepted that his dreams of college have been long extinguished. But when an opportunity for a better life is presented to him by his high school psychology professor, Mrs. Gonzales, Delivery Boy must come to terms with those he's lost, who he wants to be, and what lies ahead of him in the new year, all while the clock ticks down to midnight. The play deals with the slow, clawing nature of depression, mental illness, and generational trauma, with a heavy emphasis on the hefty burden of the college admissions economics—all seen through the eyes of a teenager on the cusp of securing a college experience.
Delivery Boy first premiered through the Equinox New Play festival at the University of the Arts in 2023. It had it’s New York premier in 2024 through Kitchen Sink Theatre Company, where it was nominated for Best New Play in the BroadwayWorld Off Broadway Awards. It then performed in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in September of 2024. Delivery Boy is currently being published by 1319 Press.
By Jaden Alvaro Gines
Moving Out
Chaos is brewing within the walls of Apartment 3C. Charlie, Jaime, Becky, and Jaden are attempting to move out of their Seattle apartment, but failing at every turn. Jaime doesn’t want to move, Becky is struggling to propose to her boyfriend, Charlie has to write a Broadway worthy finale for her new musical, and Jaden is trying to wrangle them all together; While trying to hide the fact that she’s gay. With the open house in just 2 days, and a growing amount of tension between the 4 friends, what could possibly go wrong? Pretty much everything, actually. ‘MOVING OUT’ explores queer questioning and identity, the plight of found family, and just how much we are willing to give when the reward doesn’t seem like enough.
By Jaden Alvaro Gines
Moving Out was first produced through JJ Theatre Productions in 2021, performed entirely on zoom before being livestreamed on youtube.
ONE ACT
HAIR-DYE TUTORIAL
Olivia is in the middle of recording another one of her product reviews for her 22 followers, this time reviewing five different colors of “Boom Boom Kablam Super-Color” box hair dye. Olivia’s reviews suddenly become all too real as the different colors of hair dye begin to come to life and inhabit her brain, bringing to reality all of her greatest worries of social acceptance, familial abandonment, and the plight of just wanting to fit in. Can this girl with a passion and a dream make it through just one more video without her world and her emotions collapsing in on themselves? Find out next time on Liv-Liv Reviews!
By Jaden Alvaro Gines
Hair-Dye Tutorial first premiered through the Ben Vargas Short Stuff Festival in Philadelphia, October 2024.
VIOLENT OUTBURSTS OF THE RESTAURANT KIND
The work of a restaurant host is not an easy one. Day in and day out, 14 year old Jaime finds himself dealing with snotty, entitled, and overbearing customers, all of whom are pushing him closer and closer to his breaking point. Until one day, it all comes flooding out. An entirely honest story about life in the service industry, Jaime gets to say what all service industry workers wish they could, without fear of the repercussions.
By Jaden Alvaro Gines
Violent Outbursts of the Restaurant Kind was a finalist for the Theatremania.com Young Playwrights Competition, and received a reading through Theatremania in August of 2020.