Comedy | Drama | New York City | Egyptology
About The Boy King In Queens
The Boy King In Queens centers around the transport of the “Treasures of Tutankhamun” exhibit into the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1978. The story is told from the point of view of the working-class family’s patriarch, Ray, a Teamster truck driver responsible for moving the artifacts into the museum. After Ray peeks into the crate carrying the death mask of Tutankhamun his life seems to go off the rails. When his youngest daughter Kelly meets Joey Vero on his motorcycle, the “forces of chaos” are unleashed with implications for the entire family. Weaving in late 1970s New York City vibes and echoes of Egyptology, the Boy King In Queens explores themes of family, fate, love and the collisions between generations both contemporary and ancient.
Sponsored by Rita Lowndes
TAMMY RYAN is a resident playwright of New Dramatists class of 2027. Her award-winning plays have been performed at regional theaters across the United States and internationally. She is the inaugural recipient of the 2024 Leah Ryan Boost Award and was named a 2020 Haas Fellow for Take My Hand And Wave Goodbye (2025 Play Festival winner at Trustus Theatre) and nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize along with her plays Tar Beach and Molly’s Hammer. The Music Lesson won the AATE Distinguished New Play Award and has had over fifty productions nationally and in Canada. Tammy’s work has been supported by Playfest, NNPN, The New Harmony Project, Bogliasco Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Hambidge Center, The MAP Fund, The Heinz Endowments and Pittsburgh Foundation. Her plays are available through Dramatists Play Service, Dramatic Publishing, Broadway Play Publishing and Playscripts.
About Playfest
Orlando Shakes PlayFest is a two week long annual festival that provides a place for writers, theater professionals, and audiences to connect and share ideas that promote thought-provoking stories. Audiences experience staged readings of six new works over two weekends and participate in the development of new plays, conversing with playwrights, directors, and actors while absorbing groundbreaking new works.
Orlando Shakes is a core member of the National New Play Network, a nationwide organization devoted to developing new work through the New Play Exchange, rolling world premieres, the Producer-in-Residence Program, and annual conferences. Orlando Shakes prides itself on active participation within the national new play community while engaging its local audiences in the latest and greatest in playwriting.
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