Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven
A play for all audiences about finding your place in the universe and intelligent life in your home town.
* four-theatre NNPN Rolling World Premiere 2019-2021 * buy it from Broadway Play Publishing *
Images from Renaissance Theatreworks (credit: Ross E. Zentner)
Images from Rorschach Theater (credit: Ryan Maxwell)
Images from the Vortex Theatre (credit: Errich Peterson)
Annie Jump is a 13-year-old science genius whose alien-obsessed father is the laughingstock of Strawberry, KS. One night in August, a meteor falls, and Annie meets Althea, an intergalactic supercomputer that manifests itself in the form of a mean girl with really great hair. Althea’s here to help Annie take humanity from the earth to the stars, but being the Chosen One isn’t all glory. What is Althea hiding? And what will Annie have to sacrifice to fulfill her destiny? A play for all audiences about finding your place in the universe, and intelligent life in your neighborhood.
“A masterpiece of deft, taut, economical writing. Hardy introduces, defines and develops characters with laser-like precision, creating sympathetic, likable folks the audience can’t help caring about and a fast-moving and engaging story with a good dose of humor.”
-Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
“Showrunners take note. Hardy… takes the best elements of contemporary cultural references, social media, and pop science and turns them into something more than the sum of those parts—an out-of-this-world, all-ages celebration of nerdiness, empowerment, and love.”
-DC Theater Scene
“An adventure that takes you to the very edge of existence and back…. an intimate story about the potential that lies in all of us… you’ll find yourself stargazing.”
-Broadwayworld.com, DC
“The cool thing about Hardy’s script is how it falls in the in-between. The journey of Annie Jump would mean as much to a teen as it would a grown-up, and we need more theater like that. Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven aims to bridge the gap in theater-going age groups and link up fresh, youthful audiences to that mysterious, perhaps-undiscovered universe of the stage.”
-Broadwayworld.com, MKE
“…positively jaw-dropping… It’s not often that science fiction makes it to a local stage. Thanks to Hardy and Renaissance, the genre is ushered to the Broadway Theatre Center with wonder, respect and a great deal of genuine emotion.”
-The Small Stage
“Playwright Reina Hardy writes with economy and authority. She is an excellent storyteller who has the audience rooting for Annie and her father throughout the production… A show like this doesn’t come along all that often. “
-Totaltheater.com
Buy the script or pdf for Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven from Broadway Play Publishing
Request amateur performance rights from Broadway Play Publishing
Buy the script from independent Chicago theatre bookshop The Understudy (physical paperback only)
Buy the script from Amazon (physical paperback only)
Request professional performance rights
Check it out or write a review on the New Play Exchange
Buy Johann Solo’s soundtrack for the Vortex production
Check it out on the Parsnip Ship