Producer Ken Davenport launches the inaugural Rave Theatre Festival August 9, offering over 20 emerging artists the chance to have their work seen by a wider audience.

Included in this year’s roster of 20 productions are a female-driven musical set in the Viking era; a spoof of Moby Dick; a tap showcase by an all-female Australian troupe; and international musicals from South Africa and Ireland.

All performances will be held at Clemente Soto Veléz Cultural and Educational Center in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

A video above highlights the upcoming productions. A list of all shows, with creative credits and a short synopsis, is below. For a schedule and further information, visit RaveTheaterFestival.com.

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Written by Matt Webster; directed by David Perlow
When Derek moves away after high school, and Leah gets in a car accident killing her boyfriend Spencer, they come face to face with a new technology that proves to threaten their relationship and existence.

Big Shot
Music, book, and lyrics by Lauryn Gaffney; directed by Orla Sheriden and Lauryn Gaffney
Big Shot tells the story of Jeremy Crocker, an up-and-coming New York lawyer torn between career, love, and the mob.

Doppelgänger
Written and directed by Craig Donnelly
When superstar Max Henderson dies suddenly in a prank gone wrong, Max's agent tracks down his doppelgänger, Sam, to convince him to simply take over for Max.

Fancy Maids
Written and directed by Harold Hodge Jr.
After narrowly escaping the horrors of slavery, Idabelle arrives to the North only to discover the Fugitive Slave Act has made it impossible for her to find honest work.

Girls On Tap
Created and choreographed by Sally Dashwood; music by Sean Peter; directed by Tim Dashwood
Girls On Tap is a theatrical tap show celebrating women and girl power throughout the ages.

Just Laugh
Book and lyrics by Lauren Gundrum; music, book, and lyrics by Brandon Lambert; directed by Tyler Spicer
Just Laugh is a vignette-style musical comedy about one family’s most awkward, hilarious, and often beautiful milestone moments.

Ni Mi Madre
Written by Arturo Luís Soria; directed by Danilo Gambini
Inspirited with the tradition of Umbanda ritual, the tumultuous relationship between a Brazilian mother and her queer son is explored.

Noirtown
Written by Michael Bontatibus; directed by Charlotte Murray
In this immersive show, a trio of interlocking mysteries, each linked by one enigmatic woman, are investigated by three private detectives, who couldn’t be more different from one another.

Oceanborn
Book by Morgan Smith; music and lyrics by Mhairi Cameron
Oceanborn follows the aftermath of Viking raids on the Celts in the Outer Hebrides through the lens of two young women, tackling the cyclic nature of violence, xenophobia, misogyny, and cultural isolationism.

Rose’s War
Written by Todd Allan; score by Peter. B. Allen and Doug Katsaros; lyrics by Mathayu Warren-Lane, Peter B. Allen, and Todd Allan; directed by Todd Allan
Set against the backdrop of WWII is the story of a mixed race couple who meet at a jazz club in Harlem. The odds are terribly stacked against Rose and Danny making it, and there are many more battles to be fought if they are to get their happy ending.

Stormy Weather
Written by Michael Wills; directed by Jacob Demlow
A ferocious storm rages outside the Fire Island beach house of Tim Bailey, a 40-year-old gay man having a mid-life crisis. When a yacht gets struck by lightning and everyone is washed overboard, a night of surprise visitors begins.

Sweet Lorraine
Written by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj and Adam Mace; directed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj
Sweet Lorraine is a dramatic interpretation of the final conversation between best friends Lorraine Hansberry and James Baldwin in Lorraine’s New York City hospital room in January 1965.

The Erroneous Moby Dick
Written and directed by Thom Talbott
The Erroneous Moby Dick is a comedy adaptation of Herman Melville’s classic masterpiece, Moby Dick, using four performers to bring an assortment of characters to life.

The Perfect Fit
Written by Joshua Turchin; directed by Garth Kravits
Alexandra, a driven child actor with a powerful voice, grows concerned that she is growing too old to play a child and too young to play an adult.

Less Than Rent Theatre presents The Tycoons!
Written by Graham Techler; directed by Max Friedman
New York City, 1902. A sheepish law student’s courtship of the daughter of the nation’s most powerful railroad magnate gives way to a series of plots, counterplots, and counter-counterplots that will suck in and take down everyone that the young lovers have ever met and/or held dear.

Training Wheels
Written by Robin Bradford; directed by Lee Sankowich
In this drama, a long-married lesbian couple, Penny and Katherine, suffer from a gradual breakdown of their relationship. Through this portrait of a lesbian relationship, the question is raised: When it comes to love, don't we all want the same things?

Umshado
Book by Bogosi Bolokwe; music and lyrics by Eddie Mathiba; directed by Bogosi Bolokwe
Umshado tells the story of a young man’s journey from his roots in the kraal of Moruleng to Shantytown of Mamelodi in Pretoria.

Waiting for Johnny Depp
Book, lyrics, and music by Janet Cole Valdez and Deedee O'Malley; music by Bettie Ross; directed by Holly Friedman
Waiting for Johnny Depp takes us on a wild ride with New York actor Rita Donatella, in her quest to land the role of a lifetime in a Johnny Depp film.

Young Pilgrims
Written by Sydney Blake; directed by Max Hunter
Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl—in 1620 on the Mayflower.

911 Gnomes: A Christmas Emergency
Written by Shellie O'Neal; directed by Crystal M. Griffith
Take a trip with Rudolph, Frosty, and the garden gnomes, as they work their way to the North Pole to save the day.

Rave Theatre Festival will also host a reading series during the inaugural showcase. The productions planned for presentation are:

The Piper
Book and lyrics by Roger Griffin; music by Roseann Hammill
When a chance encounter with a magical Piper leads him down a road less traveled, Kurt discovers that what he chooses to believe not only determines the way he sees himself, but how he sees the rest of the world as well.

The First Black President
Written by Ofem Ajah
President Warren Harding begins an affair with the daughter of his late best friend but must keep the scandal under wraps before his re-election in 1924.

Mahler's Elusive Muse
Written by Amy Drake
Gustav Mahler consults Sigmund Freud in order to help him save his marriage to Alma Schindler, who struggled against the patriarchy to become a composer in her own right.