Jackson Heights 3AM

Seven distinct voices of playwrights Jenny Lyn Bader, J. Stephen Brantley, Ed Cardona, Les Hunter, Tom Miller, Melisa Tien, and joy Tamasko have explored the most culturally diverse neighborhood in the world in the wee hours of the morning. It was written using collaborative methods developed by theatre 167 with the playwrights sharing characters and storylines, melding distinct voices and languages into one whole.

A Bangladeshi cab driver working the midnight shift yearns for an Ecuadorian woman who rises at dawn to bake bread, but does not speak her language. A closeted policeman from Long Island comes to Jackson Heights for a date. At Club Atlantis, a drag pageant contestant has a run-in with one of her fans, while farther down Roosevelt Avenue a Russian immigrant discovers that redemption comes in the strangest ways. A rookie cop tries his best to do right by everyone, a beloved dog mysteriously disappears, and in Elmhurst Hospital a heartbroken ER doctor helps her patients fulfill their deepest dreams. Car dispatchers, sex workers, drag queens, E.R. doctors, gamblers, and insomniacs collide in the colorful world of Jackson Heights after hours.

The two companies have collaborated to present the play at two venues-first at PS 69 (77-02 37th Avenue) in Jackson Heights (Jan 13-22) and then at Queens Theatre (14 United Nations Ave So. in Flushing Meadow Corona Park) (Jan 27-Feb 5).