Jane Austen meets Mary Shelley with a Jewish twist in this world premiere play. In Regency England, a wealthy Jewish family attempts to pass the days through an endless and isolating season of balls and social pleasantries. Their world is turned upside down when eldest sister, Edith, invents an automaton who is also the perfect woman. The beautiful and enchanting automaton seems to be the solution to all their problems, but they soon discover she is far from under their control...

Part horror comedy, part Regency romance, interspersed with haunting folk ballads and questions of queer and Jewish identity, “Lay The Bent,” a semi-finalist for the National Playwriting Conference, interrogates the types of stories we can fit ourselves and our desires into.