Hot Topics. Your Community. Your Voice.

Join your neighbors in lively debates on current issues that impact your world! The Hornets’ Nest features script-in-hand performances of hot topic plays followed by conversations with community leaders.

All Hornets’ Nest events are held in Geva’s Nextstage. Tickets are free and limited to two per person. Reservations are highly recommended – many events sell out! Reserve online or call the Box Office at (585) 232-GEVA (4382). (Please note that we are currently only taking reservations for the March 8 event.)

Rick Dollinger and Major General John Batiste at the inaugural Hornets’ Nest reading of Back of the Throat

How can I get involved?

This project was born of our passion for open and free dialogue. It is essential to us that the access to this forum – if it is to be true community dialogue – that it remain free and open to all.

But for that to happen, we need you! You have already shown us that this kind of theatre and this kind of dialogue are important to you. That you believe, as we do, that art speaks to who we are as a community and as a civilization. That we can explore the stories of our generation in an effort to make life better for the next generation.

Let’s keep the conversation alive and thriving. Support the Hornets’ Nest.

Got a suggestion for a possible Hornets’ Nest play, or a topic that you’d like to talk about? Let us know what you’re thinking by emailing us at gevatalk@gevatheatre.org. Please include Hornets’ Nest in your subject line.

The Hornets’ Nest: Think Theatre.

“Because I am a white woman, I’ve never walked in the shoes of a black man, or an Asian person, or a Jewish person. But through the theatre I can experience that in some fashion – maybe not the same way, maybe not identically – but I CAN experience it, and through those experiences I can change. I think it’s so important that we have theatre that allows us to walk in someone else’s shoes.”

Retired Judge Marilyn O'Connor
following the Hornets’ Nest reading of The Sandreckoner

January 18, 2010; 7:00pm: The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later

Marriage equality? Adoption rights for gay couples? Hate crime law enforcement? Where do you stand? And which comes first in the civil rights effort: changing the hearts and minds of individuals, or passing laws? Presented in collaboration with Method Machine, and with the assistance of the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley.

The Cast of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later
Photo by Laura McSpadden

The January 18 event drew one of the most diverse audiences we’ve ever seen at The Hornets’ Nest, from teens to grandparents, from community activists to teachers and students. We welcomed representatives from Out & Equal, the Empty Closet newspaper, the Youth Project and Community Safety program of the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley, PFLAG, ESPA and the New York Civil Liberties Union.

March 8, 2010; 7:00pm: An Enemy of the People

Is the majority always right? Would you speak the truth even if it meant the economic collapse of your town? Do you have to play hardball to get anything done in today’s political climate? How can you really make a difference?

The March 8 Hornets’ Nest conversation will be moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, David Cay Johnston, and features radio talk show host Brother Wease and City Councilperson Elaine Spaull.

Tickets are free and limited to two per person. Reservations are highly recommended – many events sell out! Reserve online or call the Box Office at (585) 232-GEVA (4382).

May 17, 2010; 7:00pm

Yankee Tavern by Steven Dietz

In a world of 24/7 information, how do you find truth among rumors? In a dark tavern in NYC, 9/11 conspiracy theories abound. Is it only a love of intrigue or is there just cause for suspicion? And who benefits when citizens grow cynical?

Tickets are free and limited to two per person. Reservations are highly recommended – many events sell out! Reserve online or call the Box Office at (585) 232-GEVA (4382).