Written by Del Shores
Directed by Emerson Collins
Revolution Stage Company in association with the Del Shores Foundation is thrilled to present the world premiere of COCKROACHES, written by Emma Schillage and directed by Emerson Collins. COCKROACHES will preview on Thursday, April 23, 2026; will open on Friday, April 24 and run through Sunday, May 3 at Revolution Stage Company, 611 S Palm Canyon Dr Suite 16, Palm Springs, CA 92264.
COCKROACHES won the 2024 Best Play Award in the Del Shores Foundation Writers Search, a competition for unproduced LGBTQ+ playwrights and screenwriters living in the South, inspired by the work and career of award-winning writer/director Del Shores. This world premiere is presented with the support of the Del Shores Foundation Play Production Grant, sponsored by Dennis Frisman. For more information www.delshoresfoundation.org.
COCKROACHES is a Southern Gothic dark comedy about three sisters trapped in their childhood home grappling with their mother’s most recent suicide attempt. Momma has been acting strange since coming home from the hospital, causing eldest daughter, Jenny, to come home from college, middle child, Charlie, to act out, and youngest child, Sissy, to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Meanwhile, monsters are lurking, ready to consume every bit of innocence in their path. As their mother’s humanity fades, the sisters must learn to care for themselves and each other before it is too late.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST
EMMA SCHILLAGE (Playwright) is a queer Southern Gothic playwright, actor, director and theatre educator based in New York and New Orleans. Their plays have been finalists for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, semifinalists for the Ojai Playwrights Festival and Bay Area Playwrights Festival, long-listed for The Seattle Public Theater’s Distillery New Works Festival, and their play Cockroaches was named a Runner-Up for the Wagner College Theatre 2025 Stanley Drama Award. Their work has been produced by The 24-Hour Plays: Nationals, Red Bull Theater, the cell, Breaking & Entering Theatre Co., and Southern Rep Theatre. Cockroaches is available through 1319 Press. Emma holds an MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts.
EMERSON COLLINS (Director) is an award-winning producer, director and actor. This Spring, Emerson directed the first fully-staged production of Douglas Lyons’ new play Pure Glitter with Uptown Players. He assistant directed the world premiere stage adaptation of A Very Sordid Wedding. Emerson produced the Off-Broadway World Premiere of Wounded at the SoHo Playhouse, the LA Drama Critics Circle Award-winning world premiere of Del Shores’ Yellow and the national tour of Sordid Lives and Southern Baptist Sissies. Emerson directed and produced the play of Six Characters in Search of a Play and the award-winning film adaptation. In film/ TV, Emerson was Executive Producer for the “Drag Isn’t Dangerous” telethon, produced and starred in A Very Sordid Wedding and Southern Baptist Sissies, produced Blues For Willadean, co-produced and recurred in Sordid Lives: The Series
for MTV’s LOGO and co-directed Shafted (5 Best Director awards.) Emerson directed Del Shores’ live comedy specials My Sordid Life, Sordid Confessions and Naked. Sordid. Reality.
The cast of COCKROACHES will feature (in alphabetical order): LEILANI BALDWIN as “Sissy,” MAT HAYES as “Mr. Sam,” APRIL MEJIA as “Momma,” FATIMA REYES as “Jenny” and CASEY WILLIAMS as “Charlie.”
ABOUT THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING
COCKROACHES will preview on Thursday, April 23 at 7pm; will open on Friday, April 24 at 7pm and run through Sunday, May 3 at 2pm at the Revolution Stage Company, 611 S Palm Canyon Dr Suite 16, Palm Springs, CA 92264.
Performances are Thursdays and Fridays at 7pm; Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm.
Ticket prices are $38.00 for all performances. Opening Night $75 VIP tickets are available including preshow meet and greet with Del Shores and playwright Emma Schillage.
A talkback moderated by Del Shores with director Emerson Collins and playwright Emma Schillage will follow the matinee performance Sunday, April 26.
For tickets, please visit www.revolutionstagecompany.com or to view complete schedule.
For more information, photos, press interviews or for press comps, please contact Emerson Collins at 818-602-2730 or at EMERSONCOLLINS@HOTMAIL.COM.
Calendar Listing:
COCKROACHES
Written by Emma Schillage
Directed by Emerson Collins
Previews: Thursday, April 23 at 7pm
Opens: Friday, April 24 at 7pm;
Runs: Friday, April 23 – Sunday, May 3, 2026
Thursdays and Fridays at 7pm; Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 2pm
REVOLUTION STAGE COMPANY
611 S Palm Canyon Dr Suite 16, Palm Springs, CA 92264
Ticket prices are $38.00 for all performances.
Opening Night $75.00 pre-show meet and greet VIP upgrade available.
