The Declaration of Love Project is an anthology of 11 short audio pieces written by North Carolina playwrights all inspired by the same writing prompt — “declaration of love.”
Episode 9, written by Tori Grace Nichols is titled Stretchy Shorts.
Stretchy Shorts is a speculative fiction piece calling in the preparation, organization, and care humans have developed for each other in effort to survive the end of the world. A queer couple is propelled into action when the fated moment arrives. Will they make it? Have they prepared enough? And what will they wear?? Survival depends on these important questions.
Content warning: Adult language
Declaration of Love is an Artist Soapbox production, co-produced by Aurelia Belfield and Tamara Kissane, and sound designed by David Hill.
Stretchy Shorts was written by Tori Grace Nichols
Directed by Tamara Kissane
Performed by: Mara Thomas (Narrator), JoRose (Viney), Tori Grace Nichols (Bo)
If you’re eager for more audio fiction pieces by Artist Soapbox, be sure to listen to all 11 episodes of the Declaration of Love anthology and check out our full length audio dramas THE NEW COLOSSUS and MASTER BUILDER, available everywhere you get your podcasts.
Tori Grace Nichols 
JoRose 
Mara Thomas
BIOS:
Tori Grace Nichols (Playwright, Actor, Stretchy Shorts) describes themself as a prismatic performance artist and can be seen performing drag with the House of Coxx and comedy with Punch Up Comedy in Durham. Recent acting credits in The Triangle include Dreaming (assistant puppeteer) with Duke Performances, Men on Boats (Sumner) with The Justice Theater Project, and Freakshow (Mr. Flip) with The Women’s Theatre Festival. They are currently the lead documentarian for the Kaleidoscopic Dream Projexns project in collaboration with Durham Art Asylum and Gallery of the Streets. Tori Grace plays Bo in Stretchy Shorts.
JoRose (Actor, Stretchy Shorts) is an actor, producer, teacher in the Durham area. She REALLY wanted to be an astronaut but her mom told her no, so now she dances in the air in her Cabarets “Cult Your Nights” instead. JoRose plays Viney in Stretchy Shorts.
Mara Thomas (Actor, Stretchy Shorts): Mara is a Durham-based playwright, actor, musician and teaching artist. A local musician for over 15 years, Mara can usually be found making noise in the punk group Cold Cream but, y’know, COVID. Since she can’t blast her face off at punk shows these days, Mara is channeling that energy into a Master’s program at NC State for Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Mara plays the Narrator in Stretchy Shorts.
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LISTEN to our newest audio drama THE NEW COLOSSUS. The New Colossus Audio Drama is a totally unhinged dark comedy reboot of Anton Chekhov’s classic play, THE SEAGULL.
LISTEN to our 2019 audio drama MASTER BUILDER. MASTER BUILDER tells the story of the rise and fall of Helen ‘Sully’ Sullivan, an intensely passionate and ambitious architect who designs outrageous homes for the very rich. It was inspired by Henrick Ibsen’s classic, The Master Builder published in 1892.
