Mary has just been released from prison. She wants to come home and forget all about it but Briana has other ideas. Over a tumultuous two days, a family is forced to confront not just their past but themselves. Because even if you refuse to hear the truth, the truth doesn't go away. Deborah Bruce's play Dixon and Daughters is a powerful story of family and forgiveness, premiered at the National Theatre, London, in April 2023 in a co-production with Clean Break.

'When the barman pointed to the cordoned-off area I was like, who are all these old people at our reunion?' It's been thirty years since former flames Alex and Jason last saw each other. With their carefree university days long behind them, the student reunion seems the perfect opportunity to reconnect, revive and relive their heyday. But as they flirt with reigniting their passion - even if just for one night - will the march of time get in the way? Deborah Bruce's Raya is a witty and tender play about whether or not we can ever turn back - or stop - the clocks. It opened at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, London, in June 2021, directed by the theatre's Artistic Director, Roxana Silbert. Deborah Bruce's other plays include Godchild, The Distance and The House They Grew Up In.

'My parents are here. In the walls and the floorboards and the bricks of this house. This is not only your street with only your stories.' On a residential street in South East London, reclusive siblings Peppy and Daniel live in a house stuffed full of everything they have ever owned. With their eccentric appearance and their rampant garden hedge, they're not like others on their road. When young Ben from next door comes visiting, looking for friendship, what happens next challenges everyone's idea of neighbourliness. Deborah Bruce's play The House They Grew Up In is a tender, dark and funny look at co-dependency, anxiety, and living alongside those who are different from us. The play was first performed at Chichester Festival Theatre in July 2017 in a co-production with Headlong.

Five characters share a common thread: Joanne. But it's not about her. It's about Stella, whose tomorrow is as far away as winter from summer. It's the way Grace finds her song on the footpath between two cars. It's about Alice's MBA wasted on plugging holes, Kath's patients crawling alongside her after the night shift and it's Becky caught in the crosshairs of what's best and what's right for her students. But what about her? What about Joanne? In Joanne, five of the most exciting voices in theatre explore the pressures on our public services as one young woman buckles under pressures of her own. The play comprises five interconnected short plays for a solo performer, written by Deborah Bruce, Theresa Ikoko, Laura Lomas, Chino Odimba and Ursula Rani Sarma. Commissioned by Clean Break, Joanne premiered at Latitude Festival in 2015, before transferring to Soho Theatre, London.

When Josie dies in an old people's home, her grandchildren gather to share their memories of her, and her fellow residents feel the effects of her death as her funeral takes place. Is the gulf between the young and old as wide as it feels, or are we fundamentally the same inside whatever age we are? Deborah Bruce's play Same was commissioned as part of the 2014 National Theatre Connections Festival and premiered by youth theatres across the UK. Originally written for young actors, but with roles from teens to eighties, Same can be performed by groups of any age.

In 2001 the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) conducted the U.S. Congregational Life Survey. More than 1.2 million worshipers and 12,000 congregations across three continents were surveyed to provide a portrait of congregational life. The findings were published in the first edition of "A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations."

With the completion of the 2008 survey comes an expanded edition of this invaluable reference with new findings; updated statistics, tables, and cartoons; a new chapter describing changes in congregational life; and chapter summaries focusing on the implications of the 2008 survey.

In "Places of Promise," Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce present the ways in which location is defined and employ results from research to reveal how location influences congregational life. Woolever and Bruce include illustrations to demonstrate that every congregation can achieve strength and effectiveness in its present location if its ministry focus and leadership decisions parallel factors that are important to the community.

Results from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, the largest project of its type ever conducted in the United States, have prompted this second book from Westminster John Knox Press authors Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce. Their original work, "A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations: Who's Going Where and Why," explores the practices and activities of worshipers in more than 2,000 U.S. congregations, encompassing more than 300,000 worshipers across a representative sample of denominations and faith groups. This book describes the qualities that are evident in strong congregations and develops congregational applications from those findings. Like the first book, it is helpfully illustrated with charts, graphs, and cartoons.

Bringing together five plays commissioned specially for the RADA Elders Company, this anthology provides a selection of dynamic and thought-provoking works for elders companies anywhere. The RADA Elders Company began in 2013 in order to provide opportunities for older people to experience the academy's training at its best. Each year, a playwright is invited to create a new piece for the company, encompassing a wide range of theatre disciplines and skills. This collection features five pieces that showcase the breadth and diversity of RADA Elders commissions: Broken Pieces by A. C. Smith Our Father by Deborah Bruce The Word by Nell Leyshon Down the Hatch by Frances Poet Of Blood by Christopher William Hill

A painfully funny play about motherhood (and fatherhood), about keeping control, and about letting go. Good friends should be there for one another - no matter what. But when Bea returns home after five years abroad, having made a bold choice about her life, old friends struggle to support her, or even to understand. One night in Brighton, things threaten to slide into chaos... Deborah Bruce's play The Distance was premiered at the Orange Tree Theatre, London, in October 2014. It was a finalist for the 2012-13 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Drawing together the work of ten leading playwrights - a mixture of established and emerging writers - this National Theatre Connections anthology is published to coincide with the 2014 festival, which takes place across the UK and finishes up at the National Theatre in London. It offers young performers between the ages of thirteen and nineteen everywhere an engaging selection of plays to perform, read or study. Each play is specifically commissioned by the National Theatre's literary department with the young performer in mind. The plays are performed by approximately 200 schools and youth theatre companies across the UK and Ireland, in partnership with multiple professional regional theatres where the works are showcased. As with previous anthologies, the volume will feature an introduction by Anthony Banks, Associate Director of the National Theatre Discover Programme, and each play includes notes from the writer and director addressing the themes and ideas behind the play, as well as production notes and exercises. The National Theatre Connections series has been running for nineteen years and the anthology that accompanies it, published for the last three years by Methuen Drama, is gaining a greater profile by the year. Some iconic plays have grown out of the Connections programme including Citizenship by Mark Ravenhill, Burn by Deborah Gearing, Chatroom by Enda Walsh, Baby Girl by Roy Williams, DNA by Dennis Kelly, and The Miracle by Lin Coghlan. The series has a recognisable brand and the anthologies continue to be an extremely useful resource, their value extending well beyond their year of publication. This year's anthology includes plays by Sabrina Mahfouz, Simon Vinnicombe, Catherine Johnson, Pauline McLynn, Dafydd James, Luke Norris and Sam Holcroft.

A sharp, dark comedy that explores the inescapable difference between feeling 19 and being 19. Lou is getting on with her life, carefree and without ties. But this abruptly comes to a halt when her 19-year-old god-daughter Minnie moves in to take up a place at university. Minnie's arrival shines a harsh light into the corners of Lou's life - revealing it to be not as it seems. Her relationships are complicated, her neighbours are closing in on her, and the clock is ticking. What does it mean to be a grown up? Deborah Bruce's play Godchild premiered at Hampstead Theatre in October 2013, directed by Michael Attenborough.