April 12 – May 12, 2024
Columbia University School of the Arts presents an expanded festival of new plays written by Columbia MFA Playwriting Students. The esteemed faculty who have nurtured these students, including Tony©, Pulitzer, and Obie Award winners such as James Ijames, Rebecca Taichman, Sarah DeLappe, Steve Martin, Will Eno, Karey Kirkpatrick and David Henry Hwang invite you to experience these innovative new playwrights.
Organized by Leslie Ayvazian, Theatre.
Featuring
sorry sorry okay sorry by Emily Elyse Everett, Timmy by Megan Rivkin, The World's Most Boring Murder by Fernado Segall, Hermione by Oded Gross, IVERA by Antonia Cruz-Kent, Koi-Coy by Lillian Mottern, Leo's Requiem by Darius Buckley, The Queen of the Living Room by Mijuan Ye, Oil on Canvas by Aditya Lal Chadha, and Scrubland by Stephen Bush.
Schedule of Events
sorry sorry okay sorry
by Emily Elyse Everett
April 12 & 13
Clementine is desperately trying to do the right thing. Clancy is desperately trying to make it through another day as her life falls apart. David is desperately trying to win the Phoenix Division of the World Mind of a Warrior Conference, a celebration of Skill, Artistry, Dedication, and Grit for all those who practice The Way. A play about the funny things that happen in our saddest moments, the sad things that happen in our happiest moments, and also, about competitive meditation.
Timmy
by Megan Rivkin
April 13 & 14
It’s the early 2010’s, and a multigenerational family stuck at home in the suburbs is on the verge of killing each other. Alexa, the oldest daughter and an absolute nightmare, is hemorrhaging money funding her relationship with Timmy, a man she may or may not have met IRL. This show is NSFW.
The World's Most Boring Murder
by Fernado Segall
April 19 & 20
The World’s Most Boring Murder is a farcical murder mystery that draws from Commedia and Brazilian Clown traditions. In this playful comedy, an inexperienced police inspector needs to solve his small town’s very first crime, which happens to be a violent murder. Along with two less than capable assistants, they will have to investigate a dozen of the towns' most colorful characters to find out who the killer is, before they become a serial killer.
Hermione
by Oded Gross
April 20 & 21
Revenge, absolution, and racism are all front and center in this Shakespeare-inspired comedy that combines and reimagines the Bard’s The Winter’s Tale and Othello. The story follows Emilia, a woman seeking vengeance on her husband, the King of Sicilia, after he falsely accuses her of adultery and sentences her to death. In her quest for retribution, she joins forces with a man named Iago, who has a revenge scheme of his own
IVERA
by Antonia Cruz-Kent
April 26 & 27
IVERA is a love letter to Puerto Rican womanhood and a condemnation of medical racism. After Ivera falls into a coma due to doctors’ negligence during the birth of her first child, she grapples with not only the impending loss of herself, but the decay of everyone around her. From her hospital room, she relives her happiest moments, and comes face-to-face with her saddest ones. As the veil between worlds begins to lift, Ivera, caught somewhere in-between, soon realizes her perfect, vibrant, passionate life wasn’t as beautiful as she always thought it was.
Koi-Coy
by Lillian Mottern
April 27 & 28
Em returns home wearing an eyepatch to find her stepsister has joined a cult. Wylie’s been skinning wild animals in the California high desert, and a mysterious figure is on the loose again. In a surreal version of Los Angeles in late spring, a group of young people are forced to contend with their inability to tell the truth while embracing their nostalgic obsession with the LA literary arts scene of the 90s.
Leo's Requiem
by Darius Buckley
May 3 & 4
Leo’s Requiem follows the story of a young black composer/ conductor in residence at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra who's searching for words to set for his next commission. When he rediscovers a notebook of his late childhood friend’s poetry, he unearths a rainstorm of pain, memories and inspiration. This play with music, structured as a requiem mass itself, explores grief in young men of color, and the divine power of music that heals those wounds.
The Queen of the Living Room
by Mijuan Ye
May 4 & 5
On the day of May’s daughter’s 1st birthday, May’s old friends Ran and Zhuzi come over for what was supposed to be a party. Gathered in the living room, May announces that she is going to have vaginal reconstruction surgery and the group slowly descends into discourse and chaos as each woman reveals secrets that they have been hiding from each other for many years.
Oil on Canvas
by Aditya Lal Chadha
May 10 & 11
Oil on Canvas follows a painter named Prachi whose promising career in fine art has been cut short after a vicious attack. This results in her moving back to New Delhi to live with her overbearing but cosmopolitan Punjabi mother. One day she’s informed that someone important from her past has come to see her. What follows is a harsh but human journey through her mind and memories as she explores what it means to be alive when all that we thought was beautiful in the world has been dashed to smithereens.
Scrubland
by Stephen Bush
May 11 & 12
Scrubland follows several generations living, working, and dying in Shadeburne, Nevada. Just outside the glamour and fantasy of Las Vegas, Shadeburne is home to a Department of Energy site that goes from testing nuclear weapons to languishing as a tourist trap museum. Scrubland considers what it means to construct national history at the cost of personal history.