April 19 – May 18, 2025
Columbia University School of the Arts presents a festival of new plays written by the 2025 Columbia MFA Playwriting Cohort. The esteemed faculty who nurtured these students, including Tony©, Pulitzer, and Obie Award winners, such as Lynn Nottage, Rogelio Martinez, Blair Singer, Noelle Vinas, Charles L. Mee, Michael Korie, David Auburn, and David Henry Hwang, invite everyone to experience these innovative new playwrights.
Organized by Leslie Ayvazian, Theatre.
Featuring
Can't Make an Omelette by D.A. Mindell, A Meditation on Hope by D-Davis, Nowhere on Land is Mine by Srujanee Mishra, RICELAND by Jonathan Barbee, I Hope This Letter Reaches Mictlān by Amalia Rojas, Cankersore Paradise by Leah Plante-Wiener, The Untitled Ana Project by Dacyl Acevedo, light is light by Sophie McIntosh, and We the People of these Fifty Acre Woods by Andrew Reid.
Schedule of Events
Can't Make an Omelette
by D.A. Mindell
April 19 & 20
Pleasure to e-meet you! We may not know each other, but we’ve all got one thing in common: Annie Davis was the first trans person we ever met, the one who inspired us to begin our own gender journeys. Now that she’s detransitioned, I’m sure we have a lot of big feelings to work through. If this sounds productive to you, come join me on Sunday! Snacks provided.
- Estelle
A Meditation on Hope
by D-Davis
April 25 & 26
On the day of the 2024 solar eclipse, as Arizona reinstates the long-dormant 1864 abortion ban, Bette Singer—a fiercely dedicated head of a fetal medicine unit—finds her world upended. Caught between her patients, the law, and her family, she is forced to confront the limits of faith, duty, and the American Dream. As she struggles to hold onto hope and autonomy, Bette conjures a surreal quilting circle that collides with the sterile walls of the hospital and seeks reconciliation with her family. With wit and poignancy, A Meditation on Hope exposes how systems of power continue to find new ways to control women’s bodies and beliefs across centuries, begging the question: will hope be enough to sustain those left fighting for the future?
Nowhere on Land is Mine
by Srujanee Mishra
April 26 & 27
Sharvani, an aspiring journalist from the city, returns to her estranged grandaunt’s village to profile India’s youngest freedom fighter, Baji Raut. As she uncovers how the legend of this twelve-year-old boy is being exploited by the corrupt headmaster of the village school, she and three local women must decide whether to expose the truth and protect Baji Raut or claim their own independence.
RICELAND
by Jonathan Barbee
May 3 & 4
At a rural Arkansas factory, five coworkers discover rice, romance, Kodachrome 35mm film, and extraterrestrial activity converging in a seemingly forgotten post-Y2K landscape. Waltimore is the new hire, building back from personal tragedy. Sabrina is an energetic intern trying to keep it together. Brigham has been at Riceland for a long time now - at least that’s what his time sheet says. Management is management… Maybe. What starts as a simple 9 to 5 quickly spirals into a unique exploration of time, love, and the human condition.
I Hope This Letter Reaches Mictlān
by Amalia Oliva Rojas
May 9 & 10
I Hope This Letter Reaches Mictlān follows Sarai mourning the loss of her brother, whose soul is deported back to Mictlān, the Aztec underworld. Using her newly found shaman powers, Sarai attempts to transcend to help him, only to realize the journey begins with her. This play explores the complexity of grief and how it changes those who experience it.
Cankersore Paradise
by Leah Plante-Wiener
May 10 & 11
Honey’s got mouthsores. Beau’s got bourbon. A love story.
The Ana Project
by Dacyl Acevedo
May 16 & 17
Ana, arrived in NYC alone, as an immigrant from the Dominican Republic in 1960, to attend college and develop her talent as a math prodigy. She worked nights at a textile factory in Manhattan and fell in love with a charming stranger. She helped the rest of her family emigrate from the Dominican Republic to escape a violent dictatorship and they struggled with the transition to their new life in the US, when Ana’s life and dreams fell apart. Years later, Ana tries to help her daughter avoid the same mistakes as the generations of women clash in irreconcilable differences and are drawn together again by the love that binds them.
light as light
by Sophie McIntosh
May 17 & 18
Set in 1917, light as light follows a group of “fallen women” confined to the Inwood House reformatory as they reckon with their own power and consider how far they might go to break free.
We the People of these Fifty Acre Woods
by Andrew Reid
May 17 & 18
Inspired by A.A. Milne’s classic characters, the beloved 100 Acre Wood is in the midst of a civil war. Throughout this multi-year conflict, childhood friends Winnie, Christopher, and H.P. Piglet find themselves on different paths. H.P. struggles with the moral dilemmas of being a soldier, Christopher discovers what can happen when the powerless gain power, and Winnie is on the run for dodging the draft. Part war epic, part whimsical absurdism, this play looks at how people justify violence, the lengths you’ll go to defend what you believe in and if fire is fought with fire - will the acres just burn to the ground?