Irvington Theater To Present 5th Annual Arts Incubator Short Play Fest

For the 5th consecutive year, Irvington Theater will present the Arts Incubator Short Play Fest: a free celebration of short, new, in-development works of theater and the playwrights behind them! This year's Fest will take place on the Irvington Theater stage – for the first time in its 5-year history! Previous iterations existed online during the pandemic, when the Fest was originally conceived, and offsite while the historic institution underwent renovations.

The 2025 Arts Incubator Short Play Fest will be held on Saturday, February 22 at 2pm and feature script-in-hand, staged readings of three original plays: (Un)Bound by Marissa Alaniz, a musing on autonomy and empowerment; And We Danced by Brian Leahy Doyle, an exploration of family and forgiveness; and Saturn Says Shalom by Lauren Elise Fisher, a celebration of diaspora and drag. Following the readings, audiences are invited to stick around for an artist Q&A and opportunity to give the playwrights real-time feedback.
“It's hard to believe that we are already celebrating the fifth anniversary of this beloved Short Play Fest,” said Theater Manager Gregory Allen. “It is always great when playwrights get a chance to hear their work aloud, and it's even better when they can get immediate feedback from an engaged audience. We hope you'll join us for this fun, free celebration of theater – at our theater for the very first time!” 

Originally an actor, Marissa Alaniz (playwright of (Un)Bound) fell into playwriting out of frustration with the female characters she was always cast as or was reading for. Focusing on big questions, her work lives in the world of dark comedy and often explore queerness, trauma, and misfits. She holds an Associate's Degree from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she received an award for Excellence in Drama from the Lee Strasberg Studio. She is currently working towards her MFA in Writing for Stage and Broadcast Media from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

Brian Leahy Doyle (playwright of And We Danced) earned his MFA in Theatre with emphases in Directing and Dramaturgy from the University of Utah, and he has had his plays produced in New York, Chicago, Wisconsin, and California. The Architecture of Desire (Secret Theatre), is featured in The Best New Ten-Minute Plays 2021. Other credits: Light from the Pleiades (English Theatre Düsseldorf), Dead End Kids (Chain Theatre, NYC), Maybe Tomorrow (KNOW Theatre, Chain Theatre, Aery Theatre), and The Weeping Woman, an opera with composer Michael Dilthey (MASS MoCA). He curated the Queens Short Play Festival and the Secret Theatre Act One One-Act Festival. Brian is also the author of “Encore! The Renaissance of Wisconsin Opera Houses,” an award-winning book on the restoration of historic theaters in Wisconsin. He teaches film and communications at Mercy University.

Lauren Elise Fisher (playwright of Saturn Says Shalom) is a freelance writer, stage manager, visual artist, company manager, and drag artist whose work often intersects with themes of identity, belonging, and transformation. Her performances explore the fluidity of gender, self-expression, and the complexities of the queer experience from the lens of Jewish diaspora. These elements heavily inform her approach to creating narratives that challenge societal norms and embrace marginalized voices. Lauren has a deep understanding of the intricacies of production, collaboration, and the power of storytelling, giving her the ability to see how collaboration and community are necessary throughout a theatrical production's development.

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