IU Theatre & Dance Presents The Twelfth Annual AT FIRST SIGHT NEW WORKS FESTIVAL, Feruary 9-17

IU Theatre & Dance will present new works from our graduate and undergraduate playwrights in the 12th annual At First Sight New Works Festival.

This year's festival features a world-premiere musical as its exciting showcase production by third year M.F.A. playwright David Davila, directed by Lauren Diesch. The festival will also showcase At First Shorts: an evening of new short plays, as well as performances of student-written songs, several panels with esteemed guests, and community events.

David Davila's Vox Pop! a Post-Democratic Musical, which serves as their thesis, takes us ten-thousand years into the future to find a group of rebel troubadours surrounded on all sides by the deadly forces of an oppressive regime. In their last few moments of freedom they have only one chance left to pass along the tale of "Vox Populi," a sacred secret that tells of the rise and fall of a great mythical society. Can they pass along the legend before they're captured, and save future democracies from corruption? The production is directed by third year M.F.A. candidate Lauren Diesch, with a set design by third year M.F.A. candidate Maggie Jackson, costume design by visiting assistant professor Katie Cowan Sickmeier, lighting design by second-year M.F.A candidate Nicholas Gwin, sound design by Professor Andrew Hopson, property design by first year M.F.A. candidate Ash Cossey, dramaturgy by Assistant Professor Sarah Johnson, and fight choreography by fourth year student Sierra Shelton.

At First Shorts, is a presentation of outstanding short plays and songs written by Indiana University students. This year's presentation includes new short plays by River Epperson, Damon Gaddis, Kinsey Grow, Morgan Hemgrove, and Olivia Johnson. The evening will also include brand new musical theatre songs by Abigail Bilson, Jonah Broscow, and Elizabeth Capetillo. The evening is directed by undergraduate Rocco Jann and features guest respondent Kara Davidson of the Paramount Theatre. At First Shorts will take place at 5pm on Feb 16th in the Studio Theatre.

This year's festival also features several panels with faculty and esteemed guests. Internationally renowned playwright, Penda Diouf, kicks off the festival on February 9th in the Lee Norvelle Theatre Center's Monroe County Bank Art Gallery with a workshop, Writing Plays in Troubled Times, at 10am and a panel on Identity, Exile, and Healing through Theatre at 4:30pm, followed by the festival opening ceremony. The workshops continue on Monday Feb 12th at 6pm both virtually and in person in the Theatre Aquarium with Broken Plays, a playwriting workshop led by Assistant Professor Ana Candida Carneiro, head of the M.F.A. Playwriting Program.

On Wednesday Feb 14th festival goers can Fall In Love At First Sight all day with M.F.A. Dramaturgy candidate Sheridan Schreyer's interactive Valentines Dramaturgy display. The love continues at 2pm in the Monroe County Art Gallery, in a workshop on New Musical Theatre with special guest Kent Nicholson, Producer and Senior Vice President of Broadway Licensing.

Thursday Feb 15th starts with Finding Your People, a conversation with playwright Patricia Kahnke, founder of Telling Humans Playwrights' Studio then continues with Indy Theatre Community Night, a mixer of local playwrights and theatre makers, in the Monroe County Art Gallery at 6pm.

The Festival concludes on Saturday Feb 17th at 7pm in the Studio Theatre with Corpos d'Água | Bodies of Water, a performance by Afro-Brazilian multidisciplinary artist and CRESS International Visiting Fellow, Paulo Ramos. The performance is followed by a panel discussion with Associate Professor of Contemporary Dance Beatrice Capote as well as Micol Seigel (American Studies/CRESS), Solimar Otero (Latino Studies Program), and Maria Hamilton Abegunde (African American & African Diaspora Studies), moderated by Assistant Professor Ana Candida Carneiro.

The At First Sight New Works Festival is co-curated by Assistant Professor Ana Candida Carneiro and Assistant Professor Sarah Johnson and produced by third year M.F.A. playwright David Davila, and first year M.F.A. dramaturgs Spencer Wilkes Fields, Megan Gray Lederman, and Sheridan Schreyer.

TICKETS:

Vox Pop! a Post-Democratic Musical: Regular admission is $25 for adults, $15 for students. The panels, workshops, Corpos d'Água | Bodies of Water and At First Shorts are free of charge.

To purchase tickets to Vox Pop! a Post-Democratic Musical, call 812.855.1103 or visit https://am.ticketmaster.com/iuartstd/buy. For more info and interview requests, please email David Tracy at davtracy@iu.edu.

 

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