New Plays by James Ijames & More to be Featured in The Public's JUDITH CHAMPION NEW WORK SERIES

The Public Theater will present the inaugural Judith Champion New Work Series, a collection of readings in which select playwrights present full-length new plays currently in development at The Public. The readings will take place on select Mondays and Tuesdays between Monday, October 21 and Tuesday, October 29.

Judith Champion, an architect, violinist, and dedicated supporter of the theater, made major gifts to six New York nonprofit theater companies in the final year of her life to help foster the production of original plays. As Champion made these gifts, she said, “Support what is most important to you. One thing that is important to me is to nurture playwrighting so that theater flourishes for future generations.”

“The Judith Champion New Work Series is an exciting endeavor as we expand our programming and invite audiences to experience dynamic, thought-provoking new plays in the early stages of their development,” said Director of New Work Development Amrita Ramanan. “I am thrilled that our inaugural Series features James Ijames, Else Went, and Shayok Misha Chowdhury—playwrights whose artistry, curiosity, courage, and humanity give me hope for the future of the American Theater.”

The Judith Champion New Work Series will feature new works from three selected playwrights: Pulitzer Prize finalist Shayok Misha Chowdhury, Pulitzer Prize winner James Ijames, and Tow Foundation Playwright in Residence Else Went. Through the Series, playwrights are invited to develop a play early in its generative process with a team of professional collaborators and The Public Theater’s New Work Development staff. The inaugural Judith Champion New Work Series will take place on Monday, October 21, Monday, October 28, and Tuesday, October 29 in the LuEsther Hall, with matinee and evening readings each day.

“Judith loved the theater and loved the new; this reading series will highlight the exciting playwrights working on brave and brilliant new work. The series will be an integral part of our development process, bringing the audience into the collaboration as our artists experiment, take risks, and break boundaries,” said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. “We are deeply grateful to Mel Litoff for his support, and to Judith Champion for her lifelong passion for the theater.”

All are welcome. Learn more at publictheater.org.

2024 JUDITH CHAMPION NEW WORK SERIES:

PROXY

Written by James Ijames
Directed by Saheem Ali
Dramaturgy by Jack Moore
Monday, October 21 at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Janese, a psychotherapist welcomes a new client, Clint, who claims to have committed a grizzly crime. Janese’s son Grover is visiting and has noted an uptick in police presence in their little Black enclave while the whole city searches for two small boys gone missing. With each session, Janese discovers the truth about her client and the missing boys, and things that seemed black and white become very grey.

DEGENERATES

Written by Else Went
Directed by Emma Went
Dramaturgy by Sarah Lunnie
Monday, October 28 at 1:00 p.m. and Tuesday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m.

The boys are not doing so hot. In an obscure corner of the internet, they form a community on the bedrock of their shared and infinite miseries, offering each other proof that the game is rigged against men; it was over before it began, they will never be loved, better just to lay down and rot. When an unexpected relationship begins to unravel their dismal fraternity, the consequences of their fatalism are revealed—some may get out, and some may not. How much would it hurt to come alive again?

RONNIE AND KRIPA

Written and Directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury
Dramaturgy by Sarah Lunnie
Monday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday, October 29 at 2:30 p.m.

Ronnie just turned 30, and his dad is dying. Kripa just turned 40, and she’s getting a divorce. Ronnie’s an eternally single gay man. Kripa’s biological clock is ticking. When a mutual friend introduces them, they decide to try having a kid together. Follow them on their unlikely IVF journey. It’s a new kind of rom-com about making music, making the best of things, and making a new kind of Indian American family.

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