The Hearth Reveals 2024 Season Featuring Two World Premieres

The Hearth has revealed their 2024 season, which will feature two new plays developed by the company. In June they will present the World Premiere of Push Party by Nia Akilah Robinson, directed by Chesray Dolpha at Theaterlab. RACECAR RACECAR RACECAR by Kallan Dana will be directed by Sarah Blush and premiere at the Connelly Theater in December. 

Nia Akilah Robinson’s Push Party is a lively ensemble comedy about six Black women trying to uphold fifteen years of friendship at a post-birthing party in Harlem. Inspired by Black women’s stories of birth and motherhood and by the joys and challenges of life in Harlem, this new play confronts the moments when friendship erodes, when hope starts to falter, when we argue until we laugh, and when Black folk see other Black folk suffering and die a little inside. Nia’s play is radically personal, drawing from her own life and the experiences of those near and dear to her. She has written a play filled with so much love, humor, care and compassion. Although Nia has countless credits through her involvement in readings, in writers' groups, and at Juilliard, this will be her first production of a full-length play in New York City, and The Hearth is honored to be producing it. Chesray Dolpha will direct her first production with The Hearth.

In Kallan Dana’s RACECAR RACECAR RACECAR a daughter and father embark on a shapeshifting road trip across the country, into the past, through the gelatinous terrain of their shared nightmares. Kallan’s play brings us on a surprising, twisty ride through a relationship that is equal parts explosively theatrical and disarmingly honest. A member of the Clubbed Thumb Writers’ Group and recent Northwestern MFA Grad, Kallan has a thrilling deftness with language, character and observation. This will be not only the World Premiere of RACECAR RACECAR RACECAR, but also Kallan’s first production in New York City. Sarah Blush will direct, returning to The Hearth after directing the sold-out, critically acclaimed EVENTS by Bailey Williams last season.

“These plays capture theater at its best: they’re full of depth, humor and a new perspective,” said Artistic Director, Julia Greer. “They show us the lives of others in a way that unlocks and challenges our own ideas and beliefs. Both will stay with you long after they’re over. We’re so eager to share these unbelievably exciting and vital voices with audiences.”

“When I read Push Party and RACECAR RACECAR RACECAR, they jumped off the page,” said Founding Artistic Director Emma Miller. “As individual scripts and together, they felt immediately like what we at The Hearth are excited and proud to share with audiences–work that is challenging, that pulls us into rich and intimate environments, that allows for depth of thought and real engagement with big ideas, and that reflects the messy, compelling stuff of real life through a theatrical lens. We can’t wait for both premieres and for a season of vibrant new work!” 

Though very different in style and subject matter, Push Party and RACECAR RACECAR RACECAR align perfectly with The Hearth's mission and commitment to nurturing complex, dynamic stories. Both plays were workshopped as part of The Hearth’s 2023 season. 

The Hearth exists to address a dual need in the theater community: To narrow the industry-wide gender gap by welcoming more women, trans, and non-binary artists and artists of underrepresented genders into the field and to launch the careers of emerging artists by offering them otherwise rare opportunities for institutional support, development, and production. The Hearth is the only theater organization in New York that dedicates itself in equal measure to these two important but often overlooked objectives—and no other theater organization has our track record of producing work at such a high caliber and kickstarting the professional trajectories of talented artists like Gracie Gardner, Kathy Ng, and Bailey Williams (to name a few). The Hearth commissions, develops, and produces plays that explore characters who pulse with emotional, intellectual, and psychological complexity and, by so doing, we challenge gender stereotypes, advance and complicate the conversation about feminism, and expand perceptions of what it means to be live in a body that has been historically oppressed or marginalized due to gender expression. The Hearth focuses on elevating diverse and representative view points from a range of bodies, backgrounds, and experiences. Our production teams are made up largely of women, trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming artists — the very populations whose stories we tell and whose voices we elevate. thehearththeater.com 

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