Columbia University School Of The Arts Presents New Plays Festival 2019

Columbia University School of the Arts presents seven new plays written by the Columbia MFA Playwriting Students of 2019. The esteemed faculty who have nurtured these students, including Tony©, Pulitzer, and Obie Award winners such as Charles Mee, Lynn Nottage, and David Henry Hwang invite you to experience these innovative new playwrights.

From Head of Playwriting, David Henry Hwang, "These thesis productions from a remarkable group of young dramatists exemplify two core values of the playwriting concentration at Columbia University School of the Arts: production and diversity. Though reading plays is important, they are meant to live in a theatrical space and come to life through performance, as these pieces do beautifully. These works also exhibit a wide range of aesthetic approaches and stories from different worlds. Welcome to the future. We're proud of these bold and energetic new plays by the next generation of dramatists."

About the Plays

Babes in the Wood by Emily Wiest
Ashley, Anna, and Paulie live in a converted loft on the outskirts of an Eastern Seaboard city.

Paulie suffers chronic melancholy, Ashley struggles with alcohol and Anna has had bouts of mania since undergrad. They all dreamed this life would be, perhaps, something different. Matters come to crisis when Anna suffers a manic attack and Ashley discovers her true feelings for Paulie are unrequited.

Performances:
May 1 - 2:30pm
May 3 - 8:00pm
May 4 - 2:30pm

Tickets: FREE
Location: Ford Foundation Studio Theatre, Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
Ticketing Info: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1008593

Ella in the Tundra by Marianna Staroselsky
Ella, a world-class fertility doctor, happens to be every cursed princess' fairy godmother. Her perfectly controlled world gets turned upside down with the appearance of a most unusual maiden in distress who also happens to be a convicted criminal about to go to prison.

Performances:
May 2 - 8:00pm
May 3 - 2:30pm
May 4 - 7:30pm

Tickets: FREE
Location: Ford Foundation Studio Theatre, Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
Ticketing Info: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1008592

DOG by Anna Jastrzembski
Is he really turning into a dog, or does he just think he's turning into a dog?
Is it psychological or is it magical realism?
Is there a difference?
On the shores of a toxic river, a girl is torn between two different beasts and a boy develops an uncanny sense of smell.

Performances:
May 8 - 2:30pm
May 10 - 8:00pm
May 11 - 2:30pm

Tickets: FREE
Location: Ford Foundation Studio Theatre, Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
Ticketing Info: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1008594

The Visitors by Elisabeth Frankel
One night in a small Florida town, on the border between Disney World and the heart of conservative America, a liberal teenager witnesses a beautiful spaceship flying through the sky. She's eager to find someone with whom she can share this life-changing moment. But when she finds it in a middle-aged conservative neighbor, they both resist the inevitability of their shared humanity.

Performances:
May 9 - 8:00pm
May 10 - 2:30pm
May 11 - 7:30pm

Tickets: FREE
Location: Ford Foundation Studio Theatre, Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
Ticketing Info: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1008595

Chinese Opera and a Modern Drama by Ruoxin Xu
A thousand years ago, Madame Huarui was the Chinese version of "Helen of Troy", with her life beyond her control. In 2019, Kiki, a New York-based stage manager, is hired to work on a new Beijing Opera featuring Madame Huarui, while her professional and personal life is deeply affected by her uncertain Visa status. Chinese Opera and A Modern Drama explores patriarchy in both historical times and nowadays, as well as new immigrants living under the current political climate between the US and China.

Performances:
May 10 - 8:00pm
May 11 - 2:00pm
May 11 - 8:00pm

Tickets: FREE
Location: Lenfest Center for the Arts 615 W. 129th St.
Ticketing Info: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1008596

Blanks by Gethsemane Herron-Coward
Medical student Reese desperately hunts for the romance of her dreams while her "aunties" - Black women throughout history and media - dissuade, distract and try to save her from love's violent abandonment - something they all experienced, something they all did not survive.

Blanks interrogates how intimate partner violence, intersectional patriarchy, and neglect affect Black women's pursuit of romantic and filial love. It ask if love conquers all, what happens when it conquers you?

Performances:
May 15 - 2:30pm
May 17 - 8:00pm
May 18 - 2:30pm

Tickets: FREE
Location: Ford Foundation Studio Theatre, Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
Ticketing Info: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1008591

Big St. Germain by Jack T. Calk
When young father Marshall's sister Kasey drops back into his life after years away, he warily agrees to meet her at the rental property in Wisconsin once owned by their late grandfather. And over a weekend of drinking, dancing, nostalgia, and singing novelty fish, it seems this may just be a legitimate attempt at reunion- and there could be hope they can finally get back to what they had. But Kasey will always ask too much of Marshall, and as the ground beneath their reunion begins to crumble, the fate of their family hangs in the balance.

Performances:
May 16 - 8:00pm
May 17 - 2:30pm
May 18 - 7:30pm

Tickets: FREE
Location: Ford Foundation Studio Theatre, Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
Ticketing Info: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1006460

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