Ticket Information
Tickets go on sale starting Monday, April 29 at noon, at the Theatre Building box office window. In-person, cash sales only.
There will be NO LATE SEATING for any of the productions. Due to the potential for sold out performances, all non-claimed tickets will be released 10 minutes before curtain time. This includes already purchased tickets.
Productions
UI Students (with ID) – Free, limit 1 ticket per ID
General Admission – $5, cash only
Reading Series
UI Students (with ID) – Free, limit 1 ticket per ID
General Admission – Free, but you must obtain a ticket
This is Only a Test
Tickets are free and will only be available at the door, up to one hour before the performance.
Box Office Hours
Monday, April 29
Noon - 1:30 p.m.
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, April 30
Noon - 1:30 p.m.
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 2
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Friday, May 3
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Full 2024 Schedule
Welcome Reception and Guest Panel
Monday, April 29, 2024 10:30am to 12:00pm
Join us for the kick-off of Iowa New Play Festival 2024! The Welcome Reception begins at 10:30 a.m. and the Guest Panel begins at 11 a.m.
Forgottonia
Monday, April 29, 2024 1:30pm to 3:30pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
Forgottonia
By Eli Campbell
Directed by Sarah Gazdowicz
In 1987, the people of Forgottonia, Illinois are on the edge of poverty. In a last-ditch effort to save their town, they enter the Prison Sweepstakes, which would win them a government-funded prison (and all the jobs that come with it). But competing for a prison drags out more than they were bargaining for.
Please be advised this is a play about the prison industrial complex. There are themes of...
Anti-Hero: Revenge of the Swifties
Monday, April 29, 2024 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series
Anti-Hero: Revenge of the Swifties
By Derick Edgren Otero
Directed by Meredith Healy
Fourteen-year-old Cora harasses a prominent music critic and his family into changing his scathing review of a country-turned-pop star's most divisive record. When he ignores her demands, an entire fandom works to save their queen's #reputation.
Please be advised this production includes hate speech, implied child abuse, loud noises, and the use of haze.
Anti-Hero: Revenge of the Swifties
Monday, April 29, 2024 9:00pm to 11:00pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series
Anti-Hero: Revenge of the Swifties
By Derick Edgren Otero
Directed by Meredith Healy
Fourteen-year-old Cora harasses a prominent music critic and his family into changing his scathing review of a country-turned-pop star's most divisive record. When he ignores her demands, an entire fandom works to save their queen's #reputation.
Please be advised this production includes hate speech, implied child abuse, loud noises, and the use of haze.
Guest Roundtable | Anti-Hero: Revenge of the Swifties
Tuesday, April 30, 2024 10:30am to 11:30am
A roundtable discussion of Anti-Hero: Revenge of the Swifties by Derick Edgren Otero.
Leeches
Tuesday, April 30, 2024 1:30pm to 3:30pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
Leeches
By Adrian Enzastiga
Directed by Natalie Villamonte Zito
Leeches is a full-length play that takes place at an eviction court in an ambiguously Midwest post-pandemic U.S. city. The play explores the process of an eviction, the cycle of poverty, and the corrupt oppression of the American capitalist system:
Eviction court is a no man’s land;
tenants’ rights are crushed under landlord’s command,
and social workers (can) do little to offer a hand...
Spells for Going Forth by Daylight
Tuesday, April 30, 2024 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series
Spells for Going Forth by Daylight
By Leigh M. Marshall
Directed by Josh Turner
In a world where the Roman Empire meets the 24-hour news cycle, Cleo wakes up in the Egyptian Realm of the Dead without a Book of Life to guide her to Paradise. As she tries to navigate her way through a treacherous afterlife filled with traps and predators, she finds she's able to tap into broadcasts from the living world that indicate her empire is on the brink of...
Spells for Going Forth by Daylight
Tuesday, April 30, 2024 9:00pm to 11:00pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series
Spells for Going Forth by Daylight
By Leigh M. Marshall
Directed by Josh Turner
In a world where the Roman Empire meets the 24-hour news cycle, Cleo wakes up in the Egyptian Realm of the Dead without a Book of Life to guide her to Paradise. As she tries to navigate her way through a treacherous afterlife filled with traps and predators, she finds she's able to tap into broadcasts from the living world that indicate her empire is on the brink of...
Guest Roundtable | Spells for Going Forth by Daylight
Wednesday, May 1, 2024 10:30am to 11:30am
A roundtable discussion of Spells for Going Forth by Daylight by Leigh M. Marshall.
And the Past Remains
Wednesday, May 1, 2024 2:30pm to 4:30pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
And the Past Remains
By Poonam Dhir
Directed by Johanna Kasimow
An exploration of kinship, commitment and recollection. Using non-linear etches in time and a series of shared moments, the story of a family and a childhood unfolds. A dramatic event grounds this vulnerable account. Through memory, witnessing and intimate encounters, And the Past Remains explores ideas of duty, devotion and belief.
Please be advised this reading includes mentions of...
Well Spoken
Wednesday, May 1, 2024 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
Well Spoken
By Alex Lead
Directed by Søren Olsen
An elderly gay moving out west rummages a nearby playground for a missing chunk of his brain. With the gate closing in two hours, he must convince the audience to watch his upcoming television show before he either loses too much blood or misses the plane. Whichever comes first. Performed by the author, Well Spoken is a meditation on the black diaspora, the queer diaspora, and ancestry.
Please be...
The Words of Ants
Thursday, May 2, 2024 1:00pm to 3:00pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
The Words of Ants
By Xiaoyan Kang
Directed by Nina Morrison
The visit of an uninvited woman changes Y's life forever. As the last natural inheritor, Y embarks upon a journey to preserve an almost extinct language, but at what cost?
Please be advised this reading includes discussions about death of loved ones and mention of child abuse.
Guest Roundtable to follow.
Selections from the Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop
Thursday, May 2, 2024 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
Selections from the Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop
American Rusałki
Thursday, May 2, 2024 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series
American Rusałki
a play with music
By Christopher Lysik
Directed by Kayla Adams
Set in 1800s, rural New England, a small town on the outskirts of a forest find themselves at the center of a storm—facing consequences from a sin that plagued the lands long ago. As several townspeople find themselves facing terrible obstacles, they will soon discover exactly what they're willing to do for those they love.
Please be advised this production includes...
American Rusałki
Thursday, May 2, 2024 9:00pm to 11:00pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series
American Rusałki
a play with music
By Christopher Lysik
Directed by Kayla Adams
Set in 1800s, rural New England, a small town on the outskirts of a forest find themselves at the center of a storm—facing consequences from a sin that plagued the lands long ago. As several townspeople find themselves facing terrible obstacles, they will soon discover exactly what they're willing to do for those they love.
Please be advised this production includes...
Guest Roundtable | American Rusałki
Friday, May 3, 2024 10:30am to 11:30am
A roundtable discussion of American Rusałki: a play with music by Christopher Lysik.
Death Surrogates
Friday, May 3, 2024 1:30pm to 3:30pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
Death Surrogates
By Cianon Jones
Directed by Ansa Akyea
A nature documentary.
Please be advised this reading includes depictions, mentions, or suggestions of the following: death, body horror, combat, suggestive drug use/abuse, drinking, child endangerment/abuse, weaponry, hand-to-hand violence, blood and gore, psychological abuse, human experimentation, murder, suicide/assisted suicide, forced dosing, gun use, world's end, lethal threats, cannibalism...
Razor Creek: a folk-rock, sci-fi musical
Friday, May 3, 2024 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series
Razor Creek: a folk-rock, sci-fi musical
Book & Lyrics by K.T. Peterson
Music by K.T. Peterson and Paige Scott
Directed and Choreographed by Michael C. Flores
Razor Creek is a rock concert in coal-mining country, Kentucky. It is 1935, and residents get on best they can; fighting the devil, cracking jokes, staying alive, but when Razor Creek experiences an out-of-the-ordinary hardship, like the disappearance of a beloved invalid woman in town...
Razor Creek: a folk-rock, sci-fi musical
Friday, May 3, 2024 9:00pm to 11:00pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series
Razor Creek: a folk-rock, sci-fi musical
Book & Lyrics by K.T. Peterson
Music by K.T. Peterson and Paige Scott
Directed and Choreographed by Michael C. Flores
Razor Creek is a rock concert in coal-mining country, Kentucky. It is 1935, and residents get on best they can; fighting the devil, cracking jokes, staying alive, but when Razor Creek experiences an out-of-the-ordinary hardship, like the disappearance of a beloved invalid woman in town...
Guest Roundtable | Razor Creek: a folk-rock, sci-fi musical
Saturday, May 4, 2024 10:30am to 11:30am
A roundtable discussion of Razor Creek: a folk-rock, sci-fi musical with Book and Lyrics by K.T. Peterson, music by K.T. Peterson and Paige Scott.
No Gun Salute for Ofeke
Saturday, May 4, 2024 1:30pm to 3:30pm
Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
No Gun Salute for Ofeke
By Sixtus Igbokwe
Directed by Patrick Adu
After his fourth and final attempt to be admitted into the Ikenga masquerade cult, Ofeke gives up his quest for true manhood which the cult confers on its subjects. His resignation from the pursuit is accompanied by a detest for it, for in his words, “They failed, not I.” But his sudden discovery of a personal secret of the cult leader, Obosi, offers Ofeke a real bargaining voice, but...
This is Only a Test
Saturday, May 4, 2024 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Join us for This is Only a Test, a stand-up comedy showcase presented by the students of Stand-up Comedy Practicum. Featuring performances from Erick Cortes-Parra, Elise Dahan, Piper Eagle, Alejandro Gonzalez, Emily Hill, Leo Karp, Brody Kivett, Joseph Lepire, Max Nielsen, Hozay Ruelas, and Tadas Visgirda.
Tickets:
Tickets for the Iowa New Play Festival will be available at the Theatre Building. Visit our website for more details.