Ticket Information
Tickets go on sale starting Monday, May 5 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 student
General Admission – $5, cash only
Reading Series
UI Students (with ID) – Free, limit 1 ticket per student
General Admission – Free, but you must obtain a ticket
Box Office Hours
Monday, May 5
Noon - 1:30 p.m.
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, May 6
Noon - 1:30 p.m.
6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 8
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Friday, May 9
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Full 2025 Schedule
Iowa New Play Festival
Monday, May 5 to Friday, May 9, 2025 (all day)
Iowa New Play FestivalWe are thrilled to present our annual Iowa New Play Festival in the Theatre Building featuring full productions written by MFA playwrights Sixtus Chetachi Igbokwe, Eli Campbell, Xiaoyan Kang, and a collection of work by the Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop! Plus, there are readings daily from new, full plays written by MFA playwrights.Tickets go on sale starting Monday, May 5 at noon, at the Theatre Building box office window. In-person, cash sales only.Productions:UI...
Welcome Reception + Guest Panel
Monday, May 5, 2025 10:30am to 12:00pm
Join us for the kick-off of Iowa New Play Festival 2025! The Welcome Reception begins at 10:30 a.m. and the Guest Panel begins at 11 a.m.
POP!
Monday, May 5, 2025 1:30pm to 3:30pm
POP!By Cianon JonesPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading SeriesPOP! explores the proximity of humanity and nature through a forest that is very much alive and deliriously in danger.Please be advised this reading includes mentions/portrayals/inferences to carnage, murder, human cruelty, animal cruelty, blood, death, drug use, destruction, questionable things of the natural and unnatural world.Guest Roundtable to follow.TicketsUI Students (with ID) – Free, limit 1 ticket per studentGeneral...
Adaku
Monday, May 5, 2025 5:30pm to 7:30pm
AdakuBy Sixtus Chetachi IgbokweDirected by Josh TurnerPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Production SeriesIn 1979 Nigeria, a good man’s sudden death in a hunting accident leaves his widow in a mourning chair. Their daughter, Adaku, seeks to bring honor to her community like her great hunter-father, but soon discovers the unwritten rules that govern her destiny as a woman, and even more so, as an Igbo woman.Please be advised this production includes haze, discussions of grief, death, and violence...
Adaku
Monday, May 5, 2025 9:00pm to 11:00pm
AdakuBy Sixtus Chetachi IgbokweDirected by Josh TurnerPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Production SeriesIn 1979 Nigeria, a good man’s sudden death in a hunting accident leaves his widow in a mourning chair. Their daughter, Adaku, seeks to bring honor to her community like her great hunter-father, but soon discovers the unwritten rules that govern her destiny as a woman, and even more so, as an Igbo woman.Please be advised this production includes haze, discussions of grief, death, and violence...
Iowa New Play Festival
Tuesday, May 6 to Friday, May 9, 2025 (all day)
Iowa New Play FestivalWe are thrilled to present our annual Iowa New Play Festival in the Theatre Building featuring full productions written by MFA playwrights Sixtus Chetachi Igbokwe, Eli Campbell, Xiaoyan Kang, and a collection of work by the Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop! Plus, there are readings daily from new, full plays written by MFA playwrights.Tickets go on sale starting Monday, May 5 at noon, at the Theatre Building box office window. In-person, cash sales only.Productions:UI...
Guest Roundtable | Adaku
Tuesday, May 6, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
A roundtable discussion of the Iowa New Play Festival production Adaku by Sixtus Chetachi Igbokwe directed by Josh Turner.
LARPlay
Tuesday, May 6, 2025 1:30pm to 3:30pm
LARPlayBy Randy Jackson-AlvarengaPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading SeriesLARPlay follows Ash, a stubborn non-gamer recovering from a near-death experience, who is reluctantly pulled into a LARP designed by her late childhood friend. As she struggles with grief and the fear of her own mortality, the fantasy world begins to feel more real. Forcing her to confront what it truly means to fight, to play, and to keep living.Please be advised this reading includes references to heart attacks...
3 Cubes and a Ghostlight
Tuesday, May 6, 2025 7:00pm to 9:00pm
3 Cubes and a GhostlightBy the Undergraduate Playwrights WorkshopDirected and choreographed by Michael C. FloresPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series3 Cubes and a Ghostlight is a collection of original works written by the students of the Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop, each inspired by the shared image of three cubes and a ghostlight.Through an investigative and collaborative process, the ensemble embodies the spirits of ghosts, moreover, forgotten artists—those who once...
Iowa New Play Festival
Wednesday, May 7 to Friday, May 9, 2025 (all day)
Iowa New Play FestivalWe are thrilled to present our annual Iowa New Play Festival in the Theatre Building featuring full productions written by MFA playwrights Sixtus Chetachi Igbokwe, Eli Campbell, Xiaoyan Kang, and a collection of work by the Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop! Plus, there are readings daily from new, full plays written by MFA playwrights.Tickets go on sale starting Monday, May 5 at noon, at the Theatre Building box office window. In-person, cash sales only.Productions:UI...
Guest Roundtable | 3 Cubes and a Ghostlight
Wednesday, May 7, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
A roundtable discussion of the Iowa New Play Festival production 3 Cubes and a Ghostlight, a collection of work by the Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop, directed and choreographed by Michael C. Flores.
Terminal
Wednesday, May 7, 2025 1:30pm to 3:30pm
TerminalBy Emily Kaufman-BellPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading SeriesA girl about to leave for college is compelled to navigate her grief in the landscape of her own mind with the help of her younger sister.Please be advised this play contains depictions of cancer and death.Guest Roundtable to follow.TicketsUI Students (with ID) – Free, limit 1 ticket per studentGeneral Admission – Free, but you must obtain a ticketTickets go on sale Monday, May 5 at noon, at the Theatre Building box...
This is My Body
Wednesday, May 7, 2025 5:30pm to 7:30pm
This is My BodyBy Darrin TerpstraPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading SeriesIn Southern Baptist Suburbia, a pastor grapples with his failing health and faith as he falls in love with his fellow pastor.Please be advised this reading includes homophobia and terminal illness.Guest Roundtable to follow.TicketsUI Students (with ID) – Free, limit 1 ticket per studentGeneral Admission – Free, but you must obtain a ticketTickets go on sale Monday, May 5 at noon, at the Theatre Building box office...
Iowa New Play Festival
Thursday, May 8 to Friday, May 9, 2025 (all day)
Iowa New Play FestivalWe are thrilled to present our annual Iowa New Play Festival in the Theatre Building featuring full productions written by MFA playwrights Sixtus Chetachi Igbokwe, Eli Campbell, Xiaoyan Kang, and a collection of work by the Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop! Plus, there are readings daily from new, full plays written by MFA playwrights.Tickets go on sale starting Monday, May 5 at noon, at the Theatre Building box office window. In-person, cash sales only.Productions:UI...
Go!
Thursday, May 8, 2025 1:30pm to 3:30pm
Go!By Adrian EnzastigaPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading SeriesIn the amazing world of "Punymon Go!" expert trainers form lasting friendships with their creature companions, go on glorious adventures to improve their skills, and team up to battle an ultra-serious gaming addiction.Please be advised this reading includes sexual content and references to suicide.Guest Roundtable to follow.TicketsUI Students (with ID) – Free, limit 1 ticket per studentGeneral Admission – Free, but you must...
salt tongue
Thursday, May 8, 2025 5:30pm to 7:30pm
salt tongueBy Eli CampbellDirected by Kayla AdamsPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Production SeriesIt's 1615 on an island off the coast of Ireland, and Fintan has caught the last fish in the sea. When he finds a man washed ashore that same day, he assumes Rossa must be a shipwrecked sailor and takes him home to recover. But things turn strange the longer Rossa stays, and soon the family that's adopted him must decide whether they've made the right decision.Please be advised this production...
salt tongue
Thursday, May 8, 2025 9:00pm to 11:00pm
salt tongueBy Eli CampbellDirected by Kayla AdamsPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Production SeriesIt's 1615 on an island off the coast of Ireland, and Fintan has caught the last fish in the sea. When he finds a man washed ashore that same day, he assumes Rossa must be a shipwrecked sailor and takes him home to recover. But things turn strange the longer Rossa stays, and soon the family that's adopted him must decide whether they've made the right decision.Please be advised this production...
Digital Graffiti showing
Thursday, May 8, 2025 10:15pm
Part of Iowa New Play FestivalThursday, May 8, 2025 - approximately 10:15 p.m., immediately after salt tongue 9 p.m. performanceFriday, May 9, 2025 - approximately 10:15 p.m., immediately after The Words of Ants 9 p.m. performanceUI Theatre Building Lawn - in front of the main entrance on the river sideThe world has seen the dazzling delights of digital artwork projection mapped onto some of the most iconic buildings: the Empire State Building, the Sidney Opera House... even our own Old Capitol...
Iowa New Play Festival
Friday, May 9, 2025 (all day)
Iowa New Play FestivalWe are thrilled to present our annual Iowa New Play Festival in the Theatre Building featuring full productions written by MFA playwrights Sixtus Chetachi Igbokwe, Eli Campbell, Xiaoyan Kang, and a collection of work by the Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop! Plus, there are readings daily from new, full plays written by MFA playwrights.Tickets go on sale starting Monday, May 5 at noon, at the Theatre Building box office window. In-person, cash sales only.Productions:UI...
Guest Roundtable | salt tongue
Friday, May 9, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
A roundtable discussion of the Iowa New Play Festival production salt tongue by Eli Campbell directed by Kayla Adams.
The Milk Miracle
Friday, May 9, 2025 1:30pm to 3:30pm
The Milk MiracleBy Poonam DhirPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading SeriesThe Milk Miracle centers on a playwright navigating questions of identity, place, and belonging—both personal and cultural—while writing a story about a family struggling with grief, community expectations, and the weight of tradition. The play explores the layered tensions between the act of writing and the forces that shape a story’s creation.Please be advised this production includes discussions of death, brief...
The Words of Ants
Friday, May 9, 2025 5:30pm to 7:30pm
The Words of AntsBy Xiaoyan KangDirected by Meredith G. HealyPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Production SeriesThe visit of an uninvited woman changes Yan's life forever. As the last natural inheritor, Yan embarks upon a journey to preserve an almost extinct language, but at what cost?Please be advised this production includes discussions about death of loved ones, mention of child abuse, mentions of suicide, and depictions of smoking.TicketsUI Students (with ID) – Free, limit 1 ticket per...
The Words of Ants
Friday, May 9, 2025 9:00pm to 11:00pm
The Words of AntsBy Xiaoyan KangDirected by Meredith G. HealyPart of Iowa New Play Festival – Production SeriesThe visit of an uninvited woman changes Yan's life forever. As the last natural inheritor, Yan embarks upon a journey to preserve an almost extinct language, but at what cost?Please be advised this production includes discussions about death of loved ones, mention of child abuse, mentions of suicide, and depictions of smoking.TicketsUI Students (with ID) – Free, limit 1 ticket per...
Digital Graffiti showing
Friday, May 9, 2025 10:15pm
Part of Iowa New Play FestivalThursday, May 8, 2025 - approximately 10:15 p.m., immediately after salt tongue 9 p.m. performanceFriday, May 9, 2025 - approximately 10:15 p.m., immediately after The Words of Ants 9 p.m. performanceUI Theatre Building Lawn - in front of the main entrance on the river sideThe world has seen the dazzling delights of digital artwork projection mapped onto some of the most iconic buildings: the Empire State Building, the Sidney Opera House... even our own Old Capitol...
Guest Roundtable | The Words of Ants
Saturday, May 10, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
A roundtable discussion of the Iowa New Play Festival production The Words of Ants by Xiaoyan Kang directed by Meredith G. Healy.