Explore the four productions in the 2025 New Play Festival, written by MFA playwrights Sixtus Chetachi Igbokwe, Eli Campbell, Xiaoyan Kang, and a collection of work by the Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop.

Tickets are $5 for general admission; free for UI students (with ID).

Productions Schedule

Adaku promotional image

Adaku

Monday, May 5, 2025 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Theatre Building
In 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.
Adaku promotional image

Adaku

Monday, May 5, 2025 9:00pm to 11:00pm
Theatre Building
In 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.
3 Cubes and a Ghostlight promotional image

3 Cubes and a Ghostlight

Tuesday, May 6, 2025 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Theatre Building
3 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.
salt tongue promotional image

salt tongue

Thursday, May 8, 2025 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Theatre Building
It'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.
salt tongue promotional image

salt tongue

Thursday, May 8, 2025 9:00pm to 11:00pm
Theatre Building
It'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.
The Words of Ants promotional image

The Words of Ants

Friday, May 9, 2025 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Theatre Building
The 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?
The Words of Ants promotional image

The Words of Ants

Friday, May 9, 2025 9:00pm to 11:00pm
Theatre Building
The 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?

Funding for the Iowa New Play Festival is provided by The David and Jean Schaal Fund for Theatre Arts.