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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series Selections from the Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop

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...

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...