# 2025-26 Theater & Music Theater Season

**Source**: https://arts.princeton.edu/academics/theater/current-season/
**Parent**: https://arts.princeton.edu/academics/theater/

#### Theater & Music Theater

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# 2025-26 Theater & Music Theater Season ---

The Program in Theater & Music Theater is excited to announce the 2025-26 season, built by and for students pursuing a Minor in Theater & Music Theater. Rising seniors moved through a rigorous examination process toward research that is personally meaningful, skill building, and connected to the community and audiences. The result is a season of projects and productions that are wonderfully diverse and divergent, from nonlinear plays to performance lectures, from hip-hop-infused spoken word to original musicals, from design-driven productions to theater research at the intersection of physics, AI, accessibility, and more.

[*How to Live at the End of the World* — Sept.](#world)\
 [*at the very bottom of a body of water* — Oct.](#water)\
 [*A Moment of Silence* by Mohammad Yaghoubi — Oct.](#silence)\
 [*Graveyard Shift* — Nov.](#graveyard)\
 [When Pages Breathe: American Black/Out — Dec.](#breathe)\
 [*No One is Forgotten* — Feb.](#forgotten)\
 [What Art Reveals Beyond Factual Reporting — Feb.](#reporting)\
 [*Liminality* — Feb.](#liminality)\
 [*Manual for a Desperate Crossing* — Feb.](#crossing)\
 [Princeton Playhouse Ensembles Concert — Feb.](#playhouse)\
 [*Generation-less* by Tiffany Rawlston — Feb.](#rawlston)\
 [*God Remembers Setsi* by Nadine Allache — March](#allache)\
 [*The Comeuppance* by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ’06 — April](#comeuppance)\
 [*Dependence* by Grace Wang — April](#wang)\
 [*Show All History* translated by Larissa Kyzer — April](#history)\
 [Princeton Playhouse New Works Festival — May](#new-works)\
 [Theater&… — Senior Independent Projects](#sip)

## 2025-26 Productions

### [*How to Live at the End of the World*](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/how-to-live-at-the-end-of-the-world-by-orion-lopez-ramirez-26/2025-09-26/)

Conceived and created by Orion Lopez-Ramirez ’26\
 Lighting Design by Didi Vekri ’27\
 *Drapkin Studio, Lewis Arts complex*\
 **September 26 & 27 at 7:30 PM\
 September 28 at 2 PM**

When the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse finally arrive, they make their entrance on a late night talk show. Cursed with their presence, the host must figure out what life becomes when everyone’s end is lurking just over his shoulder. *How to Live at the End of the World* is a performance lecture, discussing topics ranging from dimensions of power, engineered addictions, moral responsibility, and free will. Supported in part by the IV Fund.

### [*at the very bottom of a body of water*](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/at-the-very-bottom-of-a-body-of-water-by-benjamin-benne/2025-10-03/)

Written by Benjamin Benne\
 Scenic design by Annalise Schuck ’26\
 Sound design by Grace Wang ’26\
 Lighting design by Emily Yang ‘26\
 Directed by Elena Milliken ‘26\
 *Wallace Theater, Lewis Arts complex*\
 **October 3 + 4 at 8 PM\
 October 5 at 2 PM**

Marina is a single mother who spends her days going to the fish store to buy a catfish for soup, and her nights stitching petals on her daughter’s quinceañera dress. When Marina’s local fishmonger passes away and his son Hiroshi takes over the store, Marina and Hiroshi form an unexpected connection that may break them from their routines and help them face what haunts them. An everyday story with elements of magical realism, this is the first fully-staged production of Benjamin Benne’s lyrical play about loneliness, connection, grief, and fish.

### [*A Moment of Silence* by Mohammad Yaghoubi](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/a-moment-of-silence-by-mohammad-yaghoubi/2025-10-31/)

Written by Mohammad Yaghoubi\
 English translation by Yaghoubi and Torange Yeghiazarian\
 Directed by Nikoo Mamdoohi\
 Dramaturgy by Q-mars Haeri\
 Scenic design by Omid Akbari\
 Costume design by Afsaneh Aayani\
 Lighting design by Alex Picoult ’26\
 *Berlind Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center\* **October 31, Nov. 1, 7 & 8 at 8 PM; Nov. 8 at 2 PM**

*A Moment of Silence* is an award-winning play by celebrated Iranian playwright and director Mohammad Yaghoubi. Surreal, poetic, and unexpectedly humorous, the play offers a deeply human meditation on Iran’s turbulent modern history.

Shiva, the protagonist, wakes up to find she has been asleep for three years—only to realize she has missed the Islamic Revolution. Over the next decade, she continues to slip in and out of sleep, awakening each time to a drastically altered world: the war with Iraq, the murders of dissident artists, and upheavals within her own family. Layered with absurdity and poignancy, the play also follows the increasingly perilous journey of the playwright shaping Shiva’s story, as anonymous threats begin to blur the boundary between art and reality.

Student participants can receive class credit through enrolling in [THR 451: Theater Rehearsal & Performance](https://arts.princeton.edu/courses/theater-rehearsal-performance-fa-25/).

### [*Graveyard Shift*](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/graveyard-shift-by-house-of-bones-theater-company/2025-11-07/)

Conceived and created by Ash Baudelaire ’26\
 directed by Matthew Cooperberg ’26\
 From House of Bones Theater Company\
 *Wallace Theater, Lewis Arts complex\* **November 7, 8, 13, 14 & 15 at 8 PM**

*Graveyard Shift* is a gothic horror tragicomedy set in a haunted graveyard-turned-luxury-apartment complex. Fugitive librarians, a puritanical gravedigger, and a steampunk orphan grapple with the fear of death as the cost of one’s “calling” threatens to claim the ultimate price. Blending high-stakes physicality, lyrical dialogue, and kick-ass heavy metal, *Graveyard Shift* is a darkly absurdist exploration of faith, grief, and narratives of survival.

A production from [House of Bones Theater Company](http://houseofbonestc.com/) (HOBTC), an interconnected gothic theatrical universe where the absurd gets thrillingly dark. HOBTC, an entrepreneurial start-up by Baudelaire and Cooperberg, creates horror tragicomedies that aggrandize human complexity to reimagine theater for the streaming generation. Fusing spooky carnival vibes with heavy metal, dark cabaret, the sociological imagination, and vintage Americana, HOBTC is designed to offer a wickedly entertaining journey through the macabre. Normally recorded from onstage, these live performances of *Graveyard Shift* let you slip into the camera’s place; a demo of theater reimagined for digital distribution. Our theater isn’t live – it’s Undead.

### *[When Pages Breathe: American Black/Out](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/when-pages-breathe-american-black-out/2025-12-05/)*

Featuring Destine Harrison-Williams ’26\
 Co-directed by Anya Pearson and Chesney Snow\
 Conceived & created by Chesney Snow in collaboration with Destine Harrison-Williams and the Black Theater Collective\
 *Wallace Theater, Lewis Arts complex\* **December 5 at 8 PM; Dec. 6 at 2 & 8 PM**

The Wallace Theater will be ignited with three lecture-performances that present scenes and monologues ranging from the rich historical lineage of Black American theater to a live resistance-driven narrative lecture on culture and power. Presented and performed by Anya Pearson, a 2021-22 Princeton Hodder Fellow, and Drama Desk winner Chesney Snow, Lecturer in Theater for the Program in Theater and Music Theater and featuring senior Destine Harris-Williams. The lecture and performance are co-directed by Pearson and Snow.

This year’s *When Pages Breathe* series honors playwrights and poets who have resisted authoritarian narrative capture over the last century. It archives suppressed histories and invites audiences to resist erasure through community dialogue and organizing. The three performances will be enriched with a talkback and a panel discussion with renowned scholars, professors, alumni, and leading figures in American theater today. This year’s series is presented in collaboration with Princeton’s Black Theater Collective.

### [*No One is Forgotten — An Immersive Opera Drama*](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/no-one-is-forgotten-an-immersive-opera-drama/2026-02-07/)

Libretto & Book: Winter Miller\
 Co-composers: Paola Prestini and Sxip Shirey\
 Creative Producer: Eve Gigliotti\
 Director: Elena Araoz\
 Music Director & Conductor: Mila Henry\
 Producer: Cath Brittan\
 Sound Designer: Lucas Corrubia\
 Foley Design and Underscoring: Sxip Shirey\
 Assistant Sound Designer: Jon Mccarthy\
 Stage Manager: Rose Tablizo\
 Ellen McLaughlin: Beng (spoken)\
 Eve Gigliotti: Beng (sung)\
 Amelia Workman: Lali (spoken)\
 Brandie Sutton: Lali (sung)\
 Jeffrey Zeigler: Cello\
 Nathan Repasz: Foley\
 Originally commissioned by Dallas Opera, Eve Gigliotti and Emitha/Lexicon Classics\
 *Wallace Theater, Lewis Arts complex\* **February 7 at 7 PM; February 8 at 2:30 PM**

A story of intimacy, surrender, and the will to survive. This operatic theater work applies psychoacoustic techniques to live music to create the sonic experience for the audience of being within a cell where a journalist and aid worker are confined—tickling the audience’s ears as the characters imagine a joyous world with freedom of body, mind, and speech. In collaboration with the Program in Journalism and generously supported by a Magic Grant for Innovation from Princeton’s Humanities Council.

### [“What Art Can Do That Journalism Cannot”](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/no-one-is-forgotten-panel-discussion-what-art-reveals-beyond-factual-reporting/)

Conversation between Eliza Griswold & Aleksandar Hemon\
 *Wallace Theater, Lewis Arts complex*\
 **February 8 at 3:45 PM**

Follows the performance of *No One is Forgotten.* Eliza Griswold, Director of Princeton’s Program in Journalism, in conversation with Professor of Creative Writing Aleksandar Hemon on the relationship between artists and journalists, how their word impacts or fortifies each other, and how both professions often live within one person. In collaboration with the Program in Journalism and generously supported by a Magic Grant for Innovation from Princeton’s Humanities Council.

### [*Liminality*](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/liminality-by-matthew-cooperberg-26/2026-02-13/)

New play written and directed by Matthew Cooperberg ’26\
 *Drapkin Studio, Lewis Arts complex*\
 **February 13 & 14 at 7:30 PM; Feb. 15 at 2 PM**

Quinn Marion rebels against academia in their pursuit of proving quantum mechanics false. Grace Sy navigates a gender crisis to find themself with the help of old friends. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure called Kit encourages both of them to experiment in increasingly dangerous ways. As they seek certainty in the unknown, their lives and their experiments in quantum mechanics and gender exploration collide. Supported in part by the IV Fund.

### [*Manual for a Desperate Crossing* by María Irene Fornés](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/manual-for-a-desperate-crossing-by-maria-irene-fornes/2026-02-20/)

Written by María Irene Fornés\
 Directed by Didi Vekri ’27\
 Lighting design and dramaturgy by Elena Miliken ’26\
 Sound design by Ryan Gonzales ’26\
 *Wallace Theater, Lewis Arts complex\* **February 20, 21, 26, 27 & 28 at 8 PM***\*

Facing an economy in dire straits and dangerous political repression, migrants attempt to journey across a sea on a homemade raft.

### [*How to Be Not Alone*: Princeton Playhouse Ensembles Concert](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/how-to-be-not-alone-a-princeton-playhouse-ensembles-concert/)

Music direction by Solon Snider Sway\
 Stage direction by faculty member Aaron Landsman\
 Lighting design by Alex Slisher ’25\
 Sound design by Kay Richardson\
 Stage management by Milan Eldridge\
 *Berlind Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center*\
 **February 21 at 7 PM**

A concert featuring new music theater arrangements of songs from *Godspell, Evening Primrose, Kimberly Akimbo, In the Heights, Maybe Happy Ending, Next to Normal, Rent,* and *Waitress* alongside world premieres by student composers and arrangers. The concert will also feature a special guest Michael J. Love. This musical celebration will unite music theater storytelling, performance, composition, arranging, direction, and choreography while featuring the work, perspectives, reflections, and leadership of current Princeton students and alumni.

### [*Generation-less*](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/a-staged-reading-of-generation-less-by-tiffany-rawlston-26/2026-02-27/)

Conceived and created by Tiffany Rawlston ’26\
 Co-directed by Rawlston & Chesney Snow\
 *Drapkin Studio, Lewis Arts complex***\
 February 27 at 7:30 PM; February 28 at 2 PM\**

In *Generation-less*, four characters of a wide range of ages randomly meet one day in a train station. They unexpectedly confront how their life experiences reflect the highs and lows of modern society and how their unique perspectives might intersect in more ways than initially assumed. This project emphasizes worldbuilding and brings together a mix of styles including sitcom, fireside chat, and traditional theater. Much of the show is performed in spoken word and poetry, with elements of rap. Join us to see what a 50-year old might learn from a 20-year old (or vice versa) in the short span of a train delay. Supported in part by the IV Fund.

### [*God Remembers Setsi*](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/god-remembers-setsi-by-nadine-allache-26/2026-03-27/)

New play researched and written by Nadine Allache ’26\
 *Drapkin Studio, Lewis Arts complex*\
 **March 27 at 8 PM; March 28 at 11:30 AM**

What is the opposite of a lie? Is it the truth? Or is it remembering why you told the lie in the first place? *God Remembers Setsi* refuses the authority of the written record and instead trusts repetition, breath, and critical fabulation as sites of historical survival. The play is inspired by the erased oral histories of Amazigh women, the indigenous people of North Africa. The work emerges from the recognition that what is held only in memory is always at risk of disappearance, and yet what is unrecorded is not unwitnessed. In the play, Setsi, a blinded freedom fighter, prepares for a ceremony honoring her courage. Her granddaughter unexpectedly appears with a miracle that could restore her sight. But there’s one condition: Setsi must admit the truth about the tragic day that everything went dark. Supported in part by the IV Fund.

### [*The Comeuppance* by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/the-comeuppance-by-branden-jacobs-jenkins/2026-04-03/)

Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ’06\
 Directed by faculty member Vivia Font\
 Scenic design by Vera Fei ’26\
 Costume design by Miriam Patterson\
 *Berlind Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center*\
 **April 3, 4 & 10 at 8 PM; April 11 at 2 & 8 PM**

In the fall of 2022, on the eve of their 20th high school reunion, a self-proclaimed “Multi-Ethnic Reject Group” reconnects on the porch of a house in their old neighborhood in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Reminiscing about their high school years and recent pasts (including Covid-19, 9/11, and Columbine) and fueled by drinking and smoking pot, the friends discover competing, recollected versions of their teenage years and find themselves facing a reckoning with the memories of who they were, and are, as an undeniable element of the future viscerally looms before them.

This hauntingly surreal play by Tony Award and MacArthur Genius Award winner and Princeton alum Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ’06 (*An Octoroon, Appropriate, Gloria*) garnered a *New York Times* Critic’s Pick and Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play.

### [*Dependence* by Grace Wang](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/dependence-by-grace-wang-26/2026-04-10/)

Written by Grace Wang ’26\
 Directed by Lucy Shea ’27\
 *Wallace Theater, Lewis Arts complex*\
 **April 10 & 11 at 7:30 PM; April 12 at 2 PM**

A new work by Grace Wang about the explosive relationship between two artistic partners who occupy parallel sides of a love trapezoid. David and Sammi are a director and cinematographer who have found professional success when working together. When their personal relationship erupts at the beginning of this play, Marianne and Jade, a screenwriter and actress, become intertwined with them. Sexual tension, chronic insecurity, and the relentless pursuit of artistic success drive this exploration of what it means to depend on someone for both companionship and creative fulfillment.

### [*Show All History*](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/staged-reading-of-show-all-history-by-kristin-eiriksdottir/2026-04-29/)

Written by Kristín Eiríksdóttir\
 Translated from Icelandic into English by Larissa Kyzer\
 Staged Reading directed by Neil Blackadder\
 *Godfrey Kerr Studio, Lewis Arts complex\* **April 29 at 7 PM; April 30 at 2 PM**

Three childhood friends—Dawn, Becca, and Lily—are reunited after a traumatic incident some 20 years earlier. Seeking some sort of closure or reconciliation, Dawn encourages her long-estranged friends to relive the events of the last fateful evening they spent together as teenagers. But time and trauma have marked all three women in different ways, and they quickly discover that the past is not so easily left behind.

### Princeton Playhouse New Works Festival

Direction by Chesney Snow\
 Music Direction by Solon Snider Sway\
 Playwriting Mentorship by Lloyd Suh\
 Featuring performances by Angela Kwon ’26 and Radon Belarmino ’26\
 *Wallace Theater, Lewis Arts complex*\
 **May 1 & 2**

In collaboration with the Music Department, semi-staged performances of brand new musical theater selections written, composed and orchestrated by students.

## *Theater&…* — Senior Year Independent Projects

*Theater&…* is a series of presentations by seniors in the Program in Theater that demonstrates the power of theater to connect to, reveal, educate about, and share a wide range of issues, topics, and experiences. Join Princeton seniors and fellow audience members for these unique one-night only explorations.

### [Reading of](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/theater-flamenco-love-and-lies-by-zach-lee-26/) *[Amapola](https://arts.princeton.edu/events/theater-flamenco-love-and-lies-by-zach-lee-26/)*

Researched, written, composed and performed by Zach Lee ’26\
 *Godfrey Kerr Studio, Lewis Arts complex*\
 **March 20 at 7:30 PM**

Reading of an original Flamenco pop musical. Albuquerque, New Mexico, is colloquially known as the Flamenco Capital of North America. In *Amapola*, Lee examines how a musician might respond to being introduced to a new musical genre and how that changes their musical identity and expression. *Amapola* follows its protagonist, Buskboy, who quickly wraps himself up in a lie as he attempts to woo his new friend, Sofía. As their relationship evolves, Buskboy’s music matures and his lies deepen. The show balances themes of love and deception, set to the vibrant Flamenco landscape of Albuquerque.

### How I Learned to Learn: Musical Theater as a Teacher and Legacy

Researched and presented by Ava Kronman ’26\
 *Drapkin Studio, Lewis Arts complex*\
 **April 6 at 7:30 PM**

Who are the teachers who have had a positive impact on your life? Join Ava Kronman ’26 for a night of gratitude as she reflects on teachers’ positive impacts and interdisciplinary lessons from theater. This presentation features personal and anonymous student stories and will be followed by a Q&A and audience share-out.

### Re-engineering Theater Spaces and Systems for Accessibility

Researched and presented by Annalise Schuck ’26\
 *Drapkin Studio, Lewis Arts complex*\
 **April 24 at 7:30 PM**

Improving physical structures and traditional systems to make our campus theater spaces more accessible for artists, audiences, and all involved.

### The Designer’s Book

Researched, conceived, and created by Alexander Picoult ’26\
 *Drapkin Studio, Lewis Arts complex*\
 **April 27 at 8 PM**

Adapting the artist’s book to explore the infinite intersection of art and design practices in the formation of immersive spaces.

### Public Funding for Theatrical Institutions as a Tool for Political Influence

Researched and presented by Vivian Bui ’26\
 *Drapkin Studio, Lewis Arts complex*\
 **April 27 at 8 PM**

Interviews with leadership and staff members at prominent theaters, cultural institutions, theatrical unions and government offices will help discern the extent that public funding for theatre can be used as a political influence tool.

#### Details Coming Soon

Date, time and venue info is subject to change and will be published to our . Contact the Lewis Center by email at [lewiscenter@princeton.edu](mailto:lewiscenter@princeton.edu) with questions.

#### Programs for Theater Productions

Digital programs are available for most productions. [Browse an archival list of digital programs](https://arts.princeton.edu/digital-programs-for-lewis-center-arts/) to find information on cast, crew, and production teams.