FAUST SYNDROME World Premiere to be Presented at Theater in Asylum
Ruth Aguilar and Rachel Casparian lead a cast featuring puppets and a choir, co-directed by Paul Bedard and Katie Palmer.
Theater in Asylum's upcoming world premiere of the company's original play Faust Syndrome will run from Thursday, October 29, 2026 through Sunday, November 15, 2026 at the Episcopal Actors' Guild Hall in New York City.
Faust Syndrome follows three activists who strive to end the genocide in Gaza, abolish ICE, and bring an end to American imperialism. When the Devil's agent Mephistopheles offers them extraordinary - and terrifying - power, the age-old Faustian bargain cycle unfurls yet again. Featuring puppets, a choir, and urgently needed questions around movement building, individualism, and violence, Faust Syndrome asks audiences what they would give to right the world's wrongs.
Faust Syndrome is the product of nearly three years of research, development, and workshops, heavily influenced by the pivotal events and societal changes unfolding over that time. Beyond the events of our tumultuous present, Theater in Asylum found inspiration for the play in writers like Hannah Arendt, Franz Fanon, Ed Simon, Judith Butler, and Sarah Schulman. The play also draws upon past Faust adaptations from writers like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Christopher Marlowe, and the Bread & Puppet Theater.
Faust Syndrome stars Ruth Aguilar (The Blacklist, Jessica Jones), Rachel Casparian (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, The Barrow Group), Nadia Diamond (LaMaMa, The Tank), Jesse B Koehler (Shakespeare in the Woods, The Mercury Store Acting Company), Adin Lenahan (2026 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow), and Arisael Rivera (New York Theatre Workshop, The Anthropologists). The play was written by Paul Bedard with contributions from Jessie Atkinson, Rachel Casparian, Sean Devare, Jesse B Koehler, Adin Lenahan, Katie Palmer, Francine Pinheiro, Arisael Rivera, and Jo Weingandt. The production features stage management by Heather Olmstead, music direction by Joshua Krugman, scenic design by Isaac DeMarchi, costumes by Brynne Oster-Bainnson, lighting by Dan Stearns, and puppets by Samantha Wilson. The play is co-directed by Paul Bedard and Katie Palmer, and produced by Diana Zuluaga and Kathryn Appleton, with marketing and PR by Charlotte Dow.
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