Playwrights Selected For Abingdon Theatre Company's RAISE THE PAGE, UPLIFT THE WORD: A BIPOC FESTIVAL OF SHORT PLAYS

Abingdon Theatre Company has announced the lineup for Raise the Page, Uplift the Word: A BIPOC Festival of Short Plays in collaboration with AMT Theater, taking place on March 9th and 10th, 2026 at 7PM at AMT Theater.

After receiving a record-breaking number of submissions, this year’s festival playwrights are Steven A. Butler Jr., Joel Castillo, Amy Chen, Rena Patel, Tara Blau Smollen, and Lucy Wang. Directors and cast members to be announced at a later date. 

The schedule for Raise the Page, Uplift the Word: A BIPOC Festival of Short Plays will be as follows: 

Day 1, March 9, 2026, at 7PM: featuring Our Lady of Luck by Joel Castillo, When LA Burns by Rena Patel, and The Soledad Brothers by Tara Blau Smollen 

Day 2, March 10, 2026 at 7PM: featuring Tongue in Cheek by Lucy Wang, Stump Worthy by Steven A. Butler Jr., and Unfuck Yourself by Amy Chen 

Spotlighting stories written by BIPOC playwrights, Raise the Page, Uplift the Word’s mission is to continue creating opportunities for all voices to be heard. With that in mind, Abingdon Theatre Company is delighted to continue offering tickets free to the public, in efforts to make theatre more accessible. Reserve now & learn more about festival playwrights at: www.abingdontheatre.org/fsp-2026.

Kate Bell and Owen Mannion, producers of the festival said, “We’re ecstatic to highlight these six talented playwrights in our sixth annual festival, bringing their brave new work to the stage. With last year’s sold out festival marking its first in-person iteration, we couldn’t be more excited to present these pieces at AMT Theater again, giving emerging artists an opportunity to showcase their talents in front of New York audiences.”

AMT Theater stated, "The goal of theater artists should be not only to entertain but to enlighten. To educate. To inform. To stimulate. Abingdon Theatre Company does all of these things equally well, and what's more, they have been doing it for decades. AMT is so proud to partner up with this elite company once again and we look forward to having you join us for what we're sure will be another unforgettable experience.”