and thou shalt be healed at American Blues Theater

American Blues Theater presents the 2026 Blue Ink Playwriting Festival in August, featuring staged readings of new works by playwright Nia Akilah Robinson, the 2026 Blue Ink Award winner, along with finalists Benjamin Benne and Claire Crowley. Robinson's winning play, Overnight at the Museum, follows two Black night security guards who steal Ghanaian artifacts from a gentrified American neighborhood in a race to return them before the opening of a "Neo-African Museum." Benne's and thou shalt be healed and Crowley's The Scouts of America Don't Sell Cookies, B*tch round out the festival. The Blue Ink Award, established in 2010, supports original, unpublished plays and has distributed nearly $15,000 annually in cash prizes and development support to artists across the country.