Full Schedule Announced For The 11th Annual At First Sight New Play Festival

IU Theatre & Dance will present new works from our graduate and undergraduate playwrights in the upcoming 11th annual At First Sight New Play Festival. This year's festival will feature two productions of new plays in repertoire by third year MFA playwright Annalise Cain and second year MFA playwright David Davila. The festival will also showcase several panels with esteemed guests, and Undergrad Shorts, an evening of short plays written by undergraduate playwrights.

Annalise Cain's Why Liliya Why, which serves as her thesis, is a fantastical meditation on what it means to have a family, a body and the attendant responsibilities to both. After a great fall, Liliya removes her heart from her chest. She journeys back to a former home with every intention of ending her life, but she's seduced by the familiarity of a tower that was once hers. While the quiet rest she seeks evades her, Liliya discovers the power and implications of just how much space she can create within herself. Marrying the music of words with the art of movement, Why Liliya Why is a composition of the heart and its absence. The production is directed by second year MFA directing candidate Lauren Diesch with lighting design by Nicholas Gwin, sound design by Bri Stoneburner, costume design by Nicole Hiemenz, and scenic design by Valeriya Nedviga.

In David Davila's 1970's College Sex Comedy, a derivative farcical flop, it's 1978 in small town South Texas and twenty year old Freddy just dropped acid to hype himself up to make whoopie with the hot chick sitting in his dorm room and prove to himself and everyone else that he indeed likes hot chicks. He does not; he's actually madly in love with his hunky roommate Greg. Luckily for him, his drug induced Elton John sex fantasy has come to life to help him plot the perfect scheme to get rid of this girl and bed Greg. Get ready for a door-slamming-disco-fantasia you won't soon forget! This production is directed by MFA directing candidate Daniel Sappington with lighting design by Mads West, costume design by Brittany Staudacher, sound design by Izabella Brown-Sparks, scenic design by Chyna Mayer, and dramaturgy by Lexi Silva.

Undergrad Shorts, is a presentation of outstanding short plays by undergraduate playwrights. This year's presentation includes new works by Soonhyuk Choi, Paully Crumpacker, Saul Davidson, River Epperson, Eleanor Kirchner, Amia Korman, Polina Saburova, Allie Turner, and Aleasia Weir. The evening is produced by undergraduate Amia Korman, with direction by Korman, Gracie Harrison, Elizabeth Kasper, and Hannah Kulawiak.

The festival also includes a myriad of panels, workshops, and roundtables featuring award-winning playwright Migdalia Cruz, Kate Galvin (Constellation Stage & Screen), Ronan Marra (Storefront Theatre of Indianapolis), Dr. Takeo Rivera (Boston University), Chris Saunders (American Lives Theatre), plus the Katie Bigge Kestner Festival Guest Artists: Martine Kei Green-Rogers (Dean, The Theatre School at DePaul University), Celise Kalke (Synchronicity Theatre), and Bradley Michalakis (Alley Theatre).

The At First Sight New Play Festival Schedule:

Designers on Display, an exhibition - March 3-10 (in the Lee Norvelle Art Gallery)
Why Liliya Why - March 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 at 7:30pm (in the Wells-Metz Theatre)
Undergrad Shorts - March 4 at 10:00pm (in the Lecture Hall)
Multicultural Writer's Room, a playwriting workshop - March 6 at 4pm (in the Lee Norvelle Art Gallery)
Asianness, Theatre, and Justice, a conversation with Dr. Takeo Rivera - March 7 at 12pm (in the Aquarium, A300)
New Play Making in Indiana: a community roundtable - March 7 at 5pm (in the Lee Norvelle Art Gallery)
One Minute Play Booths - March 7 at 6:30pm (in the R. Keith and Marrion Michael Lobby)
1970's College Sex Comedy, a derivative farcical flop - March 7-10 at 7:30pm (in the Studio Theatre)
The At First Sight New Plays in Context with Migdalia Cruz - March 8 at 5pm (in the Aquarium, A300)
Best Practices in New Play Development with the Katie Bigge Kestner Festival Guest Artists - March 10 at 12pm (in A152)
When is a Play Ready? Closing roundtable with the Katie Bigge Kestner Festival Guest Artists - March 11 at 11am (in the Aquarium, A300)

All events take place at the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center, 275 N Eagleson Avenue. Visit the IU Box Office for Tickets. Why Liliya Why and 1970's College Sex Comedy: Regular admission is $20 for adults, $10 for students. Other festival activities, including Undergrad Shorts, are free of charge.

To contact the box office, call 812.855.1103 or email theatre.indiana.edu.