Live & In Color Names 2026 June Bingham New Playwright Commission Recipient
The organization will develop new works by Sitara Effat Ahangari and Shyama Iyer during its annual retreat.
Live & In Color has announced that playwright and narrative game designer Sitara Effat Ahangari is the recipient of the 2026 June Bingham New Playwright Commission.
The organization also revealed that Shyama Iyer’s new musical The Sound of An Anklet has been selected for development during this year’s annual retreat.
The June Bingham New Playwright Commission supports early-career women, femme, and non-binary storytellers creating socially engaged new work. The program is led by Abigail Grubb alongside Live & In Color Artistic Director Devanand Janki. Following a national application process and multiple rounds of review, finalists included Kira Rockwell, Chandra Thomas, Scottie Harvey, and Ahangari.
Ahangari’s commissioned play, Dar Tarjameh [In Translation], centers on Tarjeh, a character caught between Farsi and English language and identity. The two-person work explores communication, translation, and cultural disconnection through exchanges between Tarjeh and an onstage Translator. The play will be developed over the coming months and culminate in a staged reading during Live & In Color’s annual retreat in Salem, Connecticut.
Ahangari is a Connecticut College graduate whose recent work includes Human + Robot and Necrosis Theater: A Role-Playing Game, both presented at the Theatermakers of Today Fringe Festival.
The organization also announced development plans for Iyer’s new musical The Sound of An Anklet. The musical follows Kanika Rajan, an Indian dancer and legal assistant in New York City whose life becomes intertwined with the Tamil epic Silappatikāram as she navigates marriage, identity, and betrayal.
Iyer, an Indian-American writer, composer, choreographer, and recent graduate of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, creates work blending Carnatic music, Bharatanatyam, and contemporary musical theatre traditions. Her previous projects include A Game of Dice and The Rasa Jar.
Founded by Janki, Live & In Color develops new plays and musicals focused on underrepresented voices, multicultural collaboration, and non-traditional casting. Its annual retreat takes place at the historic Bingham Camp in Salem, Connecticut.
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