April Matthis, McKinley Belcher III and More to Star in STAGE LEFT PLAY FESTIVAL

Working Theater and Broadway Advocacy Coalition have revealed the full lineup, creative teams, community partners, and featured casting for the second annual Stage Left, the innovative new play festival where art meets activism. Hosted at Theatre Row, the festival returns June 12–14, 2026, with five new plays centering stories from the front lines of progressive movements.

Each production is paired with an advocacy organization working directly on the issues explored by the play, creating opportunities for audiences to move from reflection into action through post-show conversations, organizing, and community engagement. By bridging theater and social change, Stage Left transforms performance into a site of solidarity, dialogue, and resistance.

This year’s festival features:

HOW TO MELT ICE

June 12 at 7 PM
Written by Amalia Oliva Rojas
Directed by Autumn Angelettie
In partnership with Workers Justice Project

How to Melt Ice weaves together a tapestry of magical realism, Mexican mythology, and authentic immigrant experience in a highly stylized framework that explores the demands of familial love and the generational divide between “Dreamers” and those who carried them to the promised land.

Featuring:
Claudia Acosta (Man Cave)

Katherine Bahena-Benitez

NOVIOS

June 13 at 2 PM
Written by Arturo Luíz Soria
Directed by Danilo Gambini
In partnership with One Fair Wage

A motley band of cooks sling slurs, slap ass, and fritter away in the remains of a once-thriving kitchen. But when a flamboyant new dishwasher arrives and awakens the heart of the youngest amongst them, their jovial banter turns deadly, and they quickly find themselves in the sweltering heat of a spiritual reckoning. Novios will be presented in Spanish and English with closed captioning in English.

Featuring:
Zabryna Guevara (Gotham, Daredevil: Born Again)
Juan Francisco Villa (Blue Bloods)

#NEWSLAVES

June 13 at 7 PM
Written by Keelay Gipson
Directed by Dominique Rider
In partnership with Freedom Agenda

#NEWSLAVES is an epic fantasia on the commodification and criminalization of the Black Body in America through the lens of the NFL Draft and the prison system.

Featuring:
McKinley Belcher III (Ozark, Eric, Death of a Salesman)
Jason Veasey (A Strange Loop, Only Murders in the Building, American Gangster)

NARROWSBURG

June 14 at 2 PM
Written by Chad Kaydo
Directed by Colm Summers
In partnership with Undue Medical Debt

When Spencer goes to the Catskills to help his friends M and Richie reopen their restaurant in the summer of 2021, they spend late nights trash-talking customers while trying to avoid their deepest fears and regrets. Narrowsburg is a play about bitchy Yelp reviews, bears vs. otters, and keeping your friends alive.

Featuring:
Ryan Spahn (Gloria)
April Matthis (New Amsterdam)
Jesse Pennington (American Gun) 

SISYPHUS IN YAFFA

June 14 at 7 PM
Written by R. Forest Malley
Directed by Sivan Battat
In partnership with Theater Workers for a Ceasefire

Harvard professor Walid Elsady is invited to deliver a keynote address at a conference not too far from his hometown of Damascus in the ancient port city of Yaffa–or, as it is better known in 2021, Tel Aviv. In denial of the risks involved, he arrives at Ben Gurion Airport with his wife and star student in tow, only to find himself detained without explanation. As he waits in limbo, Walid begins questioning the stories he has told–to his colleagues, to his wife, to himself – and the compromises he has made to succeed in the West. 

Featuring:
Hadi Tabbal (English, The Brave)
Amandla Jahava (DMZ)