Ars Nova Announces Lineup For 15th Annual ANT Fest

Ars Nova, under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Jason Eagan and Producing Executive Director Renee Blinkwolt, has announced the lineup for its 15th Annual ANT Fest featuring 13 shows, 12 of which will premiere in-person and on Ars Nova Supra with one exclusively premiering on Ars Nova Supra. Running June 12–24, 2023, this festival of all new talent showcases new work from New York's most adventurous emerging artists. Tickets go on sale today for this “annual jamboree of new plays, comedy, music, and oddities” (The New Yorker). A complete lineup follows and can be found at arsnovanyc.com/ant-fest-2023.

Now in its fifteenth year, ANT Fest offers a wide range of early career artists a point of entry onto the Ars Nova stage and into the greater New York City arts community. Since its inception, ANT Fest has increasingly provided a crucial first step toward an extended artistic relationship with Ars Nova. Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future began as a one-man song cycle, created and performed by Andrew R. Butler, in ANT Fest 2010. Following subsequent concerts and workshops, the 2018 Ars Nova world premiere went on to win the 2019 Lortel Award-winner for “Outstanding Musical.” The “in-all-ways sensational” (New York Times) Underground Railroad Game, created and performed by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard, was first seen in New York in ANT Fest 2014. Following its 2016 Off Broadway premiere, the Ars Nova production went on to win an OBIE for “Best New American Play,” tour internationally, and be heralded as “one of the 25 best new American plays in the past 25 years” by The New York Times.

Notable ANT Fest alumni also include Michael Breslin & Patrick Foley, Shayok Misha Chowdhury, nicHi douglas, Deepali Gupta, Ryan Haddad, Jeremy O. Harris, Raja Feather Kelly, Jo Lampert, Joél Pérez, Matt Rogers & Bowen Yang, Charly Evon Simpson, Whitney White, Dustin Wills, and Ellen Winter, among others.

As part of its 20th Anniversary Season, Ars Nova introduced the What's Ars Is Yours: Name Your Price ticket initiative. Audiences are able to name their price for tickets to in-person performances, which start at $5, with 100% of the ticket revenue going directly to the artists. All ANT Fest shows will also be available to stream live and on-demand on Supra, Ars Nova's streaming platform, for $15 a month. Performances take place at Ars Nova, located at 511 West 54th Street in Manhattan. Please visit arsnovanyc.com for more information.

ANT Fest 2023 Lineup
 

June 12 at 7PM
JUWAN

From JUWAN

Genderless, genreless, and groovy, JUWAN is an artist that shows us how limitless music can be. JUWAN has had a thrilling career since graduating in 2016 from the Hartt School of Music. With Broadway, Netflix and several cast recordings under their belt, JUWAN is excited to share their music with the world. In 2019, JUWAN debuted Becoming, an EP of original music at City Winery, followed by a concert at National Sawdust as a part of the Revolution Series. With their second EP moments away, JUWAN is diving fully into their life as a solo artist!

 

June 12 at 8:30PM (Ars Nova Supra Exclusive)

I'm Fine Though

From SMJ, Natalie Myrick & Next Stop Creatives

Meet Rae, a content factory. They go live online again after yet another day of writing, producing, recording, and creating content in the pursuit of fame. Dealing with institutional trauma, body image issues, and rejection after rejection, this cycle continues day after day. Armed with a camera, a timer, an audience, an instrument, and their “Other Person,” Rae gives themselves 60 minutes to decide whether to give up on… creating or not. I'm Fine Though explores our mental health when we are alone & online and how we interact with an audience, our mind, our body, and our own creations.

 

June 13 at 7PM

¿baby blue?

From Gian Perez, Pedro Hernandez & Cameron King
¿baby blue? is the story of an intergalactic war criminal sent to exterminate a poisonous planet in a neighboring galaxy. Told entirely through music using Gian Perez's first album Baby Blue and his hip-hop project Seymour Strange (¿?), this piece is a multimedia concert experience fusing concert, theater, performance art, and live music video to create a new form.

 

June 14 at 7PM

Damages

From Taylor Steele & Hillary Fisher

When the reparations checks that three Black sisters received from the government disappear thanks to a hacker, each of the sisters' secrets begin to unravel as they attempt to get their money back.

June 15 at 7PM

Penguin Sex With Mr. Morgan

From Dhari Noel, Andrew Watring, Ayla Taffel & Emmie Finckel

A burlesque apocalypse in three parts. As the ice melts melts melts, Baby, a punk rock Penguin, leads a revolt. And the clothes can't help but fall off. But wait, Morgan Freeman's voice looms, telling us what to do, what not to do, what we must do, what do we want him to do, this Body-Named-Black. Ice melts melts melts. Another layer peels to the ground. It's so cold that it's fiery hot. Twenty minutes left: and wait, there's more… but I thought you said this was a burlesque? Ice melt melt melt. A striptease down to our raw parts.

June 16 at 7PM

Thank You Ryan for a Clean Microwave

From James Caverly & Andrew Morrill

Three Deaf baristas, Otis, Thomas, and Marianna, who have discovered that the nefariously filthy microwave in the storage room has suddenly been suspiciously wiped clean overnight. The only remaining clue is the conspicuous note inside with the inscription “Fuck off Ryan.”

Led and created by Deaf artists, this show will be primarily performed in American Sign Language, with captioning available for non-signing audience members.

June 19 at 7PM

To All the Black Girls Who've Waited

From Hope R. Ward & Squeaky Wheelz Productions

To All the Black Girls Who've Waited is a choreopoem performed through language, music, and movement. This selection of poetry is a celebratory love letter and healing space for the Black experience. To All the Black Girls Who've Waited tackles the complexities of Black Womanhood, Black Love, Black Joy, and Black Humanity.
 

June 20 at 7PM

Lottie and the Deep Blue Sea

From Beth Golison, Cami Pileggi, Kyle Brenn & Haley Fragan

Lottie and the Deep Blue Sea is a new folk-rock musical in concert about finding a little Queer utopia in a hostile world. Drinking, dancing, treasure-hunting, and historically accurate gay pirate marriages converge in this piece brimming with love, life, and fear of the oncoming storm.

 

June 21 at 7PM

2 ROSSES

From WeAreMarried

2 ROSSES is ten seasons of Friends meets Taskmaster meets ESPN, as only the clowns of WeAreMarried can deliver. Using a decade's worth of elaborate Ross Geller choreography and text as our guide, we invite you into an uncanny valley that is part replica piece, part game show, and part live athletic event. Settle in for an unsettlingly familiar fever dream of masculinity, nostalgia, internalized homophobia, and self-help culture that invites us to face our own Ross-ian fears: needles, lesbian exes, and, above all, ourselves.

 

June 22 at 7PM

CUM

From Soojeong Son, Tallie Medel & Joanna Simmons

Soojeong, the perfectionist clown tries really hard at everything she does including sometimes sex stuff. Then one day a consent issue arises with her date and it gets confusing. But have no fear! Our hero makes the best of it using cute rationalization skills she developed as a 90's liquid rave kid. Soojeong's joyful clown and dance show asks the complex question: what is cum?

 

June 22 at 9PM

SHOWGASM: ANT FEST Edition

Hosted by George Civeris

Ars Nova's untamed monthly variety-show-meets-party is guest-hosted by one of our favorite comedians, George Civeris, and features a who's-who of the weird and wonderful — performing comedy to burlesque and everything (and anything) in between.

 

June 23 at 7PM

Boy Crazy

From Amanda Card & Bee Hall

Boy Crazy is an autobiographical solo puppet show that uses shadow puppetry, toy theater, glow sticks, and a live feed camera to animate the Adventures of a Queer Engaged Divorced Ex-Evangelical Widow. Getting married at 22 is not so weird when you're an evangelical from Tennessee. Getting divorced at 26, re-engaged at 29, widowed at 30, re-engaged at 32, and then realizing that you're queer at 35? Not! Not as much.
 

June 24 at 7PM

Hartwell Church of God: The Musical - The Search for the Next Divine Pastor

From Ben Langhorst & Charlotte Murray

ATTN: Congregants of the Hartwell Church of God - Pastor Wyatt Greer is dead. There will be no funeral (no cheese plates or cookie cakes with his face made out of icing). In order to save our souls and defend ourselves against the evils of the homosexual agenda…we're having a competition! With no clear successor, we're holding a good old-fashioned battle of wills to determine who will be the next pastor of the Hartwell Church of God. All male members of the congregation are encouraged to apply (if you're a woman and even considering applying, this church has failed you).

About Ars Nova

Ars Nova exists to discover, develop, and launch singular theater, music and comedy artists in the early stages of their professional careers. Our dynamic slate of programs supports outside-the-box thinking and encourages innovative, genre-bending new work. Dubbed by The New York Times as a “fertile incubator of offbeat theater,” Ars Nova blurs genres and subverts the status quo. With our feverish bounty of programming, we are the stomping ground and launching pad for visionary, adventurous artists of all stripes. By providing a protective environment where risk-taking and collaboration are paramount, Ars Nova amplifies the voices of a new generation of diverse artists and audiences, pushing the boundaries of live entertainment by nurturing creative ideas into smart, surprising new work.

Ars Nova has been honored with an Obie Award and a Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics' Circle for sustained quality and commitment to the development and production of new work. Notable past productions include: three-time Lortel Award-winner Oratorio for Living Things by Heather Christian, directed by Lee Sunday Evans; “Outstanding Musical” Lortel Award-winner and The New York Times' “Best of 2018,” Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future, created by Andrew R. Butler, directed by Jordan Fein; The Lucky Ones, created by The Bengsons and Sarah Gancher, directed by Anne Kauffman; “Outstanding Musical” Lortel Award-winner KPOP, created by Jason Kim, Max Vernon, Helen Park, and Woodshed Collective, directed by Teddy Bergman; “Best New American Theatre Work,” Obie Award-winner and “one of the best new plays in the last 25 years” (The New York Times), Underground Railroad Game by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard, directed by Taibi Magar ; The New York Times' and New York Post's “Best of 2015,” Small Mouth Sounds by Bess Wohl, directed by Rachel Chavkin; the Tony Award-winning smash-hit Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy, directed by Rachel Chavkin; the world premiere of the 2009 season's most-produced play boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, directed by Alex Timbers; the show that put Bridget Everett on the map, At Least It's Pink by Everett, Michael Patrick King, and Kenny Mellman, directed by King; and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail's first New York production, Freestyle Love Supreme by Anthony Veneziale and Miranda, directed by Thomas Kail (Broadway 2019).

Please visit arsnovanyc.com to learn more.