Eliya Smith's DAD DON’T READ THIS to Premiere at St. Luke's Theatre

Following the breakout success of her Off-Broadway debut Grief Camp, playwright Eliya Smith will bring audiences deeper into the lives of teenagers with the world premiere of Dad Don’t Read This. Directed by Chloe Claudel, this new play, a co-production of Try For Baby Productions and The Goat Exchange, features performances by Drama Desk winner Amalia Yoo (John Proctor is the Villain), Renée-Nicole Powell (Grief Camp), Sophie Rossman, and Kayta Thomas. This strictly limited engagement will run May 4 – 24, 2026, at St. Luke’s Theatre. 

In suburban Central Ohio, four girls meet weekly for a sleepover. They talk and sleep and play The Sims, a computer game that simulates real life, on a laptop. They gossip, snack, and attempt to get drunk. They strive to fulfill their needs, struggle to understand the relationship between doing and being seen, and begin to suspect they don't have a whole lot of agency.

Wait, nevermind; that’s The Sims. Dad Don’t Read This is about the people who know you before you know anything.

Following years of collaboration with the experimental ensemble The Goat Exchange, Eliya Smith made her off-broadway debut in 2025 with Grief Camp at Atlantic Theater in a production directed by Les Waters. It signaled “the first major production of the talented Smith. An elliptical and episodic vibe of dramedy,” noted David Cote in The Observer. “A haunting, humane new play. Grief Camp offers plenty of room for humor and for touching insights,” noted Juan A. Ramirez in Theatrely. “This is one of the strongest shows of the off-Broadway season,” raved John Soltes in Hollywood Soapbox. “If you’re a fan of Annie Baker – then meet a compelling new voice carrying that torch: Eliya Smith,” declared Gregory Fletcher in Stage and Cinema.

The creative team for Dad Don’t Read This includes Forest Entsminger (scenic & props design), Dante Gonzalez (costume design), Abigail Sage (lighting design), Mitchell Polonsky (sound design), Lena Engelstein (choreography), Mya Piccione (production stage manager), and Madeline Riddick-Seals (assistant stage manager).