Orfeh, Arielle Jacobs and More to Star in New York Theatre Barn's New Works Series

The 19th season of New York Theatre Barn's award-winning New Works Series concludes on Monday, October 26, 2026, with excerpts from two original musicals centering women and gender-based violence: Miss Hysteria and Desaparecidas. Hosted by Claudia Mulet (Real Women Have Curves, On Your Feet!) and line producer Emy Ramos (Aguardiente at GALA Hispanic Theatre), the evening will also include a conversation with the writers. The series will be presented at 7:00 PM ET at the Five Angels Theater in NYC and is available for live streaming.

Inspired by true events, Miss Hysteria follows a young actress wrongfully committed to a 19th-century Paris asylum who strikes a dangerous deal with a driven neurologist, transforming his lectures on “female hysteria” into a worldwide phenomenon–and forcing her to reckon with the cost. With book and lyrics by Laura Schein (Emojiland, Mickey Saves Christmas) and Ben Zeadman (Honor Society, Mickey Saves Christmas), and music by Ben Zeadman, Miss Hysteria asks who gets to define madness, who profits from it, and who gets erased in the process. 

The presentation of Miss Hysteria is directed by Jen Wineman (Dog Man: The Musical, FIVE), with music direction by Alex "Goldie" Golden (Titaníque, SIX), and the cast features Arielle Jacobs (Here Lies Love, Between the Lines), Erin Morton (School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play), Orfeh (Pretty Woman, Legally Blonde), Kay Sibal (SIX), Emily Goglia (Hollywood Bowl's Jesus Christ Superstar, Reefer Madness revival), and Jamie Karen (Man of La Mancha).

With songs by husband-and-wife duo Florencia Cuenca (Real Women Have Curves, The Familia) and Jaime Lozano (Frida, El Otro Oz, The Familia), and a book by Georgina Escobar (The Vinyl Cafe Christmas Musical, Frida, Little Duende), Desaparecidas explores the strategic erasure of female voices in the fight to end gender-based violence and the disappearance of women and girls in Ciudad Juárez, México. From the missing, to the socially invisible, to the forgotten.