TO BE BORNED to Make World Premiere at Chain Theatre Summer Festival
Directed by Asta Trivedi, the play stars Paris Lee and Daniela Cusi in a puppetry-driven sci-fi drama.
Ahreumbi Rew's new one-act play, To Be Borned, will premiere July 21-25 as part of the 2026 Chain Theatre Summer One-Act Festival. Presented in Program 16, To Be Borned will be performed alongside Outerspace by Zoe Ray Prawda and The Replacement by Gabriella Arianna.
Set in a sweltering post-apocalypse, To Be Borned follows Willow, a scientist dying of tuberculosis, who builds Belize, a robotic replica of her daughter, in a desperate attempt to preserve their bond. Blending science fiction with intimate family drama, the 30-minute play explores motherhood, grief, identity, and what it means to create life at the end of the world.
The invented word "Borned" suggests that every being enters existence without consent, yet must spend a lifetime searching for purpose and belonging within it. The play ends as Willow's life fades and Belize softly asks, "Ma? What is your name?" A child rarely calls their mother by her name, for that is who she is: mother, origin, god. We, too, are all "borned"-thrust into a world without our choosing, bound to love, to lose, and to long for understanding before the night takes us all.
Directed by Asta Trivedi, the production stars Paris Lee as Willow, Daniela Cusi as Belize, and Sara Manos as the Violinist. The creative team also includes Production Manager Kennedy Chew, Stage Manager Julia Freitas-Gordon, Mask & Puppet Designer Signy Ackerman, and Costume Designer Nina Ganyard.
Featuring original puppetry and a live violin performance, To Be Borned expands the boundaries of science fiction theatre through a visually and musically immersive theatrical experience. The production is presented by Apokaliff, a creative collective dedicated to producing otherworldly work across dystopian fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror, myth, fairy tale, and apocalypse.
To Be Borned will be performed on July 21 at 6:30 p.m., July 23 at 6:30 p.m., and July 25 at 5:00 p.m. as part of Program 16, which runs approximately 70 minutes. Audiences can receive 20% off tickets using the discount code BORN26.
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