The Censorship of Dreams at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre

La MaMa presents a new drama reflecting our future reality in a restarted world, written by Nora Sørena Casey. After the mysterious Restart, people awaken without memories, living with strangers they’re told are their families. The Man and the Woman are one such couple: she strives for a happy marriage, he doubts the assurances that this Restart is “for everyone’s safety.” When she takes a job cataloguing problematic dreams at an official Post Office, he begins a dangerous and haphazard journey to rediscover forbidden words and images that might reveal what came before. As dreams become dangerous currency and language is slowly weaponized, their love is tested by a surveillance state, the failures of the past and the decision of what comes next.

Arthur Makaryan directs a cast of four, including Jes Dugger*, Chris Jaymes*, Kat Warnusz-Steckel and Bryce Michael Wood*. Twelve performances will be staged from May 1-17, 2026, at the Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa, 66 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003. *Member, Actors’ Equity Association.

“The Censorship of Dreams is a mirror tilted just a few degrees into our near future, asking whether our thirst for optimization and security is quietly rewriting what love, consent, and responsibility look like,” states director Arthur Makaryan. “We are already experimenting with brain-computer interfaces and living in a culture that treats our data, emotions, and attention as extractable resources. In this play, we’re sitting inside a capsule watching ordinary people trade away what makes them human.”

Performances for the Censorship of Dreams are Thursdays and Fridays at 7:00 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00 p.m., plus Monday, May 4 at 7:00 p.m. Opening night is Monday, May 4 at 7:00 p.m.

The runtime is 90 minutes with no intermission.