Photos: CLASS C Makes World Premiere at Azuka Theatre

Azuka Theatre and Simpatico Theatre are presenting the world premiere of Class C, a gripping new play by Chaz T. Martin and directed by Rebecca Wright. Check out photos below!

Running now through May 24, 2026 at the Louis Bluver Theatre at The Drake, this suspenseful production is part of Simpatico Theatre and Azuka Theatre’s landmark partnership. In a concurrent leadership evolution, Simpatico’s longtime Artistic Director, Allison Heishman has assumed the Artistic Director role for both companies. This bold new venture brings together two companies known for championing emerging voices, risk-taking storytelling, and deep-rooted community engagement. Class C was a semifinalist for the prestigious Eugene O'Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference. 

“With Class C, Chaz has crafted a pulse-pounding theatrical experience that feels both speculative and urgently of the moment,” said Heishman. “This play asks us to examine how systems of power shape our identities and relationships, and what it costs to resist them. It’s exactly the kind of bold, socially resonant storytelling that we need right now.”

Agent Bliss needs to get to Canada, away from an America that no longer recognizes him as a citizen or even a human being due to his fertility status. After driving for nearly 24 hours straight, he's arrived at his destination: a trailer in the woods where a certain "Mr. Warren" lives and runs an illicit car repair service. But of course Bliss knows there's no Mr. Warren. The person who really fixes the cars is a woman named Allie, but since this is Bliss's first time on the run, he doesn't exactly know how to ask a criminal for help. Bliss’s attempts to convince Allie that he’s trustworthy enough to help only make her more suspicious of him, until a violent interruption and a most unwelcome visitor complicate what they know–or think they know–about each other. CLASS C is set in the woods not far from here, in a time not long from now.

The production features Amanda Schoonover as Allie, David Pica as Agent Bliss, AZ Espinoza as Warren, and Ciera Gardner as Hen.

Pay What You Decide: Launched in 2016, Azuka Theatre was the first theater company in Philadelphia (and in the country as far as we can tell) to offer its entire season of productions as Pay What You Decide (PWYD): every production, every performance, everyone. Customers can make a no-cost reservation now, come see the show, and make a payment as they leave the theater.

Photo Credit: Johanna Austin/AustinArt.org