2017 Wagner New Play Festival to Open Next Month at UC San Diego

The Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of California San Diego announces the line-up of its 2017 Wagner New Play Festival. The shows run May 9-20, with specific performance dates and times for each play available on the department website.

All performances are at the Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre and the Potiker Theatre in the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Theatre District on UC San Diego's campus: 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA. Tickets are $20 for regular performances. Student tickets are $10 for regular performances. Subscriptions and group rates are available, as well as faculty, staff, alumni and senior discounts.

The Wagner New Play Festival features world-premiere productions written by the talented MFA playwrights and directed, acted, stage-managed and designed by the nationally acclaimed MFA companies. The plays represent some of the most original and groundbreaking new voices in American theatre. This year's selection of plays include "Strange Men" by Will Snider, "Birds of North America" by Anna Moench, "(w)holeness" by Lily Padilla, "Baby Teeth" by Ava Geyer, and "Are You There?" by Steph Del Rosso.

Previous Wagner New Play Festival (WNPF) plays have gone on to be produced regionally. Jeff Augustin's WNPF plays CRY OLD KINGDOM was produced at Humana and LITTLE CHILDREN DREAM OF GOD was produced at Roundabout Underground. Lauren Yee's WNPF play IN A WORD received the Francesca Primus Award this year. Kristin Idaszak's play SECOND SKIN won the Paula Vogel and Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Awards administered by the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. Will Sniders play HOW TO USE A KNIFE has been produced nationally as part of the National New Plays Network rolling premiere initiative.

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STRANGE MEN

Haamid lives a modest life running a restaurant in a small market town in Uganda. A member of the minority Indian population, he is estranged from his family for reasons he prefers not to discuss. At night he cooks elaborate dinners that he eats alone. When an openly gay Peace Corps volunteer comes to town looking for more than a good meal, Haamid's comfortable routine is broken, and his life is put in danger. STRANGE MEN explores the limits of good intentions and the uneven stakes for Americans living abroad and the people whose lives they touch. The creative team includes Will Snider (Playwright), Will Detlefsen (Director), Anna Robinson (Scenic Designer), Evan Kwong (Costume Designer), Joel Britt (Lighting Designer), Carren Wang (Sound Designer), and Tyler Larson (Production Stage Manager). The cast features Deleon Dallas (Michael), Yonatan Gebeyehu (Haamid) and Kyle Hester (Peter).

BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA

John and his daughter Caitlyn are birders. As they scan the skies over their backyard in suburban Maryland looking for elusive birds, years go by. Relationships begin and end. Children grow up and parents age. The climate and the world change in small and vast ways. BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA takes a close look at the relationship of a father and daughter over the course of a decade as they struggle to understand the parts of one another that defy understanding. The creative team features Anna Moench (Playwright), Jennifer Chang (Director), Samantha Rojales (Scenic Designer), Junior Bergman (Costume Designer), Minjoo Kim (Lighting Designer), and Willie Mae Michiels (Production Stage Manager). The cast features Claire Roberson (Caitlyn) and Mike Sears* (John).

(w)holeness

The support group for sex addicts meets every Monday in the little seaside town of Pescadero, California. But where is Dr. Jurgensen, the therapist who's supposed to lead the group? And is Dr. Jurgensen's earnest intern who's left to lead the group in over her head? When Matt shows up, any illusion of a "safe space" shatters and the group must confront difficult truths and unexpected points of connection in a comedy about addiction, identity and sex. (w)holeness asks the question: "Am I too damaged to be loved?" The creative team features Lily Padilla (Playwright), Dylan Key (Director), Anna Robinson (Scenic Designer), Annie Le (Costume Designer), Joel Britt (Lighting Designer), and Bryan Runion (Production Stage Manager). The cast includes Janet Fiki (Faith), Nicole Javier (Ruth), Max Singer (Jace), Brandon O'Sullivan (Matt), and Danielle Wineman (Veena).

BABY TEETH

Elise needs a personal assistant. And a little assurance from her husband Rod that her marriage isn't falling apart. Rod just needs a quiet moment alone to get his head together and get the stranger in paint splattered jeans quietly out the door. Everybody needs to get that painting off the wall. BABY TEETH looks at what happens when who we think we are and what we think we want collide with our unexpressed appetites and desires. The creative team includes Ava Geyer (Playwright), Jon Reimer (Director), Yi-Chien Lee (Scenic Designer), I Teng Sou (Sound Designer), Plato Seto (Production Stage Manager), Savannah Stern (Assistant Stage Manager), and Madeline Steinhoff (Production Assistant). The cast includes Hannah Finn (Elise), Sidney Hill (Rod), and Enrico Nassi (Dave).

ARE YOU THERE?

June and Adam are in love. June and Adam are ambitious. June and Adam just landed their dream jobs-on opposite sides of the country. But these days, communication has never been easier. Right? As technology-and the world-transforms at alarming speed, so too do June and Adam's hopes, fears and desires. From post-it notes to holograms, ARE YOU THERE? asks can you ever really know another person? And what happens between two people over time and space? The creative team includes Steph Del Rosso (Playwright), Zora Howard (Director), Yi-Chien Lee (Scenic Designer), I Teng Sou (Sound Designer), and Bryan P. Clements (Production Stage Manager). The cast includes Kimberly Monks (June), and Allyn Moriyon (Adam).

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The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance's MFA program-along with the UC San Diego Creative Writing and Visual Arts MFA programs-are listed #6 on College Choice's recent 2017 Rankings of the Best MFA Programs.