Ensemble Studio Theatre And Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Announce 2025–26 New Play Commissions And Regional Grants

Ensemble Studio Theatre (Estefanía Fadul and Graeme Gillis, Co-Artistic Directors) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director) have announced the 2025–26 Science & Technology Project New Play Commissions, along with this year’s Regional Development and Production Grants to Lantern Theater Company, Media Art Xploration, Miners Alley Playhouse, Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre, and Seattle Rep.

For more than 25 years, the EST/Sloan Project has developed over 300 plays that broaden the view of science in the popular imagination. Applications for the next round of commissions open September 15 and run through November 5 at estnyc.org.

An EST/Sloan Artist Cultivation Event will also take place virtually on Tuesday, September 30 at 8:00 p.m. EST. This panel will feature scientists Dr. Heather Berlin and Dr. Evelynn Hammonds, and playwrights Jake Brasch and Carla Ching in a conversation on science, storytelling, and playwriting. Reservations are required.

2025–26 EST/Sloan New Play Commissions

• Room 407 by Lily Akerman – A play about a group of math teachers at a math-science high school.

• IO by Milo Cramer – A romantic comedy about NASA and the U.S. poet laureate.

• I Believe in the Night by Annalisa Dias – A multidisciplinary work exploring humanity’s relationship with cosmic darkness.

• i dream of feminist science by Cori Diaz – A group of college girls form a lesbian computer science club in the riot grrrl era.

• A Parguera Story by Nelson Diaz-Marcano – A Puerto Rican family confronts legacy and innovation in a dying bioluminescent bay.

• Otter Delight (Working Title) by Michael Feldman – A children’s TV couple returns with a conservation program about sea otters.

• RADIO / QUIET by Amanda Keating – In Appalachia, who owns the sky when a massive radio telescope listens for signals from deep space?

• The Great Vaccine Revolt of 1904! by Fernando Buzhar Segall – A farce based on Rio de Janeiro’s historic vaccine uprising.

• Haute Plate by Ethan Venzon – Two sisters reimagine their family’s Filipino restaurant with molecular gastronomy.

• Paper Son by Marcus Yi – A Chinatown family clashes over tradition and modernity while preparing for the Hungry Ghost Festival.

2025–26 Regional Development and Production Grants

• Making Waves by Dr. Heather Beasley with Miners Alley Playhouse – Can sitcom comedy save the planet from climate change?

• Fission by Cindy Lou Johnson with Seattle Rep – The fractured partnership of physicist Lise Meitner and chemist Otto Hahn.

• The Rocket Men by Crystal Skillman with Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre – A cast of seven women explores the Nazi scientists behind NASA’s space program.

• Franklinland by Lloyd Suh with Lantern Theater Company – Father and son Benjamin and William Franklin face a revolutionary rift.

• Have a Great Night! by Peter Mills Weiss and Julia Mounsey with Media Art Xploration – Stand-up comedy meets propaganda science in a collaborative performance.

Sarasota Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. CABARET (The Sarasota Players)

23.4% of votes

2. SYNCOPATED AVENUE (Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe)

21.6% of votes

3. CHORUS LINE (Ovation Theatre Inc.)

12% of votes

Vote Now!