Ensemble Studio Theatre Announces Spring FIRST LIGHT FESTIVAL
The 2025 Spring line-up includes new works by Miz Hashimoto (The Bees Call Me Eva), Jacquelyn Reingold (Fear Less) and Vern Thiessen (Uncommon Scent).
By: A.A. Cristi Apr. 08, 2025
Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have announced the line-up for the Spring 2025 First Light Festival. Since 1998, the EST/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project has developed over 300 plays that challenge and broaden the view of science in the popular imagination.
Every year, the First Light Festival shares a first look at projects commissioned and currently in development under the EST/Sloan Project. The 2025 Spring line-up includes new works by Miz Hashimoto (The Bees Call Me Eva), Jacquelyn Reingold (Fear Less) and Vern Thiessen (Uncommon Scent).
All First Light Festival presentations are free and open to the public, except Fear Less which is invitation only. They will be held at Ensemble Studio Theatre (545 W. 52nd St., 2nd Floor). Reservations are required and can be made at www.ensemblestudotheatre.org/firstlight.
"The breadth of the plays in First Light this year is thrilling. They span multiple time periods and continents, range from broadly comic to intimately personal, and reveal unique aspects of how science shapes our lives. It's going to be a delight to see how the upcoming workshops evolve these fascinating plays," said Linsay Firman, Program Director of the EST/Sloan Project.
The Fall 2024 new works were by Thandiwe Mawungwa (How Power Flows), SEVAN (Miss Curie of the East) and Emily Chadick Weiss (SPRAY). In addition to this year’s readings, EST’s mainstage productions, Franklinland by Lloyd Suh and Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother? by Michael Walek, were presented by the EST/Sloan Project, rounding out a full season of plays about science & technology to celebrate the 25-year partnership between EST and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
SPRING 2025 FIRST LIGHT FESTIVAL:
Uncommon Scent by Vern Thiessen
Thursday, May 15 at 3:00 pm
Two perfumers battle each other to create a scent that will defeat the Nazis during WW2. Based on the lives of Jean Carles and Germaine Cellier.
Vern Thiessen is one of Canada’s most produced playwrights. His plays have been seen across Canada, the UK, United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, and been translated in five languages. His works include Of Human Bondage, Vimy, Einstein’s Gift, Lenin’s Embalmers, Pugwash, Apple, and Shakespeare’s Will. He has been produced off-Broadway five times. Vern is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Dora and Sterling awards for Outstanding New Play, The Carol Bolt Award, the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award, the City of Edmonton Arts Achievement Award, the University of Alberta Alumni Award of Excellence, The Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition, and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama, Canada’s highest honour for a playwright. He was also a finalist for the Siminovich Prize in Playwriting. Vern received his B.A. from the University of Winnipeg and an M.F.A. from the University of Alberta. He has served as president of both the Playwrights Guild of Canada and the Writers Guild of Alberta. For six years he served as Artistic Director of Workshop West Playwrights Theatre, one of Canada’s leading new play companies.
The Bees Call Me Eva by Miz Hashimoto
Thursday, June 5 at 3:00 pm
Oslo, 1944. Bee scientist Astrid sits in the office of Nazi officer Josef Terboven with one objective: to gain access to a restricted military area in the name of entomology.
Miz Hashimoto (Miz/they/she) is a British Japanese playwright and alumnus of EST/Youngblood. Miz has a degree in Human, Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge and a background in stand-up comedy. Miz’s first full-length play, Small Empires, was written during the pandemic; Miz’s second play, This Is Not a Noh Play, was chosen as a 2023 Eugene O’Neill NPC Finalist.
Fear Less by Jacquelyn Reingold
Invitation Only
Fear Less looks at the long-term role of fear in two very different women's lives.
Jacquelyn Reingold is a playwright, TV writer, teacher, and advocate. Her plays have been seen in New York at EST, MCC, Naked Angels; at Actors Theater Louisville, Portland Center Stage, PlayLabs Minneapolis; at other theaters across the country; and in London, Dublin, Berlin, Belgrade, and Lima. Her play Kiss Me Somewhere Else recently had a reading at the Tent Theater. Her play A Story About a Girl just had a workshop/reading at the Axial Theater. Honors include: a 2023 Lilly Award as a playwright and advocate, the Kennedy Center’s Fund for New American Plays, EST/Sloan Foundation Commissions, MacDowell, Yaddo and Hermitage Artists Retreat residencies, Susan Smith Blackburn finalist. She’s published in several Best American Short Plays, and by DPS, French, Smith & Kraus, a collection of her one-acts from DPS is called Things Between Us. Several of her short plays have been recorded for “Playing on Air”. TV writing includes “The Good Fight”, “Grace and Frankie”, and all the “Mia” episodes for Emmy-nominated Gabriel Byrne and Hope Davis in “In Treatment”. Jacquelyn is a member of EST, The Tent Theater, an alum of New Dramatists, and a founding member of Honor Roll! She and playwright Cheryl Davis are on a campaign to meet with all of New York’s theaters to advocate for women+ playwrights over 50. Jackie is also a volunteer mentor for Young Playwrights Ukraine.
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