Arena Stage to Present 2026 Voices of Now Festival This April
The free April 25 festival features original student performances, talkbacks, and expanded youth leadership both onstage and behind the scenes.
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Arena Stage will present its annual Voices of Now Festival, a day-long celebration of youth-devised theater featuring four ensembles of middle and high school artists from across the DC region. Developed through longstanding partnerships with DC Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, and the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing, the anticipated program includes performances and post-show talkbacks that invite audiences to engage directly with the work on stage. This year’s festival will be held on Saturday, April 25, 2026, at 1PM. Admission is free, but seating for performances is limited.
New this year, the festival will be hosted by a teen emcee from Fairfax County’s Johnson Middle School, expanding youth leadership beyond performance and into the full festival experience. As emcee, they will guide the day—introducing each ensemble, connecting performances, and keeping the overall event tempo.
Also new, the 2026 cohort of Arena Stage’s beloved Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship program played a central role in planning and producing this year’s festival. Fellows contributed across production, marketing, social media, hospitality, outreach, development, and event management. As a shared project for all Fellows during their tenure, the Voices of Now Festival offers hands-on professional training, giving emerging artists and arts administrators meaningful experience supporting a major event.
Participating 2026 Voices of Now ensembles include Robinson Secondary School and Holmes Middle School in Fairfax County, Jefferson Middle School in DC, and the Wendt Center Teen Grief Ensemble. Drawing from lived experiences, each group presents original work rooted in questions the artists raise about identity, community, and personal experience. For more information and to reserve tickets, visit arenastage.org/voicesofnow.
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