2023-24 Season

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Conceived and written by senior Chloe Satenberg, Not Your Buddyfollows four female counselors at a Jewish summer camp as they navigate their friendships and confront their history during the interstitial time between high school and college. Via monologues and dreamscapes, the play immerses audiences in the tormented mental state of protagonist Buddy—a 17-year-old counselor undergoing a crisis of identity. Open to public; advance tickets encouraged.

Bodywork is a new dark comedy, written and performed by Juliette Carbonnier '24 and directed by Sabina Jafri '24, about chronic pain, women's bodies, and the connection between physical and emotional health. Bodywork follows the story of Maia, a young woman who suffers from inexplicable chronic pain, who becomes a test patient for a radical new surgery that would switch out her current body for a healthy, “pain-free” body. Open to public; free tickets required.

This original Public Works adaptation of The Winter's Tale, with music and new lyrics by Todd Almond, was originally conceived and directed by Lear deBessonet based on the play by William Shakespeare. Directed at Princeton by faculty member Shariffa Ali, our musical, set in dystopian Sicilia and utopian Bohemia and inspired by Afrofuturism, centers community participation through a story of love, betrayal and redemption. Featuring Princeton student actors alongside a local community ensemble cast. Tickets required.

Grief Work is an original choreopoem conceived, written, and directed by Princeton senior Kenza Benazzouz, that asks: What is grief? Through poetic monologues, scenes, and movements, Grief Work examines how we experience loss throughout our lives. Free tickets encouraged in advance through University Ticketing.

In this new musical set in 19th-century Argentina, a young gaucho named Mateo struggles to break free from his family’s dying way of life to become a writer. As modernity takes shape, Mateo is torn between dichotomies: his family or the one he could create, his culture or the movements of the world, his duty or his dreams. Advance tickets suggested.

In the holly and jolly North Pole town of Christmastown, Mrs. Claus is in charge of making sure that Christmas operations run smoothly. Christmastown is a place where everything is perfect, and nobody ever wants to leave… until now. Mrs. Claus’s daughter Clara starts to dream about moving to California, and Christmastown is thrown upside down. With music inspired by carols, jazz, pop, and more, "Christmastown" is about family, friends, love, and the true meaning of Christmas. Staged reading of this new musical with book, music, and lyrics by Princeton senior Sydney Hwang. Free tickets required.

This partly immersive new play explores Black women and femmes’ relationships with different types of love, based on interviews with Black women within their circle of family, friends and acquaintances. The audience begins this journey together in a hospital room and then moves in smaller groups through a vignette of scenes, some of which encourage voluntary participation by the audience. Free tickets required.

Sandra Chen '24 presents a staged reading of her new English translation of Nick Rongjun Yu’s (喻荣军 ) contemporary play, House Guest (家客), in which a man suddenly returns after a 40-year disappearance and becomes a guest in the house of his past wife and her new husband… at least in one timeline. This is a story that honors an elder generation of contemporary Chinese intellectuals, that interrogates individual fate and societal legacy, that contemplates how we are shaped by the choices we make. Directed by Icey Siyi Ai '25. Free tickets required.

Theater&...AI predicting a successful show features a presentation by Princeton senior Kira Kitzgerald entitled "Shaping the Stage: A Data-Driven Revolution in American Theater." Fitzgerald explores the intersection of big data, predictive modeling, and machine learning in the American theater industry. Open to University community.

This musical celebration will unite music theater storytelling, performance, composition, arranging, direction, and choreography while featuring the work and leadership of current Princeton students and alumni. The Playhouse Ensembles will be joined by several Broadway performers and musicians, including the viral, genre-bending Broadway ensemble Third Reprise. Free tickets required.

Rose, a demure dimestore sales girl who weaves a life of reveries and daydreams, invites Cliff, a hardworking, hard-drinking truck driver, into her small Philadelphia apartment. In William Mastrosimone’s delicate play, the two struggle with how much love requires giving and how much each of them would rather take. Featuring seniors Sarah Duntley & Jay White; directed by faculty member Elena Araoz. Tickets required.

"City Council Meeting" is a participatory work of theater created by lecturer Aaron Landsman that draws on events from real city council meetings in the Princeton area. This is senior Bethany Villaruz’s reflection on her involvement in the project as a student, stage manager, audience member, and now teaching assistant. Four years, four roles, and four City Council Meetings later, Villaruz speaks on what the project has taught her and what it aims to teach others. Open to University community.

She Loves Me is a classic Broadway rom-com that tells the story of 2 co-workers who are secretly writing to each other through A Lonely Hearts Club. An updated portrayal transforms this golden-age Broadway musical into a modern commentary on an increasingly online world. Purchase tickets through University Ticketing.

"The Rhythm that Frees Us: From Murdered Souls to Living Spirits" is an immersive experience where rhythm becomes a tangible force for liberation, identity, and unity for all participants. This choreopoem draws inspiration from vibrant cultural traditions of Cuba, Brazil, Panama and Puerto Rico, where music and dance become expressions of political resistance, identity navigation, and connection for afro-descendant peoples. Installation: March 25-29 @ 10 AM-6 PM. Performances: March 29 + 30 @ 7 PM; March 30 @ 3 PM.

This new one-act play, written and directed by Jessica Lopez '24, asks: Why do people need to die? Over two thousand years ago, Aeschylus grappled with this question in his two-part telling of the tragedy of Sisyphus. Unfortunately, those plays were all but entirely lost to time, leaving us to come up with our own answers. In this re-imagination of the classic myth, one man struggles against the inevitability of death. Sisyphus promised to make a difference in the world and is ready to throw hands with the gods to keep his word. Free tickets required.

Written by senior Ethan Luk, Flight of a Legless Bird follows the lives of queer artists Robin and Leslie from the 1980s to the 2000s. Fusing multiple languages, geographies, and temporalities, the play probes the fraught relationship between art-making and times of societal crisis. Talkback follows show on 4/6. Tickets required.

A project explaining why 1+1 does not in fact equal 2 by senior Cooper Kofron. It’s 1903. Bertrand, Alfred, Alys, and Evelyn have just moved into a house together. Bertrand and Alfred are trying to prove that 1+1 is actually 2. Alys and Evelyn are trying to figure out why they married their husbands in the first place. Both of these tasks will ultimately take 10 years. Based on a true story. A reading of a play-in-progress about math, faith, and unfaithfulness. Open to University community.

A reading of a new play by senior Aneekah Uddin. In Mukti and Meye-Hood, audiences will experience 3 generations of Bangladeshi heritage come to life in an interactive table reading. The work explores the profound impact of the Bangladeshi Liberation War on familial dynamics and also dives into themes of diaspora experiences within South Asian communities, the intersection of religion and culture, the nuances of womanhood, and forming one’s identity. Open to University community. No tickets required.

Mirirai’s childhood best friend, Chamai, returns home in 1976 from boarding school abroad, to find Domboshava much changed by the last few years of the Zimbabwean Liberation War. While hiding in the forest during a raid on the village, it becomes clear that Mirirai’s spiritual beliefs clash with Chamai’s newfound view of the world. When he disregards important traditions and disappears at a sacred water site, Mirirai has to rally the community to perform the correct rituals to appease the spirits and win him back. The show explores the effects of the demonization and erasure of traditional practice during colonial rule in Zimbabwe, along with themes of spirituality, community, first love and grief. Free tickets required through University Ticketing.