The Program in Theater & Music Theater is excited to announce the 2025-26 season, built by and for students pursuing a Minor in Theater & Music Theater. Rising seniors moved through a rigorous examination process toward research that is personally meaningful, skill building, and connected to the community and audiences. The result is a season of projects and productions that are wonderfully diverse and divergent, from nonlinear plays to performance lectures, from hip-hop-infused spoken word to original musicals, from design-driven productions to theater research at the intersection of physics, AI, accessibility, and more.
How to Live at the End of the World — Sept.
at the very bottom of a body of water — Oct.
A Moment of Silence by Mohammad Yaghoubi — Oct.
Graveyard Shift — Nov.
When Pages Breathe: American Black/Out — Dec.
No One is Forgotten — Feb.
What Art Reveals Beyond Factual Reporting — Feb.
Liminality — Feb.
Manual for a Desperate Crossing — Feb.
Princeton Playhouse Ensembles Concert — Feb.
Untitled Project by Tiffany Rawlston — Feb.
God Remembers Setsi by Nadine Allache — March
The Comeuppance by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ’06 — April
New Work by Grace Wang — April
Sound Design project by Kristen Tan — April
Show All History translated by Larissa Kyzer — April
Princeton Playhouse New Works Festival — May
Senior Independent Projects
2025-26 Productions
How to Live at the End of the World
Conceived and created by Orion Lopez-Ramirez ’26
Lighting Design by Didi Vekri ’27
Drapkin Studio
September 26 & 27 at 7:30 PM
September 28 at 2 PM
When the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse finally arrive, they make their entrance on a late night talk show. Cursed with their presence, the host must figure out what life becomes when everyone’s end is lurking just over his shoulder. How to Live at the End of the World is a performance lecture, discussing topics ranging from dimensions of power, engineered addictions, moral responsibility, and free will. Content Advisory: This play discusses heavy political and social concepts.
at the very bottom of a body of water
Written by Benjamin Benne
Scenic design by Annalise Schuck ’26
Sound design by Grace Wang ’26
Lighting design by Emily Yang ‘26
Directed by Elena Milliken ‘26
Wallace Theater
October 3 + 4 at 8 PM
October 5 at 2 PM
Marina is a single mother who spends her days going to the fish store to buy a catfish for soup, and her nights stitching petals on her daughter’s quinceañera dress. When Marina’s local fishmonger passes away and his son Hiroshi takes over the store, Marina and Hiroshi form an unexpected connection that may break them from their routines and help them face what haunts them. An everyday story with elements of magical realism, this is the first fully-staged production of Benjamin Benne’s lyrical play about loneliness, connection, grief, and fish. Content Advisory: This show contains adult language and themes, and deals with topics of grief and loss. Theatrical haze will be used during performances.
A Moment of Silence by Mohammad Yaghoubi
Written by Mohammad Yaghoubi
English translation by Yaghoubi and Torange Yeghiazarian
Directed by Nikoo Mamdoohi
Dramaturgy by Q-mars Haeri
Scenic design by Omid Akbari
Costume design by Afsaneh Aayani
Lighting design by Alex Picoult ’26
Berlind Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center
October 31, Nov. 1, 7 & 8 at 8 PM; Nov. 8 at 2 PM
A Moment of Silence is an award-winning play by celebrated Iranian playwright and director Mohammad Yaghoubi. Surreal, poetic, and unexpectedly humorous, the play offers a deeply human meditation on Iran’s turbulent modern history.
Shiva, the protagonist, wakes up to find she has been asleep for three years—only to realize she has missed the Islamic Revolution. Over the next decade, she continues to slip in and out of sleep, awakening each time to a drastically altered world: the war with Iraq, the murders of dissident artists, and upheavals within her own family. Layered with absurdity and poignancy, the play also follows the increasingly perilous journey of the playwright shaping Shiva’s story, as anonymous threats begin to blur the boundary between art and reality.
Student participants can receive class credit through enrolling in THR 451: Theater Rehearsal & Performance.
Graveyard Shift
Conceived and created by Ash Baudelaire ’26
directed by Matthew Cooperberg ’26
From House of Bones Theater Company
Wallace Theater
November 7, 8, 13, 14 & 15 at 8 PM
Graveyard Shift is a gothic horror tragicomedy set in a haunted graveyard-turned-luxury-apartment complex. Fugitive librarians, a puritanical gravedigger, and a steampunk orphan grapple with the fear of death as the cost of one’s “calling” threatens to claim the ultimate price. Blending high-stakes physicality, lyrical dialogue, and kick-ass heavy metal, Graveyard Shift is a darkly absurdist exploration of faith, grief, and narratives of survival.
A production from House of Bones Theater Company (HOBTC), an interconnected gothic theatrical universe where the absurd gets thrillingly dark. HOBTC, an entrepreneurial start-up by Baudelaire and Cooperberg, creates horror tragicomedies that aggrandize human complexity to reimagine theater for the streaming generation. Fusing spooky carnival vibes with heavy metal, dark cabaret, the sociological imagination, and vintage Americana, HOBTC is designed to offer a wickedly entertaining journey through the macabre. Normally recorded from onstage, these live performances of Graveyard Shift let you slip into the camera’s place; a demo of theater reimagined for digital distribution. Our theater isn’t live – it’s Undead.
When Pages Breathe: American Black/Out
Featuring Destine Harrison-Williams ’26
Co-directed by Anya Pearson and Chesney Snow
Conceived & created by Chesney Snow in collaboration with Destine Harrison-Williams and the Black Theater Collective
Wallace Theater
December 5 at 8 PM; Dec. 6 at 2 & 8 PM
The Wallace Theater will be ignited with three lecture-performances that present scenes and monologues ranging from the rich historical lineage of Black American theater to a live resistance-driven narrative lecture on culture and power. Presented and performed by Anya Pearson, a 2021-22 Princeton Hodder Fellow, and Drama Desk winner Chesney Snow, Lecturer in Theater for the Program in Theater and Music Theater and featuring senior Destine Harris-Williams. The lecture and performance are co-directed by Pearson and Snow.
This year’s When Pages Breathe series honors playwrights and poets who have resisted authoritarian narrative capture over the last century. It archives suppressed histories and invites audiences to resist erasure through community dialogue and organizing. The three performances will be enriched with a talkback and a panel discussion with renowned scholars, professors, alumni, and leading figures in American theater today. This year’s series is presented in collaboration with Princeton’s Black Theater Collective.
No One is Forgotten—Live
Co-composed by Paola Prestini and Sxip Shirey
Libretto by Winter Miller
Creative producer Eve Gigliotti
Music direction by Michelle Rofrano
Performed by Kathleen Chalfant, Eve Gigliotti, Amelia Workman
Cellist Jeffrey Zeigler
Sound conception, design and engineering by Lucas Corrubia
Produced by Cath Brittan
Stage directed by faculty member Elena Araoz
Originally commissioned by Dallas Opera, Eve Gigliotti and Emitha/Lexicon Classics
Wallace Theater
February 6, 7 & 8
An operatic theater work which applies psychoacoustic techniques to live music to create the sonic experience for the audience of being within a cell where a journalist and aid worker are confined—tickling the audience’s ears as the characters imagine a joyous world with freedom of body, mind, and speech. In collaboration with the Program in Journalism and generously supported by a Magic Grant for Innovation from Princeton’s Humanities Council.
What Art Reveals Beyond Factual Reporting
Panel conversation curated and led by Eliza Griswold, Director of the Program in Journalism
Location TBD
February 8
Liminality
New play written and directed by Matthew Cooperberg ’26
Drapkin Studio
February 13 & 14 at 7:30 PM; Feb. 15 at 2 PM
Comparing probability, duality, and continuous spectra in quantum mechanics with the amorphous and evolving nature of gender identity, this new play experiments with how quantum mechanics and gender exist beyond empirical determination.
Manual for a Desperate Crossing
Written by María Irene Fornés
Lighting design and dramaturgy by Elena Miliken ’26
Sound design by Ryan Gonzales ’26
Directed by Didi Vekri ’27
Wallace Theater
February 20, 21, 26, 27 & 28 at 8 PM
Facing an economy in dire straits and dangerous political repression, migrants attempt to journey across a sea on a homemade raft.
Princeton Playhouse Ensembles Concert
Music direction by Solon Snider Sway
Stage direction by faculty member Aaron Landsman
Berlind Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center
February 21
A concert of music and dance conceived and created by student ensemble members and faculty member Solon Snider Sway. In collaboration with the Music Department and visiting guest artists.
Untitled New Project
Conceived and created by Tiffany Rawlston ’26
Drapkin Studio
February 27 – March 1
An intergenerational story using spoken word, poetry, rap, instrumentation and hip hop beats, with stylistic approaches from sitcoms, fireside chats, and sketch comedy.
God Remembers Setsi
New play researched and written by Nadine Allache ’26
Drapkin Studio
March 27 & 28
A non-linear narrative gives voice to the erased oral histories of Amazigh women, the indigenous people of North Africa, reviving silenced stories of cultural memory and identity in dialogue with the contemporary experiences of undocumented immigrants.
The Comeuppance
Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ’06
Directed by faculty member Vivia Font
Scenic design by Vera Fei ’26
Costume design by Miriam Patterson
Berlind Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center
April 3, 4 & 10 at 8 PM; April 11 at 2 & 8 PM
A comedy about isolation and nostalgia, following a group of friends preparing for their twentieth high school reunion. Student participants can receive class credit through enrolling in the spring course THR 451.
A New Work by Grace Wang
Written by Grace Wang ’26
Drapkin Studio
April 10, 11 & 12
A new work by Grace Wang about the explosive relationship between two artistic partners who occupy parallel sides of a love trapezoid.
Design Around the Sounds of Languages
Conceived, translated, composed and sound designed by Kristen Tan ’26
Wallace Theater
April 10 at 8 PM; April 11 at 3 PM
Two music and sound designs for the same play, one in its original language and one translated into English.
Show All History
Written by Kristín Eiríksdóttir
Translated into English by Larissa Kyzer
Directed by Neil Blackadder
Godfrey Kerr Studio
Week of April 25-30
A staged reading of a play translation.
Princeton Playhouse New Works Festival
Direction by Chesney Snow
Music Direction by Solon Snider Sway
Playwriting Mentorship by Lloyd Suh
Featuring performances by Angela Kwon ’26 and Radon Belarmino ’26
Wallace Theater
May 1 & 2
Submissions accepted for the Playhouse Festival of New Works. Deadline: Dec. 7 by 11:59 PM (ET)
In collaboration with the Music Department, semi-staged performances of brand new musical theater selections written, composed and orchestrated by students.
Senior Year Independent Projects
Artist vs. AI
Researched and written by Amira Adarkwah ’26
An interactive theatrical script about the parasitic relationship of Artificial Intelligence and artistic communities.
Public Funding for Theatrical Institutions as a Tool for Political Influence
Researched and presented by Vivian Bui ’26
Interviews with leadership and staff members at prominent theaters, cultural institutions, theatrical unions and government offices will help discern the extent that public funding for theatre can be used as a political influence tool.
Utilizing Music Theater to Invest Students in the Classics
Researched and presented by Ava Kronman ’26
Using music theater as a tool to invest grade school students in the language, rhythms, stories and modern relevance of classical plays.
Amapola
Researched, written, composed and performed by Zach Lee ’26
An original musical following a young musician who learns to love his new home when he encounters Albuquerque’s vibrant Flamenco culture.
The Designer’s Book
Researched, conceived, and created by Alexander Picoult ’26
Adapting the artist’s book to explore the infinite intersection of art and design practices in the formation of immersive spaces.
Re-engineering Theater Spaces and Systems for Accessibility
Researched and presented by Annalise Schuck ’26
Improving physical structures and traditional systems to make our campus theater spaces more accessible for artists, audiences, and all involved.