{"id":185764,"date":"2026-04-04T22:49:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T22:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/185764\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T22:49:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T22:49:26","slug":"emerging-artists-theatres-spark-theatre-festival-nyc-celebrates-20th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/185764\/","title":{"rendered":"Emerging Artists Theatre’s Spark Theatre Festival NYC Celebrates 20th Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

originally published: 04\/04\/2026<\/p>\n

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Human – Layers of Identity\u00a0choreographed by Charly Wenzel will perform on Sunday, April 19 at 5:00pm.<\/p>\n

(NEW YORK, NY) — Award-winning Emerging Artists Theatre (EAT)<\/a> returns with their bi-annual Spark Theatre Festival NYC, on Monday, April 6 and runs until April 26, 2026 at The 28th Street Theatre (TADA). The three-week festival will showcase over 60 new works in progress, including musicals, plays, solo performances, storytelling, and dance. Theatre luminaries such as TV comedy icon Joyce Bulifant, Tony Award nominee Christopher Sieber, and Emmy Award winner Dorothy Lyman will take part in the Spring Spark Theatre Festival NYC.<\/p>\n

This year marks the festival\u2019s 20th anniversary.\u00a0Originally launched as the New Works Series, the event has grown significantly since its inception\u2014doubling in size and expanding to include genres such as dance, music, cabaret, drag, sketch comedy, and other boundary-pushing performances. The Spark Theatre Festival NYC now presents Spring and Fall festivals, showcasing over 100 new shows each year and giving more than 400 artists the opportunity to perform new work on stage.<\/p>\n

During the festival,\u00a0performances run nightly, with multiple performances on the weekends. Most productions receive one performance, with shorter shows grouped together to form a full evening of entertainment. Short talkbacks with the artists will follow some of the performances. Shows range from staged readings to fully produced productions.<\/p>\n

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TV comedy icon Joyce Bulifant, and Tony Award nominee Christopher Sieber perform in\u00a0The Jesus Hickey\u00a0on Sunday, April 19 at 7:00pm. Emmy Award winner Dorothy Lyman will workshop her new play\u00a0MY WINDOWS\u00a0on Sunday, April 12 at 5:00pm.<\/p>\n

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Tickets range from $20 to $40.\u00a0Tickets and the full lineup are available\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0All performances take place at The 28th Street Theatre (TADA), 15 West 28th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10001.<\/p>\n

To see the full lineup, please visit\u00a0www.emergingartiststheatre.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:<\/p>\n

Twelve short and full-length plays will be presented, including\u00a0The Jesus Hickey\u00a0(written by\u00a0Luke Yankee), in which an innocent Irish lass receives a hickey from the village bad boy in the shape of Jesus, featuring\u00a0Joyce Bulifant\u00a0and\u00a0Christopher Sieber\u00a0(Tony Award nominated);\u00a0My Windows\u00a0(written by Emmy winner\u00a0Dorothy Lyman), where five longtime friends reunite to plan a fundraiser to save their church;\u00a0Titanic, Jesus, and Coca-Cola\u00a0(written by Gena Oppenheim), in which Lucy, a third-generation Titanic fanatic, discovers she may even be related to the man blamed for the tragedy; and\u00a0Oscar’s Razor\u00a0(written by Brent Weaver), where, ten years after the infamous Ridgway Razor murders (Green River Killer), a fresh wave of killings unravels the lives of four queer men, with Oscar\u2014the sole survivor of the original murders\u2014at the center.<\/p>\n

Nine musicals\u2013both short and full-length\u2013will be presented, including\u00a0The Scarlet Letter Musical\u00a0(written by Kenady Sean and Christine Hand Jones), which reimagines the story of Hester Prynne as she transforms her scarlet letter from a mark of shame into a symbol of survival and rebellion, and\u00a0If I Could Go\u00a0(written by Steve Engelbrecht) in which a gateway in Dublin leads to the mythical land of T\u00edr na n\u00d3g, launching an extraordinary journey into a magical realm.<\/p>\n

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Carmilla, featuring Reese Desaulniers, Claire Pennington, Emelyn Urdahl, and Avery Renee will be performed on Thursday, April 9 at 7pm. Photographed by Taylor Craft.<\/p>\n

Thirty dance works will take center stage, including\u00a0Carmilla\u00a0(choreographed by Danielle Davis and Claire Pennington), a queer love story between an isolated noblewoman and a vampiress disguised as her companion;\u00a0Canzoni per Papa\u00a0(choreographed by Taylor Gordon), a dance suite tracing inherited identity through kitsch and romance; and\u00a0Human – Layers of Identity\u00a0(choreographed by Charly Wenzel) featuring an international cast of women paying homage to the rich taperstry of human diversity.<\/p>\n

Numerous solo shows will be presented, including\u00a0A Gay Masseur’s Guide to Happy Endings\u00a0(written and performed by Austin Jennings Boykin), about a gay masseur navigating sex work, self-worth, and survival;\u00a0Back Float: A Very Hard of Hearing, Deaf-ish, Bluegrass-Forward Solo Show\u00a0(written and performed by Jo Brook), in which an actor and musician grapples with hearing loss, isolation, and belonging; and\u00a0Miss Magnolia Beaumont Goes to Provincetown\u00a0(written and performed by Joe Hutcheson), in which a debutante who chokes to death on a pork rib just before the Civil War suddenly finds herself inhabiting the body of a middle-aged gay man on his way to Provincetown.<\/p>\n

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Joe Hutcheson in\u00a0Miss Magnolia Goes to Provincetown\u00a0performs on Saturday, April 18 at 9:00pm. Photo by\u00a0NYC Photographer.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s festival features two productions centered on bugs, including the dance piece\u00a0Sniff My Undies (choreographed by Lulu Munteanu), in which three otherworldly insects explore each other\u2014and themselves\u2014through maximalist, alien movement; and\u00a0Buzzkill\u00a0(written by Jordan Knitzer), a darkly comic pop-rock musical anthology that zooms in on the creatures we often overlook\u2014from disease-spreading mosquitoes to praying mantises at prom and even a cicada rock band.<\/p>\n

Award-winning Emerging Artists Theatre<\/a>, under the direction of Founder and Artistic Director Paul Adams and now in its 33th year of producing new work, launched the Spark Theatre Festival NYC in 2006. Since its inception, numerous musicals, plays, solo shows, and dance pieces first workshopped at the festival have gone on to full productions at the Edinburgh Fringe, NYMF, FringeNYC, and Encores!, as well as Off-Broadway and in national and international productions.<\/p>\n

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EVENT PREVIEWS <\/p>\n

\"Passage
Passage Theatre Company to Hold Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for The Larry Hilton Stage on April 8th<\/a>(TRENTON, NJ) — Passage Theatre Company is proud to host the naming of the Mill Hill Playhouse stage, to forevermore be known as “The Larry Hilton Stage,” in honor of great donor, patron, producer and friend of the company Lawrence M. Hilton. Mr. Hilton was a beacon for Passage Theatre for nearly 40 years and a steward for all art, music, theater, and education in his hometown of Trenton, NJ.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Centenary
Centenary Stage Company presents free Staged Reading of “Breeders”<\/a>(HACKETTSTOWN, NJ) — Centenary Stage Company presents Breeders as part of its Women Playwrights Series (WPS), with a free staged reading on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 in the Sitnik Theatre of the Centenary University campus, located at 715 Grand Avenue in Hackettstown. Showtime is 7:00pm.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Brundage
Brundage Park Playhouse presents “Titanic, The Musical”<\/a>(RANDOLPH, NJ) — Brundage Park Playhouse presents Titanic, The Musical from April 9-12, 2026. Epic and majestic, with moments of heartbreaking intimacy, Titanic captures the triumph and tragedy of the hopeful passengers on the ill-fated Ship of Dreams.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Roundtable
Roundtable Theater Company presents “Jagged Little Pill”<\/a>(FAIR LAWN, NJ) — Roundtable Theater Company presents the Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical Jagged Little Pill from April 9-12, 2026 at the George Frey Center for Performing Arts in the Fair Lawn Community Center. Set in modern-day Connecticut, this contemporary musical utilizes the genius of Alanis Morissette’s 1995 album of the same name to tackle some of today’s most important issues.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"RVCC
RVCC to Present Student Theatre Production of “The Wolves”<\/a>(BRANCHBURG, NJ) — Raritan Valley Community College’s Arts & Design department will present The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe, April 15-17, 2026 at 7:00pm each night The performances, which are free of charge and open to the public, will be held in the Welpe Theatre at the College’s Branchburg campus.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Bridgewater-Raritan
Bridgewater-Raritan High School Theatre Arts presents “Little Shop of Horrors”<\/a>(BRIDGEWATER, NJ) — Bridgewater-Raritan High School Theatre Arts presents Little Shop of Horrors from April 16\u201318, 2026, in the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Auditorium. This cult-favorite musical comedy features a book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken, and tells the delightfully dark story of a shy flower shop assistant who discovers a mysterious plant with an insatiable appetite.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Kean
Kean University Theatre Department presents “The Bald Soprano” by Eug\u00e8ne Ionesco<\/a>(UNION, NJ) — Kean University Theatre Department presents The Bald Soprano by Eug\u00e8ne Ionesco from April 10-18, 2026 in the Bauer Boucher Theatre Center. Has your day-to-day life begun to feel like some surreal hallucination?<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Middlesex
Middlesex College presents “Things I Know To Be True”<\/a>(EDISON, NJ) — Middlesex College’s Visual, Performing, and Media Arts Department presents Things I Know To Be True by Andrew Bovell across two weekends (April 9-11 and April 16-18, 2026) at the Studio Theater in Edison. The play, directed by Anna Sycamore DeMers and Hope McCarthy, is a family story of new beginnings that inspects generational trauma and the tightness of the ties that bind us to our parents’ imperfections.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"NJIT\"
NJIT’s Theatre Arts and Technology Program presents “Curtains”<\/a>(NEWARK, NJ) — New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Theatre Arts and Technology Program presents the musical comedy, Curtains, from April 16-18, 2026 in the Jim Wise Theater.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"County
County College of Morris presents “Yankee Doodle Dandy”<\/a>(RANDOLPH, NJ) — As the nation commemorates the Semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, County College of Morris (CCM) invites theatergoers to be entertained and experience the life of American composer, playwright, actor, producer and showman George M. Cohan, in the high-energy musical Yankee Doodle Dandy. Presented by the Marielaine Mammon School of Music, Performing Arts, and Music Technologies, performances will take place on Wednesday through Saturday, April 15\u201318, 2026 at 7:30pm in Dragonetti Auditorium.<\/a><\/p>\n

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UPCOMING EVENTS <\/p>\n

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