The complete lineup has been revealed for\u00a0Working Theater and Broadway Advocacy Coalition’s\u00a0second annual Stage Left,
\n the new play festival where art meets activism.\u00a0The five new plays, centering stories from the front lines of progressive movements, will be presented June 12-14 at Theatre Row.<\/p>\n
Presented
\nwith the support of the Murphy Institute and Leadership for Democracy
\nand Social Justice, each
\n production is paired with an advocacy organization working directly on
\nthe issues explored by the play. The pairing creates\u00a0opportunities for audiences to
\n move from reflection into action through post-show conversations,
\norganizing, and community engagement.<\/p>\n
This year’s festival will kick off June 12 with Amalia Oliva Rojas’\u00a0How to Melt Ice, directed by Autumn Angelettie<\/a> and featuring\u00a0Claudia Acosta (Man Cave) and Katherine Bahena-Benitez. Presented in partnership with Workers Justice Project,\u00a0the play weaves together a tapestry of magical realism, Mexican mythology, and authentic immigrant experience, exploring the demands of familial love and the generational divide between \u201cDreamers\u201d and those who carried them to the promised land.<\/p>\n Arturo Lu\u00edz Soria’s\u00a0Novios, directed by Danilo Gambini and featuring\u00a0Zabryna Guevara (Gotham, Daredevil: Born Again) and Juan Francisco Villa (Blue Bloods), will perform June 13, presented in partnership with One Fair Wage.\u00a0A motley band of cooks fritter away in the remains of a once-thriving kitchen, but when a flamboyant new dishwasher arrives and awakens the heart of the youngest, their jovial banter turns deadly. The play will be presented in Spanish and English with closed captioning in English.<\/p>\n Also performing June 13 will be Keelay Gipson’s\u00a0#Newslaves, directed by Dominique Rider and\u00a0featuring McKinley Belcher III<\/a> (Death of a Salesman) and Jason Veasey<\/a> (A Strange Loop). Presented in partnership with Freedom Agenda,\u00a0the play is described as an epic fantasia on the commodification and criminalization of the Black Body in America through the lens of the NFL Draft and the prison system.<\/p>\n Chad Kaydo’s\u00a0Narrowsburg\u2014directed by Colm Summers and featuring\u00a0Ryan Spahn (Gloria), April Matthis (New Amsterdam), and Jesse Pennington (American Gun)\u2014will perform June 14 in partnership with Undue Medical Debt.\u00a0When Spencer goes to the Catskills to help his friends reopen their restaurant in summer 2021, they spend late nights trash-talking customers while trying to avoid their deepest fears and regrets.<\/p>\n