Over the past 25 years, new plays launched in UC San Diego’s Wagner New Play Festival have had a pretty good success rate, with more than 20 moving on to major theaters and some ending up in off Broadway theaters.
Launched in 1999 as the Baldwin New Play Festival, and renamed for underwriters Arthur and Molli Wagner in 2013, the spring series features new works written by students in UCSD’s MFA playwriting program. Many alumni have gone on to great success writing plays as well as screenplays for television and film.
Some of its recent graduates are Keiko Green, who has had plays produced at the Old Globe, Cygnet Theatre and South Coast Rep, and Anna Ouyang Moench, who wrote for the TV series’ “Severance” and “Beef,” and wrote the play “Your Local Theater Presents” for La Jolla Playhouse.
“The Wagner New Play Festival showcases some of the most exciting new plays in American theatre,” said Professor Naomi Iizuka, head of the MFA Playwriting Program. “The festival gives San Diego audiences a first look at cutting-edge work by our world-class MFA playwrights, many of whom like Lauren Yee, Jeff Augustin, Dave Harris, and many others have gone on to become some of the most well-known and most produced playwrights in American theatre. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to see the work of our amazing UC San Diego actors, directors, designers and stage managers as we all come together to celebrate new stories and new voices.”
This year’s festival features five plays, including a pair of one-acts that will be presented together. Tickets are $20. For tickets and location details, visit theatre.ucsd.edu/performances-and-events/theatre-performances.
‘Baby Shower Katie’ by Beth Hyland
Aysan Celik will direct this play about how two women’s lives unfold at four different baby showers. Rebecca desperately wants to have a child; her best friend Hannah can’t imagine anything worse. While attending showers for mutual friends all named Katie, Rebecca and Hannah grapple with their unspoken wishes and fears about motherhood and everything else. 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 2 p.m. Saturday; 7:30 pm. May 13, 14 and 17. Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre, UCSD.
‘Motherloss’ by Mylan Gray
Nate B. Smith directs this time-traveling story about Dwayne who meets his long-lost mother in a dream and decides to leaves behind everything he’s ever known to go find her. In a fantastical journey through space and time, Dwayne retraces his mother’s steps from the Gold Coast, through the Middle age, to the New World. On the way, he meets strangers, tricksters, and unexpected guides who teach him how to traverse a history of loss and grief, and how to hold those closest to you near. 7 p.m. Monday (preview); 2 pm. Saturday; 7:30 p.m. May 13, 15 and 16. Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, UCSD
‘Dirty Martini’ by Katie Do & ‘Nerve Endings’ by Quentin Nguyen-duy
These two one-act plays, presented together, focus on renewing relationships in dire need of repair. “Dirty Martini,” directed by Shyama Nithiananda, is about former best friends Kara and Poppy, who reunite rebuild their friendship but unfinished business keeps getting in the way. “Nerve Endings,” directed by Kieran Beccia, is about Ansel and Izzy, who reunite unexpectedly at a wedding and get caught in a time loop trying to figure out their “situationship,” past history, feelings and regrets. Both plays contain mature themes. 7 p.m. Friday (preview); 2 p.m. Saturday; 7:30 p.m. May 10, 13 and 15; 2 p.m. May 17. Arthur Wagner Theatre, UCSD
‘Refuse It: A Black Woman’s Guide to 21st Century Rage’ by Phanésia Pharel
Delicia Turner Sonnenberg directs this play that explores the lives of Black women who reject the status quo. Through kaleidoscope of vignettes, these women confront the costs and benefits of living radically under the persistent weight of the past. Darkly comedic and unapologetically defiant, “Refuse It” asks: If society has truly progressed and living conditions are undeniably better, why don’t we feel better? 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Friday and Saturday; 7:30 p.m. May 15; 2 p.m. May 17. Shank Theatre, UCSD
