2025 Wagner New Play Festival Presents Five Original Graduate Student Productions
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Relationships can be messy, especially when it comes to confronting buried secrets, voicing unspoken feelings and navigating loss. Graduate student playwrights in UC San Diego’s Department of Theatre and Dance present five plays that explore the spectrum of emotions involved in motherhood, friendship, romantic entanglements and living authentically. The plays will world premiere at the Wagner New Play Festival, to be held April 25 through May 17 at the university.
Named in recognition of the generosity of Molli and Arthur Wagner, the festival is an opportunity for the community to experience the distinctive voices of the School of Arts and Humanities' latest MFA cohort. The productions are highly collaborative, with Ph.D. and undergraduate directors, actors, designers, stage managers and dramaturgs partnering with the MFA playwrights to create a series of unforgettable shows.
“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.”
The Wagner New Play Festival has grown to become a nationally recognized showcase. The festival is regularly attended by local theatergoers as well as artistic directors and top theatre and film professionals from Los Angeles and nationwide. Plays featured in the festival have flourished, with productions off-Broadway and in major theaters across the country.
This year’s five full productions are “Baby Shower Katie” by Beth Hyland; “Motherloss” by Mylan Gray, “Dirty Martini” by Katie Đỗ, “Nerve Endings” by Quentin Nguyen-Duy; and “Refuse It: A Black Woman’s Guide to 21st Century Rage” by Phanésia Pharel. Tickets and complete information can be found on the Department of Theatre and Dance website or directly through squadup.com. Preview event tickets range in price from $5 to $10, while regular performances range from $10 to $20, with discounted tickets available for UC San Diego students.
“Baby Shower Katie” | Beth Hyland
Rebecca desperately wants to have a child; her best friend Hannah can’t imagine anything worse. Over the course of four different baby showers for mutual friends all named Katie, Rebecca and Hannah grapple with their unspoken wishes and fears about motherhood–and everything else. “Baby Shower Katie” is an antic, irreverent, and deeply felt exploration of women’s choices and the baby shower industrial complex.
Preview: May 2
Show Dates: May 10, 13, 14 and 17
Location: Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre
Purchase tickets for “Baby Shower Katie”
“Motherloss” | Mylan Gray
When Dwayne meets his long-lost mother in a dream, he leaves behind everything he’s ever known to go find her. In a fantastical journey through space and time, “Motherloss” follows Dwayne as he retraces his mother’s steps from the Gold Coast, through the Middle Passage, 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.
Preview: May 5
Show Dates: May 7, 10, 13, 15 and 16
Location: Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre
Purchase tickets for “Motherloss”
“Dirty Martini” | Katie Do
Kara and Poppy were best friends - until they weren't. After a mysterious falling out, they reunite and try to rebuild their friendship, but unfinished business keeps getting in the way. What really happened with She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named? And what other secrets are they keeping from one another? “Dirty Martini” looks at what happens when the people closest to you are not who you think they are and what it really means to be a good friend.
Preview: May 9
Show Dates: May 10, 13, 15 and 17
Location: Arthur Wagner Theatre
Purchase tickets for “Dirty Martini”
“Nerve Endings” | Quentin Nguyen-Duy
Ansel and Izzy are at a wedding neither of them wants to be at. They’re also stuck in a time loop neither can get out of. Over the course of an evening – or maybe an eternity – they must revisit their situationship, a complicated history, and a lifetime of regrets and unspoken feelings before it's too late. “Nerve Endings” looks at the cyclical nature of relationships and what it takes to mend a severed connection.
Preview: May 9
Show Dates: May 10, 13, 15 and 17
Location: Arthur Wagner Theatre
Purchase tickets for “Nerve Endings”
“Refuse It: A Black Woman’s Guide to 21st Century Rage” | Phanésia Pharel
Refuse to mammy. Refuse shame. Refuse to explain. “Refuse It: A Black Woman’s Guide to 21st Century Rage” explores the lives of Black women who reject the status quo. Through a 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?
Preview: April 25th
Show Dates: May 6th, May 9th, May 10th, May 15th, 17th
Location: Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre
Purchase tickets for “Refuse It: A Black Woman’s Guide to 21st Century Rage”
The UC San Diego Playwriting Program trains writers with bold, distinctive voices who tell compelling stories. Only one or two writers are admitted each year, with each cohort no larger than five students. Each receives individualized and intensive mentorship as well as multiple production experiences to develop their craft, voice and vision. Learn more about the playwriting program.
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