Participants in Broadway Advocacy Coalition and Working Theater's first-ever Stage Left Festival, a new platform for social justice-centered storytelling, have been announced.
Presented with the support of CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies鈥� Murphy Institute and Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice, the Festival will be presented at Playwrights Horizons' The Judy Theatre June 14-22.
Six new works that fuse the power of theatre with the urgency of advocacy will be offered in the series. Each play has been developed in partnership with frontline organizations advancing justice in and beyond New York.
The new works include Ed Cardona Jr.'s La Dureza, directed by Lou Moreno and created in solidarity with Los Deliveristas Unidos; Jonathan Caren's Hit Machine, directed by Taylor Reynolds and starring Jeff Biehl and Will Dagger; Pedro 鈥淛ungo Pete Roc鈥� Rosario's The Hero U Took, directed by Leia Squillace and featuring formerly incarcerated performers who are alumni of Rehabilitation Through the Arts as well as Sean 鈥楧ino鈥� Johnson, Joe Grifasi, and Garrett Turner; Laura Neill's Foot Wears House, directed by Sivan Battat and featuring Miles G. Jackson; Lindsay Joelle's The Garbologists, directed by Colm Summers; and Andrea Ambam's Date of Release, directed by Shariffa Ali.
Panelists and moderators will include Stuart Appelbaum, president of the department store Union; Jose Saldana, director of Release Aging People in Prison; artist and cultural organizer Rad Pereira, who is the co-author of Meeting the Moment with Jan Cohen-Cruz; Joey DeFrancesco, founder of United Musicians and Allied Workers; Stephanie Pacheco, 2025 National Youth Poet Laureate; and Broadway actor Chris Myers (Purpose).
Advocacy organizations that will be featured include Center for Artistic Activism, Rising Artist, UMAW (United Musicians and Allied Workers), RAPP (Release Aging People in Prison), Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), Los Deliveristas Unidos / Workers鈥� Justice Project, RWDSU, and REI Soho Union.
Broadway Advocacy Coalition Executive Director Elz Cuya Jones says in a statement, "Storytelling is our oldest art form, but now our right to tell our stories is being legislated away. Stage Left is a chance to witness the stories from the working class and from our prison system. These stories will demand something from you. You will walk out seeing and moving differently. In a time when stories are being silenced and people are being erased, it is an act of resistance to put on this play festival. It is an act of resistance to attend.鈥�
Tickets are available now on a sliding scale Visit .
