New Works Festival Showcases LMU Student Playwrights

LMU Theatre Arts ' New Works Festival, held April 28 through May 1 in the Barnelle Theatre, showcased 10 original plays written and directed by CFA students, highlighting emerging voices and contemporary concerns.

The annual festival often becomes a platform for students to advocate for issues that matter most to them. As David Davila, playwright and assistant professor of theatre arts, explained, this year's selected plays reflect both what student writers are grappling with and what the selection committee connected with, including themes of grief, mental health, dysfunctional familial communication, and violence against women-issues many college students face daily.

Student playwright Hannah Ko wrote "Egg Tarts for Evie," a play that explores multiculturalism, identity, and intergenerational relationships. "I am a huge believer in telling untold stories and making theatre more accessible to minorities, and I think this play helps to achieve that goal," Ko said. For Ko, the creative process offered a means of personal reflection and release. "Being able to express my struggles through theatre has been very cathartic," she continued. "Seeing my work on stage and the effect it has on the audience is very gratifying, knowing that people empathize with the story and therefore my own experiences."

Ko honed the core message of her play throughout the writing and editing process and leaned on her peers to bring it to life on stage. "I learned how to let go of my work and let my talented director and actors interpret the words on the page and turn the script into something truly special," she said.

"Our New Works Festival is unique because it trains our students to be good theatrical collaborators and build their own collaborative communities that we hope will continue long after they graduate," said Davila.

Kumari Billings, who wrote "Latasha, I Love You," says the experience helped her learn how to relinquish control. "I had to let go of the control I wanted over the audience's perception. Letting go of control has always been super hard for me, but because I trust [director] Joaquin and the cast so much, I was able to do so comfortably, and it paid off immensely!" Billings said.

For Billings, this project was among the most challenging works she has undertaken. Despite the constraint of a 14-minute runtime, she engages with complex societal issues in "Latasha, I Love You." The play centers on a fraught reunion between a couple as they interrogate the value of sex work, the systemic exploitation and violence faced by Black and Brown sex workers, misogynoir, and the pervasive lack of accountability for those who harm women in a society that devalues their labor and lives.

"I'm really proud of how much these student playwrights have grown over the course of their rewriting, rehearsal, and production process," Davila said. The festival's diverse slate of productions underscores its role as a vital platform for student expression, collaboration, and cultural critique.

The 2026 New Works Festival included the following plays: