GREENHOUSE FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS 2025 Schedule!

The Creative Writing Department in partnership with Crowded Fire Theater and the Theatre Arts Department are proud to present this year’s GREENHOUSE FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS MAY 12-16 in the Lab Theater (CA 106).

This year’s festival, themed transformative stories for unsettling times, features five new plays by MFA writers that bend form and genre, following characters who confront the world—and themselves—in order to live life on their own terms.  The reading schedule is as follows:

Monday 5/12 at 7pm in the Lab Theater CA 104

Rabbit Teeth by Clara Sperow 

Directed by Quinn Gilchrist

Two childhood friends shapeshift through their twenties encountering strangers, crushes, and familiar faces, looking for queer joy and magic in the everyday. When queerness is the hope of recurring growth, what does it mean to share yourself, to know yourself, to be understood?

Tuesday 5/13 at 7pm in the Lab Theater CA 104

Let the Night Come by Dan Cloak

Directed by Mary Ann Rogers

On a backpacking trip, four white men in their 60s share their losses of privilege, relevance, careers, and vitality. They witness changes to the wilderness and the global climate—and challenges to their beliefs as lifelong social-justice activists. As they become lost and confront physical danger, they argue. What has to die here? What must be given up?

Wednesday 5/14 at 7pm in the Lab Theater CA 104

Lessons From a Jellyfish by Harriet Heydemann

Directed by Nikki Meñez

Meet Ariela, medical professionals don't know how to treat her. School teachers are at a loss. Even her mother can't see beyond her disabilities. Ariela is unsentimental, often hilarious, and at times, difficult, especially with her mother. Through faith, art, wit, a few psychic readings, and a computerized voice, Ariela becomes an artist and the master of comebacks, challenging those who love her to rethink what it means to create and connect.

Thursday 5/15 at 7pm in the Lab Theater CA 104

The Transfer by Grace Hoffman

Directed by Reed Flores

Two best friends, Britt and Angela, unexpectedly have a third roommate, Curtis, in their sophomore dorm. Quiet and mysterious, Curtis unlocks her “inner Gaia” with the help of her new friends, and all hell breaks loose. 

Friday 5/16 at 7pm in the Lab Theater CA 104

Alcatraz Gift Shop by Fernando Mendoza

Directed by Hasti Jafari

Welcome to the gift shop on Alcatraz Island, where work feels like a life sentence. After the unexpected death of a visitor on a tour, the gift shop employees find themselves wrestling with existential angst, life choices, rat-eating seagulls, and possibly… ghosts!

The featured playwrights, Dan Cloak, Harriet Heydemann, Grace Hoffman, Fernando Mendoza, Clara Sperow have had work appear at Emerson College’s New Works Festivals, TheatreWorks’ Amendment Project, The Dragon’s Monday Night Play Space Series, The Ohlone Playwrights Festival, and Bench Plays at Los Altos Stage Company, and Centenary Stage Company.

This Year's Greenhouse Festival is presented in partnership with Crowded Fire Theater (CFT), a critically acclaimed company for new play production on the West Coast. Known for developing and producing poetic, bold, relevant works by up-and-coming playwrights, CFT contributes to the creation of a contemporary canon that reflects the diverse world in which we live. Throughout this semester, CFT has mentored playwrights on production processes, forging strong creative collaborations, and producing new work. CFT is also our fiscal sponsor for fundraising this year!