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Judith Champion New Work Series

June 01, 2026 - June 22, 2026

Venue LuEsther Hall

The 2026 Judith Champion New Work Series will feature plays by Jasmine Sharma, Seayoung Yim​, Sanjit De Silva​, and Karina Billini. Readings will take place on June 1, 9, 15, and 22, with matinee and evening readings each day.

The Judith Champion New Work Series features public readings of exciting new plays from a dynamic group of visionary playwrights. Through the Series, playwrights are invited to develop a play early in its generative process with a team of professional collaborators and The Public Theater’s New Work Development staff.

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Standby Tickets

Please note: If a reading is unavailable at this time, standby tickets may become available prior to curtain time for each reading. Come to the Box Office Desks to add your name to the list!

Calendar

Monday Jun 15 | 3:30 PM

3:30 PM

THE DAY THE RIOTS BEGAN

Monday Jun 15 | 7:30 PM

7:30 PM

THE DAY THE RIOTS BEGAN

Monday Jun 22 | 3:30 PM

3:30 PM

BROOKLYN BOYS CAN'T FLOAT 

Monday Jun 22 | 7:30 PM

7:30 PM

BROOKLYN BOYS CAN'T FLOAT 

  • Available
  • Not Available

2026 Judith Champion New Work Series Plays

PEACHY: A SORTA CHEKHOVIAN TRAUMEDY by Jasmine Sharma

PEACHY: A SORTA CHEKHOVIAN TRAUMEDY
Written by Jasmine Sharma
Directed by Adrian Alea 
Dramaturgy by Amrita Ramanan and Karina Patel
Monday, June 1 at 3:30PM and 7:30PM
In 2022, the owner of a Los Angeles-based, family-run Indi-Mex restaurant has the opportunity to franchise. In 1962, a Mexican woman and Punjabi peach farmer enter a "Mexidu" marriage in order to circumvent California’s stringent miscegenation laws. PEACHY is a sort of chekhovian traumedy about cooking with love...and, family.

FOODS OF THE FORGOTTEN WAR by Seayoung Yim

FOODS OF THE FORGOTTEN WAR
Written by Seayoung Yim
Directed by Chris Yejin
Tuesday, June 9 at 3:30PM and 7:30PM
Plagued by a diasporic desire to taste her ancestral doenjang, Wensu travels through a hermit kingdom’s history and gastronomy in the hopes of recovering an authentic, pungent flavor that's been sealed and encrypted by modernity. Seen through the eyes of Korean women over time, FOODS OF THE FORGOTTEN WAR is an incomplete survey of how war and colonialism change how we flavor, preserve, and package food and cultural memory. 

THE DAY THE RIOTS BEGAN by Sanjit De Silva

THE DAY THE RIOTS BEGAN
Written by Sanjit De Silva
Directed by Mei Ann Teo
Dramaturgy by Amrita Ramanan
Monday, June 15 at 3:30PM and 7:30PM
Black July, 1983. It was the day Sanjit's life changed forever. But for the life of him, he can't remember why. In a zoom call with his parents, memories are rehashed, renewed, and rediscovered, leading to a startling revelation. Told through a captivating solo performance, THE DAY THE RIOTS BEGAN is a story about memory, migration, and the trauma we carry with us.

BROOKLYN BOYS CAN'T FLOAT by Karina Billini

BROOKLYN BOYS CAN'T FLOAT 
Written by Karina Billini
Directed by Nicky Maggio
Dramaturgy by Amrita Ramanan and Jack Phillips Moore
Monday, June 22 at 3:30PM and 7:30PM
It’s Charlie’s 35th birthday and nothing seems to be going right in his life: the pandemic, his messed-up back, and his deferred dreams of joining the I.T. team with his childhood buddies, Donnie and Solomon. As he and his boys embark on a revelrous birthday trip to Punta Cana, things start to go awry when "strapped-for-cash" Solomon secretly invites the work pariah, "soon-to-be Head of I.T." Gavin, to join the fun. BROOKLYN BOYS CAN'T FLOAT  is a riotous interrogation of male fragility, friendship, and the mental cost men pay when they don’t allow each other to feel.
Playwrights