Abingdon Theatre Company has announced the selections for Raise the Page, Uplift the Word: A BIPOC Festival of Short Plays, set for March 9 and 10, 2026, at AMT Theater in Manhattan.
Presented in collaboration with AMT Theater, the two-night festival will take place at 7 p.m. each evening at the venue, located at 354 W. 45th St. The event is sponsored by Marcus Felder, Yasmeen Mock, Owen Thompson, and Jonathan D’Agostino.
Following a record-breaking number of submissions, Abingdon Theatre Company selected six playwrights for this year’s festival: Steven A. Butler Jr., Joel Castillo, Amy Chen, Rena Patel, Tara Blau Smollen, and Lucy Wang. Directors and casting will be announced at a later date.
The festival opens March 9 with Our Lady of Luck by Castillo, When LA Burns by Patel, and The Soledad Brothers by Smollen. The second evening, March 10, will feature Tongue in Cheek by Wang, Stump Worthy by Butler, and Unfuck Yourself by Chen.
Now in its sixth year, Raise the Page, Uplift the Word spotlights stories written by BIPOC playwrights and is rooted in Abingdon Theatre Company’s mission to expand access and representation in the American theater landscape. In keeping with that mission, all festival performances will be free and open to the public, with advance reservations encouraged.
Festival producers Kate Bell and Owen Mannion said they are excited to bring the selected works to the stage following last year’s sold-out, first in-person edition of the festival. They noted that the partnership with AMT Theater allows emerging artists to present new work to New York audiences in a professional setting.
AMT Theater praised the ongoing collaboration, emphasizing the role of theater not only as entertainment but as a vehicle for education and engagement, and cited Abingdon Theatre Company’s long-standing commitment to developing meaningful new work.
Founded more than 30 years ago, Abingdon Theatre Company develops and produces new American plays by emerging and established artists. Its work has included Off-Broadway premieres, New York premieres, and critically recognized solo performances, as well as the One Night Only Series and the Around the Table staged reading series. In recent years, the company has also expanded into film production through Abingdon Virtual, earning multiple festival honors.
More information and free ticket reservations are available at abingdontheatre.org.
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