The Praxis Series offers majors in the Department of Theatre Arts as well as the SUNY New Paltz campus community an opportunity to develop, explore, and stretch their creativity and skills outside of the Mainstage Production season. Praxis projects provide unique challenges and opportunities that enhance and expand student experiences, rather than duplicate those provided by the Mainstage shows.
The series is a combination of staged readings and two productions produced with New Paltz Players. This is often a vehicle for student written work, work with a social justice message, work from an underrepresented group, or new work still in development. Often, these projects are directed by guest artists or students as a way of furthering the experience.
The Praxis Series is free and open to the public, but reserving a ticket is recommended as these events often sell out.
Fall 2020

By Tori Sampson
Performed with permission of Creative Artists Agency and Tori Sampson
On the day of a speech by Rosa Parks, four activists working in a Virginia civil rights office wonder whether the proclamation of equality amongst mankind includes women. "Cadillac Crew" reclaims the stories of the forgotten leaders who blazed the trail for desegregation and women’s rights and asks: When will the world be ready to embrace women in all their capacity?
Sept. 12, 2020
Sept. 13, 2020
TBA
TBA
Virtual
Virtual

By Clifford Odets
Performed with permission of Dramatists Play Services, Inc.
Written in the 1930s, this play is a series of related vignettes, framed by a meeting of cab drivers who are planning a labor strike.
October 3, 2020
October 4, 2020
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

By Tony Meneses
Performed with permission of United Talent and Tony Meneses
It's 1968, and as a wave of student protest washes over Mexico City, a girl journeys into the ever-shifting capital to find a path to call her own. A beguiling, sweeping ode to a city flush with the promise of revolution, and to the times in life when everything seems possible.
October 17, 2020
October 18, 2020
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

By William Shakespeare
Translated by Amelia Roper
Part of the Play On! Shakespeare festival created by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, this is a modern language version of the classic Shakespeare story about what happens when two best friends fight over a girl.
Nov. 7, 2020
Nov. 8, 2020
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

By MJ Kaufman
Performed with permission of Agency for the Performing Arts and MJ Kaufman
Grands is a trans grandparent. Jaime is their genderqueer grandchild. They are both obsessed with Joan of Arc. Grands wakes up from gender affirmative surgery speaking French and claiming they survived a fire. The same day, Jaime, who has been pretending to be Joan of Arc for weeks, goes missing.
Nov. 21, 2020
Nov. 22, 2020
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
Spring 2021

By Anya Pearson
Performed with permission of Anya Pearson
Set in East Oakland in the midst of the 1980s crack epidemic, "The Killing Fields" reimagines the story of "Agamemnon" through one mother’s epic struggle to rescue her daughter.
Feb. 6, 2021
Feb. 7, 2021
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

By Kevin Mischo
"Tell Them Tomorrow" follows the fallout of a college relationship that propels our "Lead" to be introspective of their current state and who they want to be when they move on. To do this, "Lead" faces four versions of themself, the memory of their ex, and what reality looks like without them.
Feb. 27, 2021
Feb. 28, 2021
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

By William Shakespeare
Translated by Hansol Jung
Part of the Play On! Shakespeare project created by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, this is a modern language version of the classic Shakespearean story about two star-crossed lovers.
April 17-18, 2021
April 20, 2021
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA