NYCPlaywrights March 14, 2026
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NYCPlaywrights
Mar 14, 2026, 5:07:31 PM (2 days ago) Mar 14
to NYCPlaywrights
Greetings NYCPlaywrights
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
Join the Hudson Classical Theater Company for an afternoon of ten minute play. Writers-A-Go-Go highlights the work of local contemporary playwrights, directed and performed by Hudson Classical company members. Stay after the show for light refreshments and conversation with the playwrights.
This event takes place in the newly-renovated 102nd Street Field House. Enter the Park at 102nd Street and Riverside Drive, then descend to the promenade level. The stairs to the Field House are across the promenade at 102nd Street.
Saturday, March 21 & Sunday March 22, 2026
2:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.
https://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2026/03/21/hudson-classical-theater-company-presents-writersagogo
***
The Proof Stage compellingly argues that the domains of mathematics and theatre have much more in common than people might assume, and that theatre has engaged deeply and innovatively with mathematics for centuries. Focusing predominantly on post-1800 to the present, but cleverly arranging his material thematically rather than plodding chronologically through it, Abbott discusses geometry, incompleteness, infinity, arithmetic, code-breaking, proofs, and many other core mathematical concepts and fields. He also brilliantly conveys a short history of mathematics as he explains ideas and breakthroughs.
Few theatre scholars are equipped with the mathematical knowledge to be able to write such a book. Abbott is uniquely qualified to write the definitive book on this topic not just because of his mathematics expertise (he is Professor of Mathematics at Middlebury College) but for his first-hand experience in the making of plays that engage with science and mathematics. The book benefits immensely from that deep understanding of theatre from a performance and not just textual perspective. He is rare in his genuine cross-disciplinary activity and his hands-on theatrical experience and he also draws on his design and teaching of undergraduate theatre and science courses. This book will no doubt become required reading for such courses, which proliferate across North America and Europe.
More...
https://www.bsls.ac.uk/2024/08/abbott-steve-the-proof-stage-how-theatre-reveals-the-human-truth-of-mathematics/
***
In the year 2000, New York City theatergoers were treated to an especially mathematical season. That year marked the premiere of both Fermat’s Last Tango, a musical based on a centuries-long quest to prove Fermat’s Last Theorem, and Proof, a play about a breakthrough mathematical proof that a father leaves behind to his daughter.
The people writing and directing those shows had to deal with math in an unusually direct way. But even when the show contains no theorems or proofs, there is still a lot of math to be found. People involved in different aspects of any production, such as stage designers, lighting designers, and theater architects, all wrestle with some complicated math problems. On a Broadway stage, where shows can sell thousands of tickets and cost millions of dollars, the stakes can get very high.
More...
https://www.hmhco.com/blog/teaching-math-through-theater?srsltid=AfmBOooyx-egUV30eane4-GIFdu_ZCaXc2cktwkuo3hRpTJhuKJH-Nk-
***
When Schilling was a student, she was entranced by the exquisite nature of Noether’s mathematics and the deep reach of its ability to describe physical reality. Noether’s work inspired Schilling.
Years later, the Association for Women in Mathematics named Schilling the 2024 Emmy Noether Lecturer, an honor that celebrates women who have made impactful contributions to the mathematical sciences.
“I have always admired and was inspired by Emmy Noether’s foundational work in mathematics and physics," Schilling said. "Giving the 2024 Noether lecture was a great honor, especially since my work is also often influenced by ideas from both mathematics and physics.”
Schilling first heard about Diving into Math with Emmy Noether from a colleague at Smith College in New England, which hosted a performance in 2023. Wanting to bring the play to UC Davis, Schilling got to work and sought input from the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Schilling hopes the play will show audiences the humanity at the heart of math — something often missed in textbooks.
“Emmy Noether faced struggles during her life and I think it’s very important for people to see that math is very much a process,” Schilling said. “Using a theater play, I think, is a very valuable way to do that.”
More...
https://www.ucdavis.edu/blog/play-dives-life-famed-mathematician-emmy-noether
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
Join the Hudson Classical Theater Company for an afternoon of ten minute play. Writers-A-Go-Go highlights the work of local contemporary playwrights, directed and performed by Hudson Classical company members. Stay after the show for light refreshments and conversation with the playwrights.
This event takes place in the newly-renovated 102nd Street Field House. Enter the Park at 102nd Street and Riverside Drive, then descend to the promenade level. The stairs to the Field House are across the promenade at 102nd Street.
Saturday, March 21 & Sunday March 22, 2026
2:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.
https://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2026/03/21/hudson-classical-theater-company-presents-writersagogo
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Applications for the 2026-27 PlayGround-NY Writers Pool are being
– 25 early-career playwrights as well as 3 alternates will be competitively selected from applications to form the Writers Pool.
– Members of the Writers Pool may submit scripts to be considered as part of the Monday Night PlayGround-NY staged reading series. Four times each season, September through March (see tentative schedule below), PlayGround-NY will announce a prompt and Writers Pool members have just four-and-a-half days to generate an original short script (max. 10 pages) inspired by the prompt.
***
SkyPilot Theatre Company, a non-profit ensemble company of actors, directors and designers producing provocative, compelling and challenging new works for the Los Angeles theatre-going audience, will once again present a selection of original one-act plays this Winter. Playwrights are invited to submit works based on the theme “It’s The Holiday Season”.
***
HystericalFest: Women+ Act Out seeks short scripts and monologues
Seeking short scripts and monologues centering around women (and those of traditionally marginalized genders) and invisible disability to be a part of our first-ever "HystericalFest: Women+ Act Out" on August 28-30, 2026 at the Piven Theatre in Evanston, IL (just north of Chicago).
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
– 25 early-career playwrights as well as 3 alternates will be competitively selected from applications to form the Writers Pool.
– Members of the Writers Pool may submit scripts to be considered as part of the Monday Night PlayGround-NY staged reading series. Four times each season, September through March (see tentative schedule below), PlayGround-NY will announce a prompt and Writers Pool members have just four-and-a-half days to generate an original short script (max. 10 pages) inspired by the prompt.
***
SkyPilot Theatre Company, a non-profit ensemble company of actors, directors and designers producing provocative, compelling and challenging new works for the Los Angeles theatre-going audience, will once again present a selection of original one-act plays this Winter. Playwrights are invited to submit works based on the theme “It’s The Holiday Season”.
***
HystericalFest: Women+ Act Out seeks short scripts and monologues
Seeking short scripts and monologues centering around women (and those of traditionally marginalized genders) and invisible disability to be a part of our first-ever "HystericalFest: Women+ Act Out" on August 28-30, 2026 at the Piven Theatre in Evanston, IL (just north of Chicago).
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** HAPPY PI DAY ***
Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for math enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about math, and eat pie.
More...
https://www.piday.org
***
Like other plays by Tom Stoppard, Arcadia is an uproarious comedy with unsettling undercurrents. In this case, the undercurrents find their source in the second law of thermodynamics, unpredictability, and chaos, highlighting not only the limitations of scientific prediction but also the inescapable fact that we can never hope to foresee just what course our lives will take. Ruthless, irreverent humor prevents the play from straining under these weighty themes, as does a plot that shuttles between the early nineteenth century and the present.
Mathematics plays a starring role in Arcadia. Not only does it feature two mathematicians and a thirteen-year-old mathematical prodigy as central characters, it also uses mathematics to suffuse everyday things—a leaf, a population of birds, clouds—with grandeur and magic. The ominous implications of the second law of thermodynamics—that disorder will increase until all energy is dissipated and all light and life are extinguished—hang heavy over the play. But this bleak prognosis is in the end contravened as the lives of the characters in the past and present begin to show parallels and similarities. In the end their struggles to understand life begin to mesh, and it is the unquestioning joy of the young that points to a more hopeful path.
More...
https://www.ams.org/notices/199511/arcadia.pdf
***
David Auburn, in deciding how much math to include in Proof, had to strike a delicate balance: though math is an integral part of the story, it is not a “math play.” However, he did try “to get in as much kind of math lore as possible” One central theme is that of the lone genius. Catherine, the lone genius in Proof, has many real-life counterparts in math and science. However, none may be more fitting than Princeton University’s Andrew Wiles.
In 1993, Wiles flew to a conference in England. There was a steady drip of rumor regarding what he had been secretly working on. This, writes Amir Aczel, took seven years and kept Wiles “a virtual prisoner in his own attic.” He was allotted an unusual three hours of lecture time. When he arrived, he kept to himself and discussed nothing. This uncharacteristic secrecy from a colleague sparked curiosity, and attendance to his lectures soared.
More...
https://dramaturgicalresources.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/proof-fermat-wiles-auburn/
Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for math enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about math, and eat pie.
More...
https://www.piday.org
***
Like other plays by Tom Stoppard, Arcadia is an uproarious comedy with unsettling undercurrents. In this case, the undercurrents find their source in the second law of thermodynamics, unpredictability, and chaos, highlighting not only the limitations of scientific prediction but also the inescapable fact that we can never hope to foresee just what course our lives will take. Ruthless, irreverent humor prevents the play from straining under these weighty themes, as does a plot that shuttles between the early nineteenth century and the present.
Mathematics plays a starring role in Arcadia. Not only does it feature two mathematicians and a thirteen-year-old mathematical prodigy as central characters, it also uses mathematics to suffuse everyday things—a leaf, a population of birds, clouds—with grandeur and magic. The ominous implications of the second law of thermodynamics—that disorder will increase until all energy is dissipated and all light and life are extinguished—hang heavy over the play. But this bleak prognosis is in the end contravened as the lives of the characters in the past and present begin to show parallels and similarities. In the end their struggles to understand life begin to mesh, and it is the unquestioning joy of the young that points to a more hopeful path.
More...
https://www.ams.org/notices/199511/arcadia.pdf
***
David Auburn, in deciding how much math to include in Proof, had to strike a delicate balance: though math is an integral part of the story, it is not a “math play.” However, he did try “to get in as much kind of math lore as possible” One central theme is that of the lone genius. Catherine, the lone genius in Proof, has many real-life counterparts in math and science. However, none may be more fitting than Princeton University’s Andrew Wiles.
In 1993, Wiles flew to a conference in England. There was a steady drip of rumor regarding what he had been secretly working on. This, writes Amir Aczel, took seven years and kept Wiles “a virtual prisoner in his own attic.” He was allotted an unusual three hours of lecture time. When he arrived, he kept to himself and discussed nothing. This uncharacteristic secrecy from a colleague sparked curiosity, and attendance to his lectures soared.
More...
https://dramaturgicalresources.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/proof-fermat-wiles-auburn/
***
The Proof Stage compellingly argues that the domains of mathematics and theatre have much more in common than people might assume, and that theatre has engaged deeply and innovatively with mathematics for centuries. Focusing predominantly on post-1800 to the present, but cleverly arranging his material thematically rather than plodding chronologically through it, Abbott discusses geometry, incompleteness, infinity, arithmetic, code-breaking, proofs, and many other core mathematical concepts and fields. He also brilliantly conveys a short history of mathematics as he explains ideas and breakthroughs.
Few theatre scholars are equipped with the mathematical knowledge to be able to write such a book. Abbott is uniquely qualified to write the definitive book on this topic not just because of his mathematics expertise (he is Professor of Mathematics at Middlebury College) but for his first-hand experience in the making of plays that engage with science and mathematics. The book benefits immensely from that deep understanding of theatre from a performance and not just textual perspective. He is rare in his genuine cross-disciplinary activity and his hands-on theatrical experience and he also draws on his design and teaching of undergraduate theatre and science courses. This book will no doubt become required reading for such courses, which proliferate across North America and Europe.
More...
https://www.bsls.ac.uk/2024/08/abbott-steve-the-proof-stage-how-theatre-reveals-the-human-truth-of-mathematics/
***
In the year 2000, New York City theatergoers were treated to an especially mathematical season. That year marked the premiere of both Fermat’s Last Tango, a musical based on a centuries-long quest to prove Fermat’s Last Theorem, and Proof, a play about a breakthrough mathematical proof that a father leaves behind to his daughter.
The people writing and directing those shows had to deal with math in an unusually direct way. But even when the show contains no theorems or proofs, there is still a lot of math to be found. People involved in different aspects of any production, such as stage designers, lighting designers, and theater architects, all wrestle with some complicated math problems. On a Broadway stage, where shows can sell thousands of tickets and cost millions of dollars, the stakes can get very high.
More...
https://www.hmhco.com/blog/teaching-math-through-theater?srsltid=AfmBOooyx-egUV30eane4-GIFdu_ZCaXc2cktwkuo3hRpTJhuKJH-Nk-
***
When Schilling was a student, she was entranced by the exquisite nature of Noether’s mathematics and the deep reach of its ability to describe physical reality. Noether’s work inspired Schilling.
Years later, the Association for Women in Mathematics named Schilling the 2024 Emmy Noether Lecturer, an honor that celebrates women who have made impactful contributions to the mathematical sciences.
“I have always admired and was inspired by Emmy Noether’s foundational work in mathematics and physics," Schilling said. "Giving the 2024 Noether lecture was a great honor, especially since my work is also often influenced by ideas from both mathematics and physics.”
Schilling first heard about Diving into Math with Emmy Noether from a colleague at Smith College in New England, which hosted a performance in 2023. Wanting to bring the play to UC Davis, Schilling got to work and sought input from the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Schilling hopes the play will show audiences the humanity at the heart of math — something often missed in textbooks.
“Emmy Noether faced struggles during her life and I think it’s very important for people to see that math is very much a process,” Schilling said. “Using a theater play, I think, is a very valuable way to do that.”
More...
https://www.ucdavis.edu/blog/play-dives-life-famed-mathematician-emmy-noether
***
Mathematicians are rarely seen on the Broadway stage, and mathematics itself even less often. So it is some cause for celebration that David Auburn’s play Proof, having been on Broadway for several months, has just won a Pulitzer Prize. The piece gives us a new look at the role mathematics plays in all our lives.
Why are mathematicians so often perceived by the general public as immature? The image of the mathematician is, too often, that of a nerd, a social misfit, a person obsessed with his (usually not her!) own insights, one who has not yet learned to take notice of those with other interests. The elite, the aloof, the initiated—who would care to think of them as anything more than cases of arrested development?
Like all stereotypes, this view is of course incorrect. But like all stereotypes, it takes its origin from wisps of reality. For the dialogues of mathematicians must seem, to those who don’t care to look deeper, like childhood fantasies. Why this obsession for proof, sometimes of statements that would pass as obvious in any other context? Why fret about the possibility of astronomically large counterexamples to a conjecture that is true for the first billion cases? These concerns are dangerously close, in the public mind, to the child’s invention of an imaginary companion or to nighttime fears of a monster in the closet.
More...
https://www.ams.org/notices/200106/rev-saul.pdf
Mathematicians are rarely seen on the Broadway stage, and mathematics itself even less often. So it is some cause for celebration that David Auburn’s play Proof, having been on Broadway for several months, has just won a Pulitzer Prize. The piece gives us a new look at the role mathematics plays in all our lives.
Why are mathematicians so often perceived by the general public as immature? The image of the mathematician is, too often, that of a nerd, a social misfit, a person obsessed with his (usually not her!) own insights, one who has not yet learned to take notice of those with other interests. The elite, the aloof, the initiated—who would care to think of them as anything more than cases of arrested development?
Like all stereotypes, this view is of course incorrect. But like all stereotypes, it takes its origin from wisps of reality. For the dialogues of mathematicians must seem, to those who don’t care to look deeper, like childhood fantasies. Why this obsession for proof, sometimes of statements that would pass as obvious in any other context? Why fret about the possibility of astronomically large counterexamples to a conjecture that is true for the first billion cases? These concerns are dangerously close, in the public mind, to the child’s invention of an imaginary companion or to nighttime fears of a monster in the closet.
More...
https://www.ams.org/notices/200106/rev-saul.pdf
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