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Process and New Play Development with the Civilians’ R&D Group

The Civilians

Note: This piece, "Process and New Play Development with the Civilians' R&D Group" produced by Ash Marinaccio, was originally published on HowlRound Theatre Commons, on December 9th, 2025. The podcast version of the interview can be found at this link. Ash Marinaccio: Hey, friends. It’s Ash, your host for the Nonfiction Theatre Forum podcast, produced for HowlRound, a …

“I” is for Imagination: Jose Solís and the BIPOC Critics Lab

Community

Faith Zamblé

Flash back, if you will, to the summer of 2020. Do you remember where you were? Do you remember who you were? Do you remember what you were eating, what you were reading, what tools you used to stave off boredom–and grief? Did you post a black square (then delete it)? Send a few surreptitious Juneteenth Venmo payments? Or were you, like, me on the other side of the screen, receiving random, but no…

Brave New Ecosystem

Elizagrace Madrone

"Wildfires affecting more than 100,000 acres (megafires) are now so common that the National Interagency Fire Center “has stopped tracking them as exceptional events.” --Adriana Petryna* Welcome to sunny California. On stage with Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire, where an intentional community is homesteading in an unnamed Northern California landscape, fire is confined to the vi…

Princess Diaries: Iraisa Ann Reilly on BODEGA PRINCESS

Joey Sims

Every January 6th, the tight-knit Latine community of Egg Harbor, New Jersey gathered in a basement cafeteria to celebrate the Feast of Los Reyes Magos—or, Three Kings Day. For writer/performer Iraisa Ann Reilly, that basement cafeteria is a holy site. It is where Reilly performed in front of an audience for the first time, singing a rendition of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” on January 6th…

Re-Mixing the Ame”R”ican Dream: Sylvia Bofill on LA ERRE

The Civilians

Sylvia Bofill's recent play, La Erre is both a tribute to Puerto Rico's buried history and an offering towards its present and future. Following the story of Teresa, a woman traumatized after her experience of violence in both PR and New York, Bofill weaves a story of familial wounding, colonization, grief and the messy possibility of collective understanding. In the following interview, Bofill di…

Topia: How Does This City Make You Feel?

Environment

Kate Tarker

From 2023 to 2025 I lived in Providence, Rhode Island, and began dreaming up a new play called Topia. Thanks to The Civilians, I was able to do research for my story at Princeton University, where I interviewed scientists to get up to date on climate science. But I also kept closely observing my adopted city. I knew I wanted to ground my play about climate change by telling a hyperlocal story with…

Catharsis and Connection: How Human Connection Can Transform Art

Uncategorized

Dezi Tibbs

I can’t remember the last time I cried in the theater. Or at all, really. I used to fear that I lost the capacity to feel deep enough to cry, but what can I expect when every minute of every day, social media and news outlets bombard me with tragic headlines after tragic headlines? Images and videos that brought me to tears a few years ago now don’t elicit as much as a sharp inhale. Typically, I’d…

OUT OF THE CAULDRON: Exploring Alternative Possibilities

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The Civilians

“Finally, I wished to see what the successful Communists had made of their lives ; what was the effect of communal living upon the character of the individual man and woman ; whether the life had broadened or narrowed them ; and whether assured fortune and pecuniary independence had brought to them a desire for beauty of surroundings and broader intelligence : whether, in brief, the Communist had …

Announcing The Civilians’ 2025-26 R&D Group, Finalists, and Semi-Finalists

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The Civilians

To borrow a phrase from R&D group alum Jackie Sibblies Drury, "we are proud to present" The Civilians’ thirteenth annual R&D Group! Each year, a group of writers, composers, directors, and multi-disciplinary artists put their curiosity to work--and assumptions aside--as they create investigative theater projects. Led by Resident Dramaturg Phoebe Corde, the group meets regularly to shar…

Strange Overtones: Considering Michael Friedman’s “Stranger”

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Faith Zamblé

“If a voice speaks to me, it is still my self who must decide: whether the voice is or is not that of an angel… In making the decision, [one] cannot but feel a certain anguish.” —Jean Paul Sartre This past September has re-introduced many of us to the concept of anguish. Between the political chaos at home, the political chaos abroad, the FCC flirting with fascism, Ezra Klein falling on the …