Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have revealed their 2024-2025 Science and Technology Project New Play Commissions, as well as the lineup for the Fall 2024 First Light Festival.

Commissioned plays include Mikaela Berry's SuperQuiz!; Jayne Deely's Lavender Dust; Alexa Derman's Beauty; Stefani Kuo's Mercury River; Chris Littler, Kelly Tieger, and Ellen Winter's Animal Magnetism; Jared Mezzocchi's ANY BODY OUT THERE; Sharyn Rothstein's AI Hallucination Love Story; DeAndre Short's Smokeless; Phillip Christian Smith's Bright Light; P.C. Verrone's The Forester; and Emma Watkins' Very rapidly, over a few tens of thousands of years. 

The annual First Light Festival includes a first look at projects that have been commissioned and are currently in development under the EST/Sloan Project. This year's festival will be held October 24-December 12, with a lineup including Thandiwe Mawungwa's How Power Flows, SEVAN's Miss Curie of the East, and Emily Chadick Weiss' SPRAY. Three additional plays will be announced at a later date. All presentations are free, and reservations can be made online. 

Along with this year's readings, EST's mainstage productions, Franklinland by Lloyd Suh and Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother? by Michael Walek, will also be presented by the EST/Sloan Project to round out the season. 

Since 1998, the EST/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project has developed over 300 plays that challenge and broaden the view of science in the popular imagination. Applications for the next round of commissions will be open September 15-November 15. A virtual panel discussion will be held October 29 for those interested in applying. 

Visit EnsembleStudioTheatre.org for more information.