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The School of Drama at The New School College of Performing Arts presents The 2026 APEX Festival.
Register for the on-demand viewing for the 2026 APEX Festival.
The presentation will begin promptly at 4:00 PM ET on March 23. The production will be available to stream for 24 hours following the start time.
APEX Festival is a collective, artistic activation of the Bank Street Theater and surrounding spaces by graduating MFA Contemporary Theatre and Performance students. Eight distinct projects serve as each student's capstone offering as well as a public introduction to their work as it exists at this stage in their development. In celebration, the School of Drama invites The New School community, communities surrounding The New School, and communities beyond to experience a collection of performative artworks that push the boundaries of discipline and form.
Anticipated performances include:
President Protocol by Rodrigo Pocidônio
[el] Living by Pau Zabaleta Llauger
Anemone by Michael Valdes
I Grieve Different by Harper Jones & Sierra ‘Sia’ Meshele Williams
The Strange Disappearance of Cat Braun and Minnie Roy by Deana Taheri & Stella Rea
Fragmented Hope by Jing Wang
The Love Suicide at Amijima adapted by Tomoka Takahashi
Cottage at the End of the World by Sydney Green & Miranda Derossi
Presented by the College of Performing Arts at The New School.
President Protocol tells the story of an ordinary man who receives an obscure email appointing him as the new President of the United States. This theatre piece blends physical comedy with new media art in a contemporary tale about smartphones, mental health and the crisis of Western democracy.
*Content Notice: This performance contains nudity.
[el] LIVING is a visual theater piece that plays with image, movement, objects, and live music to create a fragile story in which dark topics and heavy scenes go hand in hand with humor and visual poetry.
Two twin sisters and a man died a long time ago. Now they share a living room, unaware of their own passing and unaware of each other. Their bodies have been acting the actions they know in a loop, deconstructing them to the point where they are empty and senseless. They are not ready—but death doesn’t want to wait any longer. In the process, we have played with the concepts of life, death, the passing of time and the joy of being alive, aspiring to share with the audience moments of profound humanity, fear, rage, and tenderness.
For this project, eleven artists of different generations, six nationalities, and four different schools come together, offering their bodies and their own stories to this truly collaborative theater piece.
ANEMONE is an intimate, contemporary play about friendship, identity, and the moment when the outside world infiltrates. Set in New York City in October 2023, the play follows two young women whose bond is tested as certainty gives way to confusion, memory, and fear.
As everyday conversations unfold—over shared meals, music, laughter, and silence—the past begins to intrude in unexpected ways. Reality blurs with dreams, humor collides with unease, and what initially feels familiar slowly shifts. ANEMONE lives in the space between what is said and what is felt, examining how people process change when answers are unavailable and
communication breaks down.
Through sharp, naturalistic dialogue and moments of surreal imagery, the play explores what it means to belong—to a place, to a culture, and to each other. It asks how identity is shaped not only by where we are, but by what we carry with us: memory, responsibility, and love that stretches across distance.
ANEMONE is a meditation on resilience, connection, and the quiet act of continuing forward when the ground beneath you has shifted. It is not a story about politics, but about people—caught in moments they did not choose, trying to understand who they are becoming.
On the night of their five-year anniversary broadcast, news anchors Cat Braun and Minnie Roy are interrupted mid-live broadcast and find themselves trapped inside their own studio. Without reason or explanation for such unusual activity, the pair slowly but surely succumb to layers and layers of fear and suspicion. Torn between what they can and can’t (or shouldn’t) say, “The Strange Disappearance of Cat Braun and Minnie Roy” is a dark comedy following two journalists that spiral out of reality while trying to make sense of it.
No life shall be born from me to despise my gender.
My flesh and blood shall not become the blade that cuts me.
If the world born from my body is destined to oppress me, I will not let that world be born.
Fragmented Hope is a performance about womanhood under dictatorship.
In this world, women become primary targets. Women who refuse to give birth or surrender their daughters to the government are sent to a re-education camp to have their thinking corrected and their bodies prepared for reproduction. On an inescapable island, how do women survive, resist, and hold on to hope? If motherhood is weaponized, where do women go?
I am Hope. 希望. Harapan. Esperança. Hoop.
Dedicated to the hope we hold onto in this upside-down world.
The Love Suicide at Amijima is a traditional Japanese Bunraku tale written by the Chikamatsu Monzaemon in 1770s. It is a tragic forbidden love story between two people divided by moral rights and social hierarchy. We will not only see romance but the flaw in human nature, how 'love' is not always pure, but sometimes it means it can be messy, and you accept one another's ugly side. That is love. This is not just a Japanese classical tale. It is a story about people. It is a tale about how humans are beautiful and ugly at the same time, that is the beauty of life. In this version, the classical tale will be told using the traditional methods and the modern techniques. We believe that while respecting and preserving a historical depth of traditionalism, we can also still have fun, explore, and adapt with respect. Using shadow puppetry, opera, original composed music, and dances, we believe there is unlimited fun you can have exploring these pieces. While we are excited to showcase this version, please keep in mind that the evolution does not stop here, and you will see this tale again in the future in different forms.
Who are you in the world of your imagination? Who could you imagine yourself to be? Cottage at the End of the World is an immersive, participatory theater piece that invites audiences into the shared fantasy world of two children, Gem and Edie. Though they walk disparate paths of life–Gem compelled to be proper and restrained and Edie being absolutely neither of those things–a chance meeting intertwines their existences forever. They unleash their imaginations into a tangible reality, creating their fantasy realm of glitter, magic, and adventure, as their budding adolescence and the associated increasing complexity of their constructions leads them to contend with self-identity formation, queerness, and the weight of the world they have created. Following letters left behind by Edie for Gem, audiences will trace the nuances of their evolving friendship as they physically reconstruct their world, from castles to ruins and beyond. Yet, when the fantasy world starts to decay at the audience's fingertips, they must negotiate–alongside Gem and Edie–the boundaries of society and self in search of an identity all their own, freed from the vice of expectation. Because there is creation in destruction, if we imagine it.
Committed to amplifying diverse voices, The New School offers more than a thousand public programs and events each year, providing fresh perspectives and unique learning opportunities. These lectures, exhibitions, concerts, and performances feature prominent and emerging artists, activists, and thought leaders.
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