Ignition Festival of New Plays

IGNITION Festival of New Plays is a national annual festival devoted to fostering a community of support for the development of outstanding new plays and nurturing relationships with emerging and established playwrights. All readings are free and open to the public. General Admission, but seating will be reserved for Subscribers and Donors of Victory Gardens Theater.

Learn more about our IGNITION Festival of New Plays by watching our highlight video from 2018!

Production History

2019

• #NEWSLAVES by KEELAY GIPSON
• THEY COULD GIVE NO NAME by EXAL IRAHETA
• RECKONING: FURIES FROM A NEW QUEER NATION by GERALDINE INOA
• THE TASTERS by MEGHAN BROWN
• [hieroglyph] by ERIKA DICKERSON-DESPENZA
• THE GRADIENT by STEPH DEL ROSSO

2018

• PROSTHESIS by ROBERT ASKINS
• YOUNG AMERICANS by LAUREN YEE
• WHITE HISTORY by DAVE HARRIS
• HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF by LILY PADILLA
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2019
• SEEING EYE by NICK MALAKHOW
• THE FIRST DEEP BREATH by LEE EDWARD COLSTON II
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2019

2017

• SPIN MOVES by KEN WEITZMAN
• SUSPENSION by KRISTIANA RAE COLÓN
• TELL THEM I’M STILL YOUNG by JULIA DOOLITTLE
• THIS LAND WAS MADE by TORI SAMPSON
• TUVALU, OR THE SADDEST SONG, by ANTOINETTE NWANDU
• WOLF PLAY by HANSOL JUNG

2016

• THE WAYWARD BUNNY by GREG KOTIS
• BREACH: A MANIFESTO ON RACE IN AMERICA THROUGH THE EYES OF A BLACK GIRL RECOVERING FROM SELF-HATE by ANTOINETTE NWANDU
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2018
• EOM (END OF MESSAGE) by LAURA JACQMIN
• KILL MOVE PARADISE by JAMES IJAMES
• GAZA REHEARSAL by KAREN HARTMAN
• GIRLS IN CARS UNDERWATER by TEGAN McLEOD

2015

• CONFESSIONS OF A P.I.M.P. by ANDRÉ DE SHIELDS
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2016
• QUEEN by MADHURI SHEKAR
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2017
• SLAY & EAT by A. ZELL WILLIAMS
• THE LAST BOOK OF HOMER by JOSÉ RIVERA
• MUTHALAND by MINITA GANDHI
• OFFICE HOUR by JULIA CHO
• SADIE RIVER’S DRAG BALL ON THE LAWN by BASIL KREIMENDAHL

2014

• WHERE DID WE SIT ON THE BUS? by BRIAN QUIJADA
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2017
• LACK ON LACK by APRIL FOOLS
• SENDER by IKE HOLTER
• SLINGSHOT by KIA CORTHRON
• HILLARY AND CLINTON by LUCAS HNATH
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2016
• FOR TOMORROW, PLEASE PREPARE by PAUL DOWNS COLAIZZO
• COCKED by SARAH GUBBINS
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2016

2012

• SEVEN SPOTS ON THE SUN by MARTIN ZIMMERMAN
• SAMSARA by LAUREN YEE
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2015
• THE SHOTGUN MESSAGE by A. REY PAMATMAT
• DR. ALI GOES NATIVE by YUSSEF EL GUINDI
• APPROPRIATE by BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2013
  OBIE — Best New American Play, 2014

2010

• THE SUBJECT by CHISA HUTCHINSON
• AURORA by LEONARD MADRID
• EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM by A. REY PAMATMAT
• MALA HIERBA by TANYA SARACHO
• WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT A PRESENTATION ABOUT THE HERERO OF NAMIBIA, FORMERLY KNOWN AS SOUTH-WEST AFRICA, FROM THE GERMAN SUDWESTAFRIKA, BETWEEN THE YEARS 1884-1915 by JACKIE SIBBLIES
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2012
• UNDONE by ANDREA THOME

2008

• THE IMAGINE MAN by CHRISTOPHER DE PAOLA
• A BETTER BABYLON by MICHAEL LEW
• THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY by KRISTOFFER DIAZ
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2009
  Finalist For Pulitzer Prize, 2010
  OBIE — Best New American Play, 2011
• BATHING VAN GOGH by BRIAN TUCKER
• YEAR ZERO by MICHAEL GOLAMCO
  Victory Gardens Theater World Premiere, 2009
  Grand Prize Winner, Chicago Dramatists Many Voices Project, 2008
• FATI’S LAST DANCE by FRANCE-LUCE BENSON