MilkyWay Theatre Company New Works Festival

Co-Producers: Jamiel Burkhart, Joshua Blount, Kayla Stewart
Executive Director: Julia Francis
Director of Marketing: Indya Skye
Fundraising Intern: Brianna Arce
Production Stage Manager: Serena Alexander

Copla
Sat Sept 19 9:30p, Mon Sept 21 7p, Tue Sept 22 9:30p, Sun Sept 27 9:30p
By Alejandro Postigo
Directed by Gaby Garza
Stage Manager: Brendan Flanagan
Producer: Rowyn Sam
Music Director: Matt Everingham
Cádiz, 1939. From the streets of war-torn Spain to the stages of New York’s Ritz Hotel and Carnegie Hall, The Copla Musical follows La Gitana, a transgender singer whose journey is shaped by love, loss, exile, and resistance. Haunted by the sacrifices of those she left behind and torn between safety and truth, she must decide what freedom is truly worth. Inspired by traditional Spanish folk music and blending Copla, Flamenco, and musical theatre traditions, COPLA is a transformative new musical about queer survival, political resistance, and the courage to keep singing when the world demands silence.

Don’t Look So Damn Surprised
Wed Sept 16 9:30p, Sun Sept 20 9:30p, Tue Sept 22 7p, Sun Sept 27 7p
By Malaika Tinashe
Directed by Damayanti Wallace
Stage Manager: Enid Marie Acevedo Colón
Producer: Nadel Henville
A Greek Myth Hidden in the Homes of St. Louis! :  Set in present-day St. Louis, DON’T LOOK SO DAMN SURPRISED is a modern, all-Black reimagining of the Greek myth of Medusa. Through the lens of Black life, the play explores love, pain, resilience, and the stories we inherit about who deserves to be feared. And who deserves to be heard. This powerful new work reclaims one of mythology’s most misunderstood figures, inviting audiences to see her story in an entirely new light.

tame the noise
Wed Sept 16 7p, Sun Sept 20 7p, Mon Sept 21 9:30p, Sat Sept 26 9:30p
By Benjamin Walton
Directed by Alyssa Peyton
Music Director: Sean Allen Andrews
Stage Manager: Olivia Berkeley Spreen
Producer: Zoe Zifer
What if the very thing that made you different was also your greatest strength? tame the noise is an original ADHD folk musical allegory that follows a boy sent on an extraordinary quest when a mysterious phenomenon known only as The Noise overwhelms his town beyond its breaking point. Blending heartfelt storytelling with folk-inspired music and imaginative world-building, tame the noise explores neurodivergence, self-acceptance, and the courage to embrace the parts of ourselves the world often asks us to silence.