July 13, 2022 – August 7, 2022
“Humanity is flat-lining.”
Renee and Dani are expecting. Ann and Jamie are also expecting. Set in the near future, Babel paints the picture of a society where embryos must be pre-certified. When each couple faces the test results, things take a frighteningly complicated turn — a decision must be made. Jacqueline Goldfinger’s dynamic and stirring play begs the question, “How far will we go before we realize we’ve lost our humanity?” Oh, and did we mention there’s a talking Stork?
Sponsored by Marellen J. Aherne
BABEL is produced at Contemporary American Theater Festival as part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. Other partnering theaters are Unicorn Theatre (Missouri), Theatre Exile (Pennsylvania), Good Company Theatre (Utah), Passage Theatre Company (New Jersey), and Florida Studio Theatre (Sarasota, FL). For more information please visit www.nnpn.org
BABEL was commissioned by National New Play Network with funding from The Smith Prize for Political Theater.
photo by Seth Freeman
photo by Seth Freeman
Interview with playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger from the 2020 UNMUTED series. These interviews and discussions took place during the development process of the play.
The Making of Babel from the 2020 UNMUTED series. These interviews and discussions took place during the development process of the play.
True to CATF nature, some elements of the show have changed. Be on the lookout for updated information about the shows!
PLAYWRIGHT INTERVIEWS – GOLDINGER – 2022
PLAYWRIGHT INTERVIEWS Interviews conducted and edited by Colin McGuire. Love is perhaps the most demanding, ubiquitous and impossible idiom to confront within the confines of the written word. Jacqueline Goldfinger, however, has no fear, and in her latest production, Babel, she tells the story of two couples having trouble trying to get pregnant and the … Continued
Learn more about Babel by reading the 2020 UNMUTED Companion. The Companion was created during the development process of the play.
Jacqueline Goldfinger (she/they) is a writer and teaching artist. Her plays have been produced by The Kennedy Center, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Court Theatre (New Zealand), École nationale de théâtre (Canada), Unicorn Theatre, Capital Stage, Urbanite Theatre, Theatre Exile, Perseverance Theatre, Azuka Theatre, among others. Their opera, choral and art song libretti have been performed at Opera Columbus, Resonance Works, BBC Radio 3 (UK), Voces8 (UK), Oberlin Opera, Chor Leoni (Canada), Chiesa di Ognissanti (Italy), San Diego Opera, Mendelssohn Choruses around the U.S., and others. The filmed version of their short opera, Letter to Our Children, with Composer Justine F. Chen has been screened at film festivals around the world. She’s written for composers including Melissa Dunphy, Justine F. Chen, and Dominick DiOrio.
Her work has been developed at Maryland Opera Studio, The National Theater (UK), New Georges, La Mama, Disquiet (Portugal), PlayPenn, Drama League, the Lark, among others. Her work has been supported by organizations including Yaddo, National Endowment for the Arts, Millay Colony, Sloan Foundation, and the Orchard Project. Her plays have won the Yale Prize, Glaspell Prize, Generations Award, Smith Prize, Barrymore Award, among others. Their opera Alice Tierney with Composer Melissa Dunphy won the Opera America Discovery Award. Their short opera film Letter to Our Children with Composer Justine F. Chen won Best Music Video at the Paris Short Film Awards. Their plays and libretti have been published by Yale Press, TRW Plays, Concord Theatricals, and others. Her poetry has been published by literary magazines including La Piccioletta Barca and the Beyond Queer Words Poetry Anthology (Germany).
As a dramaturg, she has worked with La Jolla Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Arden Theatre, and others. As an educator, she has taught at University of California, Davis (graduate), University of Pennsylvania (undergraduate), and others. Her academic writing includes two books, Playwriting with Purpose and Writing Adaptations and Translations for the Stage (co-written with Allison Horsley), published by Routledge.
MFA: University of Southern California, BA: Agnes Scott College, Website: www.jacquelinegoldfinger.com
Sharifa Yazmeen, Director, (she/her) is a trans Egyptian-American director and playwright. Sharifa focuses on work that speaks to the heartbeat of humanity, often uplifting the voices of those most marginalized. She has completed directing fellowships with The Drama League, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Manhattan Theatre Club, Geva Theatre, and was a Eugene O’Neill national directing fellow. Sharifa’s favorite directing projects include The War Boys (Hangar Theater), 3:59AM (Actors Theatre of Louisville), In the Blood (Duende Productions), Mosque4Mosque (National Queer Theatre) and Beirut (Brown/Trinity Rep). Yazmeen’s playwriting focuses on the intersection of Queer and Arab identities. Her plays have been produced with Uprising Theatre, Amphibian Stage, Trans Theatre Fest, Women’s Theatre Festival, taught at DePaul, Susquehanna, and Kansas Universities, and published in The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays. Yazmeen was honored as the inaugural recipient of the SCDF Barbara Whitman Award in 2021. She currently serves as a member of The Drama League’s Directors Council, and is completing her MFA in Directing with Brown/Trinity Rep. sharifayazmeen.com