The Bushwick Starr has named the six playwrights in its 2026 to 2027 Starr Reading Series, and all six new plays will get free public readings at the theater's home at 419 Eldert Street in Bushwick between November 30 and December 9. The cohort is Lisa Clair, b Dang, Lily Haje, Mya Ison, AliCHE Kabia and Salwa Meghjee. Every reading starts at 7 p.m., admission is free, and tickets are handed out at the door.

The announcement lands while the theater is in the middle of its fall run of i'm not even half, a solo show by Layla Khoshnoudi that has been extended through October 31. Khoshnoudi was herself part of the Starr Reading Series in the 2024 to 2025 season, which gives neighbors a direct look at where the program can lead.

The six readings

The Bushwick Starr has posted the full schedule and a short description of each play on its website:

  • Monday, November 30: The Universe is Finished! by b Dang, set in an alternate universe where Herman Melville's Moby-Dick has become the basis of a new American religion.
  • Tuesday, December 1: Make Believers by Salwa Meghjee, about identical twins, one depressed and one not, trying to work out why.
  • Wednesday, December 2: Jackie/Jacquie by Lisa Clair, about two women who share a name, with a detour to an outer-space planet.
  • Monday, December 7: The Fifth Plague by Lily Haje, built around the wave of unexplained cattle mutilations reported across the American Southwest in the 1970s.
  • Tuesday, December 8: The Haunting of ecila: A Clown Show by AliCHE Kabia, in which a character inherits a ghost that knows its Shakespeare.
  • Wednesday, December 9: I'm a Really Good Swimmer by Mya Ison, a two-person play about a young biracial woman on the verge of drowning as her life flashes before her.

How the series works

The Starr Reading Series presents new and often unfinished plays by writers at every stage of their careers who are working with form and language in unconventional ways. Each season a team of curators picks six to eight plays. This year's curators are William Burke, Elizagrace Madrone, Machel Ross and Jehan O. Young.

The support goes beyond a night on stage. According to the theater, each playwright's team receives artist stipends, printing, and marketing and publicity help, along with a peer group of fellow artists who meet throughout the development process. The aim is to give writers room to test raw ideas in front of an audience while letting that audience see new work for free.

The series has a long alumni list. Earlier cohorts include Clare Barron, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Hansol Jung, Leah Nanako Winkler, Haruna Lee and Phillip Howze. Last season's group was Brittany K. Allen, Hillary Gao, Mo Holmes, Nurit Chinn, Sila Puhl and Sophie Sagan-Gutherz.

On stage now: i'm not even half

Before the readings arrive, the theater's current production is running through October 31. i'm not even half is created and performed by Layla Khoshnoudi and directed by Machel Ross, produced in association with ¡OYE! Group. In the play, a woman named S is following a violent uprising in Iran on her phone when she is struck by a car while crossing a Brooklyn street. It is Khoshnoudi's debut as a playwright.

Shows start at 7 p.m. and run about 90 minutes with no intermission. The theater recommends the show for ages 15 and up. The lobby and bar open an hour before curtain, and seating is general admission. Accessibility options are scheduled through the end of the run:

  • Closed captioning and Spanish translation on October 21, 23 and 30
  • An ASL-interpreted performance on October 22
  • Assisted listening devices on request at any performance

The theater has also marked the October 21 performance as a Bushwick Community Performance.

More at the Starr this season

The theater runs Starr Kids, a weekly Saturday morning theater games class taught by playwright Jaclyn Backhaus and director Andrew Scoville. Pre-K through second graders meet from 10 to 10:50 a.m., and third through eighth graders meet from 11 to 11:50 a.m. The fall session runs through December 19, with no class on November 28. Pricing is on a sliding scale.

On December 9, the same night as the last reading, the theater is also offering a free sneak peek of DELIADELIA! The Flat-Chested Witch!, a show headed to Lincoln Center in February 2027.

About the theater

The Bushwick Starr opened in 2007 as a small neighborhood arts space. In April 2021 the nonprofit bought a 5,000-square-foot building in Bushwick and launched a capital campaign to turn it into a permanent theater. The renovation, designed by architect Peter Zuspan of Bureau V, was completed in August 2024. The building on Eldert Street is LEED-certified and fully accessible.

Getting there

The Bushwick Starr is at 419 Eldert Street in Bushwick (ZIP code 11237). The nearest subway stop is Halsey Street on the L train, at Halsey Street and Wyckoff Avenue, a short walk from the theater.

The Starr Reading Series runs November 30 to December 2 and December 7 to 9, each night at 7 p.m., with free admission at the door. Tickets for i'm not even half, playing through October 31, are sold through the theater's website at thebushwickstarr.org, and Starr Kids registration is on the class page.

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