New Plays Festival
May 2 @ 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
The Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts (Charter Arts) Theatre Department presents its much-anticipated 2025 New Plays Festival (NPF) on Friday, May 2nd at 7 PM. NPF is an artistic endeavor in the school’s theatre curriculum featuring four plays written, directed, and performed by upperclassmen theatre students and designed by production arts students. The event brings together skills acquired in script writing, directing and acting classes as students fully take on the challenges of creating new works for the stage.
The four plays selected this year, are:
“Brought Wine”, written by Ariana Hernandez, centers around six friends who gather for a night of wine, gossip, and relaxation, but as secrets are exposed, it quickly unravels into chaos and terror.
“The Great Fairy Tale Feud”, written by Andrea Rivera, is a fresh take on iconic fairy tale characters as they team up for a raucous and hilarious fight to take back their stories.
“Flicker”, written by Rashid Akmanov, offers a glimpse into the mind of a man convinced he’s been living the American Dream only to be awakened to the harsh reality of his true existence.
“Bill and Johnny Eternal”, written by Vincent Cocca, is a cacophony of southern stereotypes, sci-fi, and frivolity centered around the cartoonish ongoing feud between the title characters and their nemesis Texas Bob.
ABOUT THE CHARTER ARTS THEATRE DEPARTMENT
The Charter Arts Theatre Department offers a pre-professional training program for high school-aged performers. The goal is to provide students with the skills they will need to move on to competitive college programs as well as professional theatre experiences.
Classes are designed to encourage students to create imaginative and compelling characters, to regard their voices and bodies as creative instruments, to expose them to theatrical literature and to instill in them a sense of respect and professionalism for the art form that will stay with them throughout their lives.
ABOUT THE LEHIGH VALLEY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS (Charter Arts):
Charter Arts is an audition-based public charter school, funded by Pennsylvania taxpayer dollars, that provides a comprehensive curriculum for high school students, grades 9-12, who have a dedicated passion for the creative or performing arts. Students major in one of seven artistic areas: dance, instrumental music, literary arts, production arts (film & technical theatre), theatre, visual arts, or vocal music.
Charter Arts’ rigorous curriculum fosters both academic and artistic excellence for its students. The school’s impressive Future Ready PA Index ranking, Advanced Placement (AP) exam statistics, Keystone Exam statistics, SAT scores, prestigious artistic accolades, and graduation rate, are testaments to the outstanding education that Charter Arts provides.
Charter Arts was ranked #1 Best Public High School Teachers in PA and #1 Best Charter High School in PA on Niche’s 2025 Best Schools in America Rankings. In addition, Charter Arts was one of only four Lehigh Valley schools to be ranked on U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Top 100 Public High Schools in PA.
Audition appointments for the 2025-2026 school year are being scheduled now. To request an audition and learn more about the school, visit www.CharterArts.org.