ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now

SEPT 9 – OCT 4, 2026, NYC

WORLD PREMIERE

In Collaboration with MultiStages

Six Short Plays with Dance

Groundbreaking!

At the Theatre of the 14St Y

344 E 14th St, New York, NY 10003 (near First Ave)

ReproEco is theatrical storytelling about our health, our bodies, communities, our culture, and the need for air, soil, and water that is free of toxins.

Six original plays with dance explore the intricate connections between reproductive freedom and environmental justice for a program that is compelling, provocative and inspiring. Not a one-act festival, but beautifully interwoven plays and dance!

SEE the Full Program HERE

Playwrights: Diane Breeser, Cindy Cooper, Alinca Hamilton, Mildred Inez Lewis, Cassandra Medley and Laura Shamas

Evenings at 7 pm: 9/9; 9/10; 9/17; 9/23; 9/25; 9/26; 10/1; 10/3

Matinees at 2 pm: 9/16; 9/19; 9/27; 10/4

Featuring:

Actors: (u) Becca Worthington, Brielle Webb, James Alton, Darlenis Duran, (l) Jean Brookner*, Joyce Griffen*, Gena Bardwell, Pernell Walker* (*denotes Actors Equity)

Dancers: Adele Carlson, Jennifer Chin, Maya Lam and Fiona Oba

Directed by: Lorca Peress

Choreography by Jennifer Chin; Music and Sound Design by Sun Hee Kil

Allison Astor Vargas, Assistant Director; Jan Hartley, Production Design; Jennifer Varbalow, Scenic/Props Design; Kia Rogers, Lighting Design; Lisa Renee Jordan, Costume Design; AJ Muhammad, historic dramaturgy; Mel Ashby-Hunt and Hadley Todoran, Stage Management; Production Assistants: Gloria Jimenez, Reina Macias, Maria Sirigos

Produced by MultiStages (Lorca Peress, Artistic Director) and ReproFreedomArts.org (Cindy Cooper, organizer)

ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now is part of FEMME COLLECTIVE.

Broadway World: REPRO ECO: TOMORROW IS NOW to Premiere at Theatre at the 14th St Y; Six playwrights and choreographer Jennifer Chin explore toxins, ecology and reproductive justice under director Lorca Peress.

Photos of ‘ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now’ – Broadway World

The Writers’ Ideas Take Shape In ‘ReproEco Tomorrow Is Now’ NYC 2026

‘ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now’ to Open in Manhattan in September

Theater Confronts Environmental Threats to Women’s Health and Echoes the UN Global Agenda, Diplomatic Watch

Stage Whisper Podcast about ‘ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now,’ with co-producers Lorca Peress (director), and Cindy Cooper

Read more: ReproEco:Tomorrow Is Now by Dr. Judy Kuriansky, Black Tie International Magazine, “A stunning new must-see theatrical production”

Love from Boston: Performing in NY, but a Hearty Shout Out from ArtsFuse editor, Bill Marx, in Massachusetts!

Part of the adjunct events for the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Healing Arts Week! Sept 19 – 26, a project of Jameel Arts & Health Lab and W.H.O. Part of Climate Week NYC, Sept 20 – 27

DOWNLOAD A FLYER!

Insta: @reproecoplays @reprofreedomarts

Project Adviser: Margie Kelly, Communications specialist, environment, reproductive health.

Thank You For Your Support: Distracted Globe Foundation, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, LMCC (Lower Manhattan Cultural Council) and Individual Donors

Playwrights: Diane Breeser, Cindy Cooper, Alinca Hamilton, Mildred Inez Lewis, Cassandra Medley, Laura Shamas

2026 DATES:

BUY TICKETS HERE!

Wed Sept 9 at 7 pm (first preview)
Thurs Sept 10 at 7 pm (second preview)
Wed Sept 16 at 2 pm (opening)
Thurs Sept 17 at 7 pm
Sat Sept 19 at 2 pm (Talkback. Leonne Tanis, midwife & birth nurse practitioner)
Wed Sept 23 at 7 pm (Talkback, Tina Rosenberg, founder of Solutions Journalism)
Fri Sept 25 at 7 pm (Talkback, Lynn M. Paltrow, lawyer, founder, Pregnancy Justice)
Sat Sept 26 at 7 pm
Sun Sept 27 at 2 pm (Talkback, Dr. Jacqui Patterson, founder, Chisholm Legacy Project)
Thurs Oct 1 at 7 pm (Talkback Margie Kelly, media manager NRDC)
Sat Oct 3 at 7 pm
Sun Oct 4 at 2 pm

Evenings at 7 pm: 9/9; 9/10; 9/17; 9/23; 9/25; 9/26; 10/1; 10/3

Matinees at 2 pm: 9/16; 9/19; 9/27; 10/4

See a full list and description of talkbacks. (If you attend any performance, you may come to a talkback; bring your program.)

REPRO ECO 2026 TALKBACKS

Buy Tickets on Ovation Here

The Plays

The ReproEco Plays, commissioned by ReproFreedomArts.org

Figments by Diane Breeser
A woman, discovering she is pregnant, has a comical nightmare about microplastics and small steps she can take to protect against environmental harm.

Until the Change Comes by Cindy Cooper
A branding team begins to question their work after a visit from Theo Colborn, a woman scientist from years gone by who first identified toxic harms to health.

Always Never Really Here by Alinca Hamilton
A mother and daughter face the harsh realities of living without clean running water in the verifiably real town of Sand Branch, Texas.

Through Water Into Blood by Mildred Inez Lewis
After a devastating miscarriage, a West Virginia woman confronts her birth doula and they both realize the role toxic chemicals may have played.

We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living by Cassandra Medley
In an Afro-futurism style, intergenerational women experience an altered world in which nature is so degraded that the out-of-doors must be delivered and enjoyed virtually.

Priorities by Laura Shamas
In a dystopian future, two gynecologists and a midwife meet in secret to prioritize the needs of their pregnant patients, so they can escape to a better environment.

Rehearsal photos:

Meet the Writers & Director

The ReproEco Writers

Diane Breeser has spent most of her life involved in theatre. Years of research culminated in her one-act, Goddess on the Mountaintop about primatologist Dian Fossey. In 2017 Diane co-founded an award-winning theatre group, The “Alternative Truth” Project, which performed free monthly play readings about cultural issues such as reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, guns, and book-banning. In the Spring of 2025, she produced all six ReproEco plays in her hometown of La Crosse, Wisconsin. A former teacher and librarian, Diane lives near the Mississippi River with her husband Randy and various critters.

Cindy Cooper is a playwright, journalist and author. Her plays have been produced in the US, Canada and Europe. In New York, her work has been at Primary Stages, The Women’s Project (How She Played the Game), Wings (Strange Light; Slow Burn), Vaclav Havel Library Foundation (Stones of Tiananmen), Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio, MultiStages, EST, Town Hall (The World at Your Fingertips), Anne Frank Center USA (Silence Not, A Love Story), Sheen Center, Center for Jewish History, WOW Café, Chain Theatre, elsewhere, and in Chicago, Minneapolis, DC, Philadelphia, Boston, LA, Maryland, Texas, Florida, Montreal, Budapest, Helsinki, elsewhere. A two-time Jerome Fellow, her plays are in 17 volumes and have won awards from Pen & Brush, Samuel French, Malibu Int’l Festival, Quixote Foundation, Equity Library Theater, others. She is the founder of ReproFreedomArts.org. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, she lives in New York.

Alinca Hamilton is a holistic creator working across stage and screen. Select acting credits include: January (MultiStages), Clyde’s (Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Arkansas Rep); Mud Row (Premiere Stages); Gong Lum’s Legacy (New Federal); Julius Cesar (Classic Stage), Growing Up (Disney+). Her writing has been recognized as a semi-finalist for the NYSCA/NYSFA Artist Fellowship and the Fresh Voices Competition. She is a founding member of Squeaky Wheelz Productions, whose work has appeared at The Tank, Ars Nova, Edinburgh Fringe, Twin Cities Film Festival, International Black Theater Festival, and Berlin Indie Film Festival (Award – Best Artist Short). A New Yorker to her core (please don’t ask her to drive). M.F.A. – Acting, Columbia University. alincahamilton.com

Mildred Inez Lewis writes and directs for theater, film and the digital space. A 2026 resident playwright with PlayGround-Los Angeles, she also writes with Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA and Towne Street Theatre. This year, she was a finalist for the Inkslinger Playwriting Contest and semi-finalist for the Leah Ryan Fund’s Boost commission. After a residency at the Mercury Store (NYC) this summer, her comedy Museum Annex will appear in Mosaic Theatricals Staged Reading Festival (Escondido, CA) this fall. Her television pilot Louisiana Shoal, based on her award winning short play (Samuel French OOB Festival, Best of PlayGround-LA, Smith & Kraus’ Best 10-Minute Plays), is being read in several Los Angeles venues this fall.

Cassandra Medley is a playwright and teacher whose works have been produced across the U.S., including Fannie Lou Hamer Opera (libretto), A Walk in YaYa’s Garden, Motherless Child, March 13, 2020, Martha’s Vineyard Theater, Celebrating Our Community, Gatekeepers Collective, 2020, Mrs. Palmer’s Honey, Bread and Roses Theater. Cell, Playing On Air 2018, Take My Advice, 2017, Survive, 2017, Cell, the full-length, Molelo Theater-2015, American Slavery Project, 2012-13, NYC, Cell, the one act, Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon 2011, Daughter, Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon 2009, Noon Day Sun, August, 2008, Diverse City Theatre Company, Relativity, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Ensemble Studio Theatre, 2004. She has won many awards, including the Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting, the August Wilson Prize, the Ensemble Studio Theatre Life Achievement Award, Theatrefest Regional Playwriting Award for Best Play, National Endowment for the Arts Playwright Award, and a New York Foundation for Arts Fellowship. https://www.cassandramedleyplaywright.com/

Laura Shamas was born in Oklahoma. She is a 2023 Los Angeles New Play Project Playwriting Award winner ($20,000) for Four Women in Red, which was produced at the Victory Theatre in Burbank in early 2025. This play was published in June 2025 by Broadway Play Publishing. It was performed in the 2022 Festival of New Plays at Native Voices at the Autry. Shamas’ plays include: Circular, Picnic at Hanging Rock (adaptation), Portrait of a Nude, Lady-Like, Chasing Honey, Talking Leaves (Winner – Garrard Best Play Award – Five Civilized Tribes Museum), and Amelia Lives. Her short play Seeds won the Von Marie Atchley Award for Excellence in Playwriting from Native Voices in 2017. Her work on ReproEco was mentioned in a feature about her in the Chickasaw Nation Times. She is a Chickasaw Nation citizen. http://www.laurashamas.com

Lorca Peress, Director, is a freelance theatre, opera and musical theatre director, and the Founder and Artistic Director of MultiStages in NYC, a multicultural multidisciplinary NYC theatre company. She is an advocate for women in theatre and an equity diversity activist. Peress is a Union member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA, and SDC; a member of the National Theatre Conference, Women in Arts and Media Coalition, NYWA (New York Women Agenda), and the League of Professional Theatre Women (past co-president 2011-14). She identifies as a multiculturalwoman with a Puerto Rican, Sephardic Iraqi and Polish background. Peress has directed new works at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre, The Acorn at Theatre Row, HERE, International NY Fringe Festival at the Soho Playhouse, The Tank, Hudson Guild Theatre, Theatre for the New City, NJ Repertory, La MaMa, Repertorio Español, Urban Stages, and others. She directed a special music event for the Lincoln Bicentennial at Riverside Church with Ruby Dee and Sam Waterston, and a concert of the Aids Quilt Song Book at Cooper Union. She has directed university theatre for NYU Tisch, Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, and operas at Queens College for the Aaron Copland School of Music and Drama/Dance Depts. She has also directed three 24-hour plays for her alma mater, Bennington College for the Spencer Cox Memorial Fund and Nicolas Martin Scholarship Fund at the Signature Theatre, Lucille Lortel, and the Public Theatre. She is the co-producer of ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now. https://www.lorcaperessdirector.com/

Creative Team: (upper) Sun Hee Kil, Jan Harley, Lorca Peress, Jennifer Varbalow; (lower) Allison Astor-Vargas, Jennifer Chin, Lisa Renee Jordan, Kia Rogers

Audience Feedback

Here what people had to say in our in-process developmental readings, leading up to our Sept 9 – Oct 4 2026 World Premiere Production of ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now

Brava! The ReproEco play series was excellent!

Kudos on a wonderful effort.

Really profound and thought-provoking.

Each writer took a different angle, which allowed me to really think about the whole subject from so many perspectives.

A big thank you for elevating the conversation on the gendered and reproductive health impacts of climate change… Grateful to be in spaces where climate, health, and justice are seen as inseparable.

This afternoon was exceptional. Thank you!

My friend and I talked about it nonstop on the way home. Such a beautiful use of theater.

The plays were provocative and informative and well done!

I would love for young people to see these!

Powerful funny heartfelt stories. Important work and a galvanizing experience!

It was inspirational!

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ReproEco In Process Readings, Queens 2025

with Dance

in collaboration with MultiStages (Lorca Peress, Artistic Director), Jennifer Chin Dance, and CultureLab LIC

With: Gena Bardwell, Jean Brookner, Jolie Cloutier, Joyce Griffen, Nina Mehta, Valorie Niccore, Abigail Ramsay, Laura Riveros-Sefair, Celeste Sena and Donnell E. Smith with dancers Adele Carlson, Jennifer Chin and Maya Lam

Playwrights: Diane Breeser, Cindy Cooper, Alinca Hamilton, Mildred Inez Lewis, Cassandra Medley and Laura Shamas

Directed by Allison Astor-Vargas and Lorca Peress

Choreography by Jennifer Chin, Music by Sun Hee Kil

Sept 19 and 20, 2025, CultureLab LIC, Queens, New York, NY

Funding Made Possible by The Puffin Foundation

This event was presented as part of UNGA Healing Arts Week, an NYC-wide celebration of arts and health during the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly, produced by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

Full program here.

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Honors

ReproEco is on the Short List, Publication, Arts and the Environment

World Health Organization (WHO)

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Repro Eco: Virtual In-Process Developmental Readings

Transformation Theatre (DC), 2025

October 14, 2025

Live-streaming performance of the six ReproEco plays! A one-time performance (without recording).

The Virtual Performance of ReproEco: Six Short Plays by Six Playwrights is a production of Transformation Theatre (DC / Maryland).

Carl Randolph, Founder and Producing Artistic Director, and Heidi Castle-Smith, Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director

Read more about Transformation Theatre here.

Featuring: Alfie Antillon, Harriette Dunn-Feliz, , Kimberly Fairbanks, Olivia Harden, A’lisa D. Miles, Jada Alston Owens, Thomasin Savaiano, Pernell Walker

Directed by: Carly Bodnar and Shanea N. Taylor

Dramaturgs: Kajoree Bhattacharya and Victoria Estes

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Brooklyn NY In-Process Discussion 2025

Intersections in Reproductive and Environmental Justice Through Storytelling!

A discussion and reading of Almost Never Really Here by Alinca Hamilton, featuring Alinca Hamilton and Gena Bardwell, directed by Lorca Peress.

With a discussion about the genesis of ReproEco with Cindy Cooper, and a conversation with Trae Banuelos, Reproductive Justice consultant and executive director of the Abortion Conversations Project about the connections between art and activism.

Sept 6, 2025 at 6 pm

Puffin Brooklyn, https://www.puffinfoundation.org/puffin-brooklyn/ 227 5th Ave, Brklyn

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ReproEco Readings, Wisconsin

La Crosse, Wisconsin, March – April 2025

FIVE EVENTS: Play Readings, followed by discussions with Wisconsin experts, activists, and thinkers!

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EVENTS in La Crosse, March – April 2025!

Saturday, March 8 First Congregational Church, La Crosse WI: Always Never Really Here by Alinca Hamilton and Maybe Our Baby by Diane Breeser

Thursday, March 20, Oolala! Consign, La Crosse WI: Until the Change Comes by Cindy Cooper

Wednesday, April 2, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, Social Justice Week, Until the Change Comes, by Cindy Cooper and Always Never Really Here by Alinca Hamilton

Saturday, April 5, The Nature Place, La Crosse WI: Through Water Into Blood by Mildred Inez Lewis and We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living by Cassandra Medley

Thurs, April 24: The Pump House Regional Arts Center, La Crosse WI: Priorities by Laura Shamas and Maybe Our Baby by Diane Breeser

More about ReproEco, Wisconsin with writer Diane Breeser on La Crosse WIZM Talk Radio

Repro Theatrical Series Addresses Issues Through Short Plays on News 8000.com

Broadway World REPROECO: Short Plays Exploring Reproductive Health And Environmental Justice Coming To Wisconsin

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ReproEco Developmental Reading, Manhattan 2024

ReproFreedomArts.org in collaboration with MultiStages (Lorca Peress, Artistic Director) and Goddard Riverside Arts, Oct 4-5, 2024

See the FULL PROGRAM GUIDE from Goddard Riverside HERE

Featuring Gena Bardwell, Jean Brookner, Darlenis Duran, Joyce Griffen, Tanis Parenteau, Abigail Ramsay, Marc Reign, Laura Riveros-Sefair, Elizabeth Rose and Celeste Sena

Directed by Joyce Griffen, Lorca Peress and Allison Astor-Vargas

See Photos ReproEco Reading