(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- Crossroads Theatre Company presents the Genesis Festival 2022 this week at The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. The Genesis Festival of new voices and new plays, which runs from April 19-23, is a playwright laboratory experience that consists of six separate shows of staged readings for the audience to enjoy and share feedback.

April 19, 2022 at 7:00pm - di.stance by Gabriel Bámgbósé. A one hour excerpt. di.stance presents a series of poems addressing our imaginaries of distance in their biographical, political, cultural, geographical, historical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. The poems, in different ways, break open the stance from which our varied ideas or metaphors of distance are produced as powerful social constructs shaping the meanings that we ascribe to the experience of trauma and loss. Following the narratives of distance in a broad spectrum of social life experiences—distance from home, social distance in the context of health crises, virtual distance from the scenes of catastrophe, psychological distance from loved ones, spiritual distance in the crisis of faith, political distance in the context of war and order—the poems ask what forms of privilege or deprivation inform our appeal to the distance that shields us from the experiences of others.

April 20, 2022 at 7:00pm - The Mapmakers by Dr. Abena P. A. Busia. A one hour excerpt. Walking on water has never been easy: what miracle of love does it take to hold you up? How does a mother trace and then contain the histories of her scattered daughters? In her presentation of The Mapmakers, an epic poem in the making, poet Abena P.A. Busia shares the process of embarking on the journey to answer those questions, and the voices she is meeting on the way. 

April 22, 2022 at 7:00pm - Inherent Resolve by Richard Wesley. A one hour excerpt. Inherent Resolve tells the story of a group of veterans of the Afghanistan War, brought together for a ceremony in honor of their commanding officer, but the awful truth behind a heroic action for which they all received medals and high honors continues to haunt them nearly ten years after they have returned home.

April 23, 2022 at 7:00pm - The Ballad of Debbie Walker by Divinity Roxx. A one hour excerpt. Divinity Roxx, a world-renowned bass player (Beyonce, Victor Wooten) brings her musical prowess and masterful storytelling to the theater in The Ballad of Debbie Walker, an origin story and nod to the name she received at birth. She weaves music and words with honesty, truth, and joy recounting her life as the precocious eldest child of teenage parents determined to make something of themselves and their children. She evolves from an angry, misguided teenager to a self-actualized young woman through her relationship with music and art. Her metamorphosis begins after she travels across the country to attend college. There, she casually picks up the bass guitar and discovers the master key that unlocks her world.

All Genesis Festival events will be ASL-interpreted.

The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) is guided by CDC guidelines and the state of New Jersey for our policies in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and protecting the health of our audiences, staff, volunteers, artists and their production teams.

Beginning March 1, 2022, all patrons attending a performance at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) must show proof of vaccination, including a booster if eligible. Proof can be provided via The Rutgers Campus Pass, a vaccine card, or through NJ’s Docket App or any other official state vaccination app (which can be downloaded from the app store on your phone). If not vaccinated, you must present a Negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of the performance date.

All patrons are required to wear masks at all times while inside the venue. This includes children older than 2 who have not been vaccinated.

New Brunswick Performing Arts Center is located at 11 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, New Jersey.