(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- Vanguard Theater presents Illuminating New Voices across two weekends from May 2-9, 2026. This is a curated weekend of new work presentations. The selected pieces give artists the opportunity to hear their work aloud and engage in a supportive development-focused environment.
Here are the works being presented:
The Milk of Human Kindness by J Thalia Cunningham. Getting through airport security is frustrating for everyone involved, including Ariana, a single mother who’s recently been promoted to TSA supervisor. What should she do when a passenger wants to bring more than three ounces of frozen breast milk on a British Airways flight? And the passenger is male . . .and doesn’t have a baby with him. And his name is Abdullah Farooq. Ariana doesn’t want to profile someone on the basis of gender and religion . . .or should she?
In Emily's Words by Jessy Tomsko. In Emily’s Words tells the story of novelist Emily Brontë as she creates her magnum opus: Wuthering Heights. This musical explores the creative process and the world of imagination, with Emily's beloved novel at the center. Her characters leap forth from her pen, trying to inspire while also fighting for agency and immortality. Additionally, this piece follows Emily's own journey, making it neither a full Wuthering Heights adaptation, nor a Brontë biography. Rather, it explores where ideas come from, how they become realized in the world, and how they can go on living after their human creator is gone.
THE CAPTIVES by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich. Professor, a closeted artist at a conservative Midwestern college, has built an unlikely career painting death-row inmates’ last meals on fine china — fascinated by the idea of choice in lives otherwise stripped of options. Pressured by her tenure committee to deepen the work, she travels to Texas to meet Trevor Monroe, the next inmate scheduled to die. But Trevor wants a stay of execution, not a final meal. His demand ignites a media frenzy and traps the artist, the prison warden, and the condemned man in a volatile triangle where power, identity, and survival collide.
Airborne: The Bessie Coleman Musical (Book by Beau Dixon, Lyrics by Jewelle Blackman). AIRBORNE is a musical play about Bessie Coleman (1892 - 1926) who was the first African American aviator—and female—to receive her international pilot’s license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale in 1921. Bessie astonished audiences with her daring aeronautical tricks and is known as a pioneer of flight who paved the way for future pilots. AIRBORNE is a play about perseverance, passion and the importance of the imagination.
Red: A New Musical by Lawrence Dandridge. RED follows a group of teenagers who, brought together by a web of life-altering circumstances, try to stop their neighborhood community center from being closed by the new Mayor. Inspired by Brothers Grimm tales, RED takes us on a journey of friendship, bravery, and just how many colors life can bring us. RED explores a plethora of intense topics that are relevant and relatable not only on a personal level but mirrored throughout the makeup of our society. From domestic violence and corruption to the effects of absentee parents and rape, RED discusses topics that most urban communities experience but rarely speak on.
THERESA by Naomi Lorrain. Nia's parents strongly disagree with how she and her new partner, Theresa, desire to raise Nia's son. THERESA is a comedic look at what happens when the child rearing methods of a toddler’s intergenerational “village” clash. There’s old school, there’s new school and then there’s just Theresa.
BREATHE by Cynthia Grace Robinson. On Juneteenth, two women, brought together by grief, guilt, and loss, find emotional refuge in a yoga studio after each experiences a tragedy that wreaks havoc on their lives. As they move their bodies, they discover that life is a practice, and as long as they are breathing, their breath holds the opportunity for hope, healing and freedom.
The Habit by Cynthia Cleto. In “The Habit,” Selena is visited by her ward Lauren, whom she helped raise, in the nunnery she has been living in for a few years. Selena has doubts about her and humankind’s beliefs in a God. Lauren has doubts about a human relationship. Although doubt surfaces repeatedly in this play, it is only the catalyst for what is really at stake here, the relationship between the two women. The play explores how our habits can separate us from our true compass, and how doubt can lead to profound examination, and hopefully in eventually living a more authentic life.
Tickets are $25 and available for purchase online. The theater is located at 180 Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair, New Jersey.
SCHEDULE OF PERFORMANCES
Saturday, May 2nd @ 8:00pm - The Habit; THERESA; The Milk of Human Kindness; Airborne: The Bessie Coleman Musical
Sunday, May 3rd @ 2:00pm - The Captives; In Emily's Words; BREATHE; Airborne: The Bessie Coleman Musical. There will be a panel following the show.
Friday, May 8th @ 8:00pm - The Habit; THERESA; The Milk of Human Kindness; RED: A New Musical. There will be a panel following the show.
Saturday, May 9th @ 8:00pm - The Captives; In Emily's Words; BREATHE; RED: A New Musical
Illuminating New Voices was first introduced as part of Vanguard Theater Company’s continued commitment to investing in new work and emerging voices. The festival’s inaugural presentation was supported through partnerships with the Michael Jordan and Jordan Brand Foundation and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance as part of the Alliance’s Stages Festival. These early partnerships helped establish the foundation for Illuminating New Voices as a platform for commissioning, development, and visibility for new theater makers.
Founded in 2015, Vanguard Theater is a not-for-profit company changing social and cultural narratives through theater dedicated to DREAM: Diversity, Reciprocity, Education, Activism & Mentorship.
