VoxLab 2026 is less than a month away and are thrilled to be back in their Hopkins Center home this summer! New this season, Vox welcomes Lillian King ‘07 as the Artistic Director. A director and artistic administrator in theaters from summer stock to Broadway, Lillian brings a passion for developing new work and a tenacious commitment to strengthening the Dartmouth arts alumni network. After many past seasons as a Vox participant, Lillian is excited to step into this leadership role with the company!
This summer brings five new projects to campus, each with an inspiring group of artistic collaborators and wonderful opportunities for the students to meet and work with alumni artists. Each group will work on their projects along with students from the THEA 65 class and the week will culminate in a small public reading or presentation. You can find all the details about these incredible plays below, and we hope to see you at a reading or around the Hop July 12 to 19!
MAYBE NEXT LIFE
Music and Lyrics by Michael Blum ‘15, Haley Joelle & Lily Williams
Book by Jessica Welch
Directed by Lillian King ‘07
An intimate one-act musical with a pop-influenced score about the crossroads of life, the cost of following one’s dreams, and the haunting question: what if you had chosen differently? Maybe Next life follows Madeline, a struggling ballet dancer torn between marrying, or pursuing a last-minute, life-changing offer. When Madeline uncovers the door to multiple alternate realities her life could take, each with its own joys and heartbreaks, gains and sacrifices…which one will she choose?
HOLD PLEASE
Co-Created and Performed by Olivia Gilliatt ‘08 and Deby Xiadani ‘15
Fourteen stories underground, the Resistance waits. With a landline phone... or maybe several. Will the signal finally come, today—the one that sets the Future in motion? In this work-in-progress, Deby Xiadani and Olivia Gilliatt will combine their penchants for antic staging with their love of clowning and physical theater techniques into some kind of dynamic hybrid performance. With a sense of imminent dread, some rolling chairs, and LOTS of tangling cords, we are excited to create a compelling, funny and physically daring piece!
WHAT IS A REVOLUTION WITHOUT DANCING?
Written by Stephanie Greenwood ‘15
Directed by Katie Orenstein ‘23
In a time of civil unrest, Mia, a sculptor who is feeling utterly useless to the movement, convinces Will, a prominent activist, to pose for a statue. But then Will's statue starts to speak. Based on the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, What is a Revolution Without Dancing is a new play about whether art matters at all, being sick of the phrase ‘now more than ever,’ and who we put on a pedestal and why.
DREAMING OF AUGUSTUS WASHINGTON
Music & Lyrics by José Joaquín García, Jonathan Hardy, and Patricia Herrera ‘96
Book by José Joaquín García, Rider Babbit and Patricia Herrera ‘96
Musical Direction by Jonathan Hardy
Dreaming of Augustus Washington is a powerful new musical about a pioneering Black daguerreotypist, educator, and abolitionist in 1847 Hartford. Inside his portrait studio, Augustus uses the camera to affirm the dignity and humanity of Black life in a nation that denies it. But as the country moves toward Civil War and the rights of free Black Americans erode, he and his wife Cordelia face a difficult choice: fight for a future in America or seek uncertain freedom in Liberia. Blending early African American hymnody with blues, jazz, and gospel, this moving work explores faith, identity, and the courage to imagine a different future.
THE NIGHT SHIFT
Written by Clara Aranovich ‘07
The Night Shift is an absurdist comedy about two immigrant custodians who accidentally shatter a priceless 18th-century vase during their night shift at a museum. They must overcome language barriers and mutual distrust to secretly glue it back together before morning to save their jobs.