Three new science-themed plays, whittled down from more than 246 submissions sent in from across the country, will get their staged readings at LSU starting Monday. The SciArts New Play Festival runs November 9, 16 and 23, with every show kicking off at 7:30 p.m. in the Music and Dramatic Arts Building's Studio Theatre.
According to the festival's official announcement from LSU, the lineup kicks off with “And Yet It Moves,” written by Katie Ganem and directed by Shannon Walsh, on November 9. The Advocate reports the play follows two scientists and their daughters as they confront the personal and political fallout of a scientific discovery, with a story that spans nearly 400 years, according to The Advocate.
The second reading, “Hello, World,” written by Margot Connolly, follows on November 16. LSU's announcement spells the director's name Rachel Aker, while The Advocate's reporting on the same production lists the name as Rachel Akers — the two accounts differ on the spelling. The festival closes November 23 with “Fission,” written by Cindy Lou Johnson and directed by Barrett Hileman.
Free Keynotes Pair Science With the Stage
Beyond the plays themselves, the festival folds in two afternoon keynote talks aimed at making the science-meets-theater pitch explicit. On November 9 at 3:30 p.m., the lineup includes a free keynote titled “A Double Helix: The Intertwining of Art and Science,” per the LSU announcement. The Advocate's reporting identifies the speaker as Jamie Newman, dean of the College of Applied and Natural Sciences and associate director of the Visual Integration of Science through Art Center at Louisiana Tech University.
A second keynote, “Science Is Part of Liberal Arts at a University,” is scheduled for November 23 at 3:30 p.m., per the same LSU posting. The Advocate names the speaker as Ravi Rau, who is affiliated with LSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy. Admission to the staged readings is free.
A National Script Search, Narrowed to Three
The festival is co-sponsored by the LSU College of Science, the LSU School of Theatre & Film, and the LSU Office of Research and Economic Development, the university says. That three-way partnership helps explain the festival's pitch to audiences: staged readings built around real scientific ideas, selected through a nationwide submissions process that this year drew more than 246 entries, according to LSU's announcement.
It's a pairing LSU has been building for a while. At a LSU Science Café event held in March 2025, organizers described the broader SciArts Playfest as a collaboration between the College of Music & Dramatic Arts and the College of Science to host a national competition for science-based plays. That earlier session previewed a format bringing three playwrights to campus for workshops and staged readings, and featured LSU faculty members Vince LiCata, George Judy and Vastine Stabler discussing what makes a good science play, drawing on productions staged at LSU over the years.
LSU's theater department has also flagged the festival as a recurring fixture of its programming, noting in its 2026-27 season announcement that the fall season sees the return of the SciArts New Play Festival. Per The Advocate, this year's festival celebrates connections between scientific discovery and the human experience, and the readings are open to the public with no reservations required.
