LaGuardia Performing Arts Center Presents Rough Draft Festival 2026
Featuring Artists: Lester Mayers, Simon Tam & Joey X. Jiang, Kanishk Pandey, Scout Davis, Nadiya Atkinson & Sammy Grobb and Libby Carr
Festival Director: Handan Ozbilgin, Artistic Director, LPAC
March 10–19, 2026
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY (February 4, 2026) — For more than two decades, Rough Draft Festival of LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC) at LaGuardia Community College has offered a first public view to bold new theatrical work in development, serving as a proving ground for writers and performance-makers in Queens while remaining deeply connected to New York City’s wider creative ecosystem. Running March 10–19, 2026, the festival brings audiences, artists, and the field into the room at-the-moment when big ideas are becoming buildable theatre.
This year, LPAC will present five works-in-progress selected through a highly competitive review process led by a panel of arts professionals from across New York City’s creative community, as well as one returning artist. Together, the 2026 slate reflects a wide range of voices and forms, from choreopoem to musical theater to experimental performance, offering audiences an early look at stories being developed with ambition, craft, and urgency.
Rough Draft Dates and Times:
March 10 at 7 p.m. — Mama/Run by Lester Mayers
March 12 at 7 p.m. — At the Edge of Chinatown by Simon Tam & Joe X Jiang
March 13 at 7 p.m. — 108 Notes by Kanishk Pandey
March 14 at 7 p.m. — The Life and Times of Daisy Forbes by Scout Davis*
March 18 at 7 p.m. — RYBA-KIT | A Musical Folktale by Nadiya Atkinson & Sammy Grob
March 19 at 3 p.m. — Roadkill by Libby Carr
*Returning Guest Artist
Ticketing: Free for Students (student ID required at door); $10 General Admission | RSVP/Tickets
Location: LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC), LaGuardia Community College, 45-50 Van Dam Street, Long Island City, Queens
ABOUT THE ROUGH DRAFT WORKS AND ARTISTS
Mama/Run — Lester Mayers
Mama/Run is a choreopoem that confronts the haunting question of why some mothers abandon their children and how quickly the world responds with judgment instead of grace. Through movement and poetic storytelling, the work examines the silences, fractures, and systemic failures that exist long before condemnation arrives, offering a powerful reflection on survival, loss, and compassion.
Lester Eugene Mayers is a poet, playwright, director, and interdisciplinary performance artist whose work blends documentary research, movement, and poetic text. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Ramapo College School of the Contemporary Arts. Centering Black interiority and collective memory, Mayers’ practice explores embodiment and social witness through performance rooted in truth and lived experience.
At the Edge of Chinatown — Simon Tam & Joe X. Jiang
At the Edge of Chinatown is an explosive new musical about third-culture kids who must remix the old world to build their own. It proves that sometimes the most powerful form of preservation is fearless reinvention. Featuring a contemporary score that fuses traditional Asian instruments with punk rock energy, the piece explores how identity is not inherited. It is forged.
Simon Tam is a musician, author, and composer whose work bridges performing arts, community-based activism, and storytelling. As founder and bassist of The Slants, he helped spark a national conversation on identity and civil rights. He also won a landmark unanimous U.S. Supreme Court case that protected free speech for minority communities.
Joe X. Jiang is a musician, composer, performer, and award-winning filmmaker and visual artist, known for his innovative work across alternative rock and performance.
108 Notes — Kanishk Pandey
108 Notes follows Eve and Ava as they test what it truly means to know another person. Guided by a set of index cards and an evolving series of questions, the two invite the audience into their experiment, asking us to participate in the process of observation, interpretation, and connection.
Kanishk Pandey is a writer, director, and producer whose work is driven by a belief in dialogue as a foundation for consciousness and community. His work has been recognized by the American Playwriting Foundation, The O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Austin Film Festival, New York Stage and Film, The Jerome Foundation, New York City Trust, and Synecdoche Works. His playwriting has been supported by Ars Nova, Rattlestick Theater, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Clubbed Thumb, and other leading institutions. Learn more at kanishkpandey.com.
The Life and Times of Daisy Forbes — Scout Davis (Returning Guest Artist)
The Life and Times of Daisy Forbes is a long form lip-sync performance centered on Daisy, a showgirl at a defining crossroads. Through a collage of television interviews, pop music, obscure musical theater scores, and film scenes, Daisy channels a chorus of borrowed voices to excavate the choices that shaped her life. As she confronts feelings of abandonment and an uncertain future, the work asks what it means to keep pushing forward as both an artist and a human being in the world.
Scout Fitzgerald (they/them) is a queer, non-binary performance artist and director whose work has been presented at HERE Arts Center, The Brick, The Tank, The Wild Project, The Chocolate Factory, and LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, among others. They are currently a resident artist at La MaMa.
RYBA-KIT | A Musical Folktale — Nadiya Atkinson & Sammy Grob
RYBA-KIT | A Musical Folktale follows Valya and Anya, two ordinary kids from a quiet town where life revolves around birch-bark boats and neighborhood mischief. Everything changes when a wolf arrives with a warning. Soon come torrential rains, empty fishing nets, and earthquakes, and as the adults’ scramble to assign blame, the girls find themselves at the center of a story larger than they ever imagined. Blending multilingual storytelling with puppetry, folk music, and song, RYBA-KIT invites audiences into a fantastical world where ancestral myths are not just folklore, but a lifeline. The piece calls on us to listen closely before the future is washed away.
Sammy Grob (he/him) is a composer, music director, and arts educator whose work has been performed by Irish Repertory Theatre and other institutions nationwide.
Roadkill — Libby Carr
Roadkill follows Cassidy, whose father taught her how to drink, how to mount a whitetail, and how to be a man. After his death, Cassidy is left to clean up what he left behind. When her younger sister, Zane, returns with a lover Cassidy believed was long gone, the siblings are pulled into a shifting landscape of memory, haunted by the men who harmed them and the men who loved them, across decades of time. Roadkill is a raw and haunting play about taxidermy, addiction, and the secret shame we carry.
Libby Carr is a writer and dance artist from Houston whose work uses rhythmic specificity, movement, and vivid theatrical imagery to celebrate queer and trans community. Their play CALF SCRAMBLE will premiere at Primary Stages in Spring 2026.
History of LPAC’s Rough Draft Festival
Since its inception in 2013, Rough Draft Festival has remained steadfast in its commitment to nurturing emerging talent and providing a platform for experimentation. With financial support and rehearsal space, the festival empowers artists to bring their visions to life, while offering audiences a rare glimpse into the creative process. Over the years, the festival has provided valuable exposure and momentum for artists and productions.
Rough Draft is produced by the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and LaGuardia Community College.
Follow LPAC on Instagram for exclusive updates, behind-the-scenes content, and artist features. Subscribe to the LPAC newsletter to stay in the loop about upcoming events, ticket offers, and more. For more information, email lpacboxoffice@lagcc.cuny.edu or call (718) 482-5151.
• • • •
The LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC), located at LaGuardia Community College, is a cultural hub that fosters artistic excellence, education, and community engagement. LPAC is dedicated to providing a platform for dynamic artists and storytellers to create, collaborate, and inspire. Through diverse programming, LPAC continues to support its mission of making the arts accessible to all. It is the stage for productions of the award-winning Theater and Music Performance programs of LaGuardia Community College, as well as works from partner institutions, including Carnegie Hall, Joffrey Ballet School, and the Drama League of New York.
LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, located in Long Island City, Queens offers more than 50 associate degrees and academic certificates, and more than 65 continuing education programs to prepare New Yorkers for transfer to senior colleges and rewarding jobs and careers. An institution of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College reflects the legacy of our namesake, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the former NYC mayor beloved for his advocacy of the underserved. Since 1971, LaGuardia’s academic programs and support services have advanced the socioeconomic mobility of students from Queens, NYC and beyond.
####