Washington, D.C.-based IN Series is set to “Passion Plays,” this March and April.

The festival opens with “Only the Air,” featuring music by J.S. Bach with new text by playwrights Joshua Borths and Shana Oshiro. Directed by Timothy Nelson with musical direction by Joy Schreier, the production reimagines Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” with newly spoken text alongside the oratorio’s famed arias. The cast includes Colleen Daly, Elizabeth Mondragon, Joseph Haughton, Carl Dupont, and William Matson.

Performance Dates: March 6-8, 2026 (Dupont Underground)

“Passio,” collaboratively created by Lucie de Saint Vincent and Maribeth Diggle, weaves stories of sacrifice and resilience through jazz, Baroque strings, South Asian percussion, fortepiano, and song. Created in collaboration with Rajna Swaminathan, Alejandra Borzyk, Tina Chancey, Laïla Amezian, Joyce Scott, and Gaia Saitta, the work centers survivors, pioneers, and creators in a collective act of voices.

Performance Dates: March 13-15, 2026 (Dupont Underground)

The festival concludes with “For Women Serving Time,” an opera-theater work by composer Adrienne Torf and librettist Fatemeh Keshavarz that confronts female incarceration in America through a fusion of Fauré’s Requiem, jazz, and Brechtian theater. Directed by Nelson with musical direction by Torf, the cast features Elizabeth Mondragon, Carly Ozard, Shana Oshiro, Louisa Wacott, Melissa Wimbish, and Judy Yannini.

Performance Dates: March 20-22, 2026 at Dupont Underground; April 10-12, 2026 at Baltimore Theater Project

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