🎟 General Admission: $30 Pay online or at the door. We accept cash, check, or credit card at the door. 💸 Early Bird Discount: $25 Available until opening night. Select this option in the dropdown on Ludus when purchasing (disappears after opening night). 👴 Senior Discount: $25 Available for seniors. Select this option in the dropdown on Ludus or pay at the door. 🎓 Student Discount: $15 Available for all students (high school & college). Select this option in the dropdown on Ludus or pay at the door. 📅 Student Night: $5 Typically the first Saturday night performance (subject to change). Select this option in the dropdown on Ludus or pay at the door. ❤️ Pay-What-You-Can (PWYC): Always available at the door, by phone, or email (subject to availability). 🎭 Industry Night: $15 Available on the second Friday of the run. 📚 OLLI Night: $20 Special rate for OLLI members. Available on the 4th Friday of the run. 👥 Group Rates: Groups of 10+ → $20 per person + 1 free ticket (11th ticket is free). Groups of 20+ → $15 per person + 2 free tickets (21st & 22nd tickets are free). Payment is due at time of booking or at least one month before the performance. No refunds. To arrange, please email or call us.

Theatre NOVA is dedicated to raising awareness of the value and excitement of new plays and new playwrights in a diverse and expanding audience; and providing resources and outlets for playwrights to develop their craft, by importing, exporting, and developing new plays and playwrights. ​ NEW PLAYS YOU NEED TO SEE We scour the country for the hottest new work - bringing you the most exciting, interesting, cutting-edge plays. Plays that are adventurous, journeys of imagination, shocking at times, and always thought-provoking. Plays that respect your intellect, imagination, and curiosity, and offer something new, unexpected, innovative, and stimulating. NEW VOICES YOU NEED TO HEAR We track playwrights from their earliest development, and bring you work by the newest up-and-comers you need to know about.

• We believe that the most vital theatre experience for a modern audience is engaging with contemporaneous stories, by a range of playwrights that reflects the diversity of our community. ​ • We select plays that offer the viewer something new. Whether it's a new approach to language, a new perspective on a social issue, a genre that is new to our audiences, a new playwright's unique voice, or the innovative treatment of an age-old theme, our plays explore the value and excitement of looking at the world in a fresh new way. ​ • We place our trust in the playwright as visionary, encouraging them to create art that is necessary in our world today, whether hard-hitting social drama, or wild and woolly, frivolous fun. ​ • We believe that the most critical calling of the American theatre today is to support and develop new plays and playwrights. ​ • We believe that theatre experiences should not be a luxury for the privileged few, but a building block of a civilized society, accessible to all. ​ • We believe artists are capable of governance and invite them onto our board.

The Yellow Barn Did you know there is a big Yellow Barn in downtown Ann Arbor? Yup. It’s right there, smack dab in the middle of everything - a big, funky, yellow barn with wooden beams and hardwood floors. Located at 410 West Huron, tucked away in the parking lot across from the YMCA. If you’re on Main Street and you head west two blocks on Huron, make one quick right after you go under the railroad trestle and you’re there. One block away from: The Last Word, Live, Miki Japanese, Knight’s Market, Big City Small World Bakery, and Tasty Bakery. (See a map here!) Two words: Free. Parking. (for patrons during performances, but that's more than two words.)

Theatre NOVA’s commitment to education shines through programs like the Playmakers Summer Theatre Camp and Build-a-Play, providing theatrical education to 200+ children annually. In collaboration with AAPS Recreation and Education, students write, rehearse, design, and perform plays through these educational outlets. In the process, they learn about movement, improvisation, reading, listening, teamwork, and voice and diction; along with a healthy dose of design, crafting, and theatre games. Students gain self-confidence and teamwork skills in high-energy, fun environments taught by Michigan theatre professionals. Our children’s programs regularly receive high marks through surveys conducted by our collaborator, Ann Arbor Rec and Ed. These camps and classes fill up fast, with numerous students returning year after year. Instructors consistently receive praise from our young participants and their parents: “Thank you so kindly for sharing your time and talent with [our child] and the crew in Build a Play! She had such a wonderful new experience and felt so supported by you. Your vision, creativity, and flexibility were an absolute marvel to us as parents throughout the whole process! Thank you also for the excellent communication. [She] is so proud and delighted by the final film you created! She can’t wait to share it. It was wonderful to see how it all came together!”

Theatre Nova is dedicated to championing new plays and playwrights. We empower playwrights through initiatives like the Michigan Playwrights Festival and by staging World Premieres. Establishing an in-house residency marks a natural progression and a fitting celebration of ten years fulfilling our mission. ​ A play’s journey begins with a playwright and a pencil, but bringing it to life requires collaboration. Our New Play Development Residency offers Michigan playwrights a comprehensive workshopping process without the pressure of a performance. Playwrights collaborate with a dramaturg, director, and actors to refine scripts in a supportive environment. ​ Our residency prioritizes script development, allowing playwrights to refine their work without the constraints of traditional production schedules. By nurturing Michigan playwrights, we aim to fill a gap in the theater community, providing a supportive space for new voices to flourish. 2024 INAUGURAL RESIDENCY July-August 2024 ​ ​Eclipsed: The Sun, The Moon, and Gladys Atkinson Sweet by D. L. Patrick On the night of September 9, 1925, Gladys Atkinson Sweet was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, along with her husband, Dr. Ossian Sweet, and nine other African Americans following the attack on her Detroit home by more than 700 white neighbors. Although much has been written about Dr. Sweet and the two Sweet trials, litigated by Clarence Darrow, this play imagines the perspective of Gladys Sweet and the women who populated her life. It is about what women do, and have always done, in the shadows. Directed by Lynch Travis Dramaturgy by Olivia Kiefer ​ Cast: Princess Jones- Gladys Atkinson Sweet Diriest Crowell-Buffington- Rosella Mitchell Shanice Davis- Edna Butler Emily Wilson-Tobin- Madame Curie/Ruby Darrow Deborah Carter- Dora Sweet Darius Franklin- Walter White ​ Join us for a staged reading at the Michigan Playwrights Festival on August 24, 2024, and for the World Premiere at Theatre Nova in April 2025.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." – Lao-Tzu. We care about you. We want you to feel safe here. We want you to feel that the stories on our stage are for you and about you. We want you to feel that you are a valued part of this place. If the sentences above don't ring true in your ears, we are writing this for you. One of Theatre NOVA's founding principles is social justice. We consider anti-racism to be a core tenet of our organization. Thanks to the critical work of Black Lives Matter, We See You, White American Theatre, and those closer to home like Black Literature and Art Queens Network, we have been assessing how well we live up to those principles. This assessment is one step in the work of lifetimes, and as an organization currently led by white people, we don't always see the ways that the systems of white supremacy influence us. So it is imperative that we frequently re-examine our organization with rigorous scrutiny, inside and out. We thank these organizations for holding us accountable. We are particularly thankful to individuals who have provided insight into ways in which unconscious bias has harmed BIPOC members of our artist community. This new awareness inspires us to continue our anti-racism and anti-oppression work with greater clarity and renewed passion. Our vision has always been to foster an organizational culture with equity in its bloodstream. To be a powerful and authentic ally for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities, with protected safe creative spaces for all of our artists. And when things go wrong, to be an organization that centers the needs of any person who has been harmed regardless of their position. We are a long way from that vision, but we are taking another step. We know that institutionalized statements offering solidarity without accountability have the potential to do further harm, and we are grateful for the chance to restate and refine our commitments to this work with the benefit of the insight so many have shared. As we continue this work, we commit to: Examine the ways our leadership leans into its privilege and promotes the status quo. Examine the ways our organization de-centers BIPOC and LGBTQ+ members, their voices, and their artistry, and work to center them. Invite more BIPOC and LGBTQ+ members to leadership positions on the board and staff. Be less defensive when asked to change. Be more open to change when we need to. Pay careful attention to critiques, comments, and feedback from community members, cast members, artists, audiences, and volunteers who have perspectives to share. Examine and increase the percentage of directors and designers hired each season who identify as BIPOC and LGBTQ+. Examine and increase the percentage of plays by BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and women writers. Continue to challenge the notion of white being the neutral default in casting as we strengthen our commitment to color-conscious casting. Examine and increase the percentage of BIPOC actors in larger roles and productions. Work toward a goal of having 50% of our staff, board, and artists be BIPOC and LGBTQ+ by 2026. Eliminate hiring criteria that focus on years of experience or required degrees. Ensure that no themes or characters of any play we produce are promoting harmful or damaging caricatures or tokenism. Request BIPOC reviewers, especially for shows with BIPOC themes and characters. Provide anti-racist onboarding and ongoing training for all board members and staff. Promote a working environment that actively works against racism, harassment, discrimination, and white supremacy. Create confidential and safe methods of reporting issues and make them available to all artists and staff members. Develop systems for repairing harm when necessary. Invest resources in outreach to BIPOC communities, LGBTQIA+ communities, and disabled communities for distribution of casting notices, designer job postings, and other opportunities. Create a core values statement and include it in every staff and artist contract. Become more aware of how core values are embodied by leadership and throughout the organization. Create systems of accountability for staff members who do not live up to those core values. Research and start a BIPOC affinity group within Theatre NOVA as a safe space for discussions and advocacy. Create an anonymous and confidential survey for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists to give feedback on their experience. Compensate all BIPOC artists who consult and provide feedback on anti-racism in the workspace. Update our employee handbook and policies to include an anti-racist code of conduct. Continue to program stories that illuminate social issues, highlighting diversity and inclusive stories which include race, religion, and gender identity. Include quality-of-life measures in all production schedules, including rehearsals, tech rehearsals, and build schedules. Examine compensation and ways that low wages may be a barrier for certain members of our community. Work toward the goal of providing compensation that is not prohibitive for all but those who "can afford to work in the theatre." Create a preferred vendor list of local, regional, and national vendors that support our values of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Commit to take allegations of harassment and abuse seriously and address each individual claim quickly, decisively, and in its full complexity. Post this statement and these commitments in a visible place on our website and in our physical space. Review and assign timelines to all of these commitments to develop time-sensitive accountability. Designate a senior staff member responsible for the implementation and oversight of these efforts. Theatre NOVA wishes to acknowledge and honor that the land upon which we gather is ceded by the Anishinaabeg Council of Three Fires of the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi peoples, and the Wyandot (Huron) peoples of the Northwestern confederacy. We acknowledge their elders, both past and present, as well as future generations. We recognize that we are part of a society founded upon the erasures of many Indigenous peoples, including those on whose land this building is located. This acknowledgment is part of our participation in the process of dismantling the legacies of settler colonialism. We understand that dialogue requires trust, and we consider the actionable items above a starting point to affirm and build trust in our organization with those we serve and support and with those who may have been harmed in a work environment here. ​ These commitments are from the heart. This work necessitates personal reflection, and the answers are not easy nor comfortable. NOVA is committed to doing this work inside and outside of our organization. ​ And there is much work to be done.

(as of 9-1-2023) Theatre NOVA is known for its intimate space. Our priority is to keep our artists safe and healthy to ensure that we can stay open. We follow all recommendations set forth by the Centers for Disease Control. Here’s what we are doing to ensure patron and artist safety and mitigate the spread of Covid: All artists and staff are fully vaccinated. All unmasked actors take a quick-response Covid test once a week, sometimes more depending on current Covid levels and trends. Two bathrooms (one upstairs) are available for patrons upon request. We perform a ventilation audit once a year. ​ Here’s what we ask of you: As of September 1, 2023, masks are strongly recommended for audience members, but they are not required. To provide a safe space for our immunocompromised patrons and those who want a higher level of risk mitigation, all of our Thursday performances will be mask-required.​ ​ We review this policy regularly. It is subject to change at any time, following local, state, and federal guidelines. Please check our current COVID-19 policy before your scheduled performance date. PLEASE DO NOT COME TO THE THEATRE IF YOU ARE SICK. There are no refunds on ticket purchases. But if you need to exchange your tickets for another date or transfer them to someone else, you may email a2theatrenova@gmail.com. We will switch the tickets if available, and you give us at least two hours' notice before your scheduled performance.