Sarai’s Knife

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When a vandal cuts the face of a Black student at Boston’s Classical Academy out of a photographic self-portrait on display in the school lobby, mixed-race collage artist and first-year teacher Sarai is asked to capitalize on the strong rapport she has with the student victim to investigate the incident. Pressure from the white Assistant Headmaster and troubling discoveries about the victim make Sarai question her effectiveness as a teacher and artist. When she discovers the truth behind the subsequent destruction of a portrait of the school’s founder, Sarai makes an unexpected choice that changes not only her future but the path the institution must take. Contains adult language, discussions of self-harm and portrayals of systemic racism.

The Madison New Works Laboratory is made possible by the generosity of Paul Holland and Linda Yates.

Madison New Works Laboratory started at JMU seven years ago and is a national destination for new work development. Our writers and composers have gone on to win awards and fellowships from the Theatre Communications Group, Dramatist Guild, and the Playwright’s Center. Artists-in-residence from across the country join our student actors, stage managers, and faculty for a ten-day residency, collaborating through conversations and rehearsals to develop their work. Each play for the 2025 season was selected through a competitive national search and will receive a staged reading in the Studio Theatre. We are also collaborating with The Firehouse Theatre to bring one of this summer’s two plays to Richmond. Our first play is The Sparkle Wars by Brendan Bourque-Sheil and our second play Sarai’s Knife by John Minigan. Join us for a free public reading, where you’ll meet the playwrights, take part in a post-show conversation, and get an inside look at the creative process behind bringing a play to life.

John Minigan is a recent Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing. Tall Tales from Blackburn Tavern, commissioned by Gloucester Stage Company, premiered there in 2023. (re)Dressing Miss Havisham, a commission from Hey Jontئ Productions, is in development after preliminary readings at the Dramatists Guild. The Clara Cipher, commissioned by Concert Theatre Works, is in development for a 2026 premiere. In the Scorpion's Nest (formerly Queen of Sad Mischance) won the 2022 Judith Royer Award from The Kennedy Center/ATHE, the 2022 Wigglesworth Award from Florida's Lab Theater, Gold Prize in the Clauder Competition for New England plays, and was an O'Neill finalist. In 2024, it was given a series of industry readings at Manhattan Theatre Club and is in pre-production for a 2025 premiere in NYC. John's Elliot Norton Award-nominated and BroadwayWorld.com Best Play-winning solo adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow premiered in Boston in 2022 and has been produced in multiple venues around the country since. Noir Hamlet was an EDGE Media Best of Boston Theater 2018 selection, a Boston Globe Critics' Pick, an 2019 Elliot Norton nominee, and was produced at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe. He has developed new work with the Utah Shakespearean Festival, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Portland Stage Company, and elsewhere. John lives near Boston with his wife, the dance scholar, teacher, and choreographer Lynn E. Frederiksen. He is affiliate faculty at Emerson College and serves as Dramatists Guild Ambassador for the Boston region.