SEASON 1

IT IS HAPPENING AGAIN

About the season

Your blood turned cold that night, the same as that one night long ago, or not so long ago, or maybe it was many lives ago. The future’s map is unwritten and yet a sneaking dread foretells patterns of reckoning and chaos. If only you could touch the cosmic timeline and yank it from its fixed place in the demiurge’s hands. 


mind dream theater welcomes you to our inaugural season of our flagship series - in which seven theater artists are commissioned to respond to a theme with whatever their beautiful minds conjure for the world of audio.

Cover art with purple and blue tones, featuring the title 'Knock Knock' by Theresa Buchheister, with the words 'It is happening again' and 'mind dream' and a white line drawing of a face wearing a hat with the word 'Disguise' written across it.

Knock Knock Knock is a stupid existential mystery. It is what is on either side of the door. It is all scary.

Credits

Written by Theresa Buchheister & Ryan William Downey
Directed by Theresa Buchheister
Performed by Theresa Buchheister & Ryan William Downey

Sound design by Chai Aquino
Mastered by Kegan Zema

About the artist

Theresa Buchheister (they/them) is an artistic director, curator, venue operator, theater maker and voiceover artist. Theresa was in NY from 2004-2024 and founded a few projects: Title:Point (experimental theater company), The Exponential Festival (Brooklyn-based January experimental art festival), Vital Joint (weird basement venue), ?!:New Works (short form festival with different split bills every night) and SalOn! (gathering of a variety of people). They received an OBIE for their time as artistic director of The Brick Theater and Brick Aux, was a member of Silent Barn, performed in Richard Foreman's The Gods are Pounding My Head aka Lumberjack Messiah, was a manager at several bookstores and has directed lots of audiobooks, cartoons and podcasts. Currently, they are living in Lawrence, KS, exploring new kinds of collaboration.

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It's a regular day at the office.
Until it is not. The Children will rise.

Credits

Written & directed by Devon Wade Granmo
With Aaron LaRoche as Narrator, Marvin Just as Youth, Rawya El Chab as Stranger and Teri Madonna as Coworkers

Sound design by Hannah Birch Carl
Mastered by Kegan Zema
Recorded at Spaceman Sound

About the artist

Devon Wade Granmo is a writer and performer who hails from the mossy forests of the Pacific Northwest and now lives and works in Brooklyn. In 2006 he co-founded Action/Adventure Theatre in Portland, Oregon and was Co-Artistic Producing Director until 2015. He has performed and collaborated with Action/Adventure Theatre, The Working Theatre Collective, defunkt theatre, Post5 Theater, Title:Point and Object Collection. He also regularly makes performances with the artist Stephen Bron, including: (untitled human composting play) (Exponential Festival 2023), Cave Play (?!:New Works 2024) and 9-5: an anti-work song and dance (Object Collection’s Mutual Obliteration 3). BA: Reed College.

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Cover art for a book titled 'Springtime in the USA' by Rawya El Chab, featuring a colorful, abstract background with purple and blue hues, with white handwritten-style sketches of a woman and some stars, and additional text saying 'It is happening again' and 'mind dream'.

Mr. Jean lies in his bed on life support while events unfold around him. History repeats itself leading us to today. Who will dare to knock on their neighbors’ door and wake them from their sleep?

Credits

Written & directed by Rawya El Chab
With Jeffrey Gardere as Mr. Jean, Aline Salloum as Nurse, and Teri Madonna, Rawya El Chab and Lianne El Souki as Neighbors

Sound design by Leonie Bell
Mastered by Kegan Zema
Recorded at Spaceman Sound

About the artist

Rawya El Chab is a NYC-based theater maker whose work amplifies voices from the margins through a multidisciplinary practice rooted in archival research, poetry, and audiovisual experimentation. Her storytelling examines how personal and political narratives intersect to challenge dominant historical frameworks.

Recent productions include Crossing the Water at The Brick Theater (2025), Lula 19/85 & the Pearl of Bekaa at La MaMa Theater (2024), The Gambler at The Loading Dock (2022), and The Meltdown at Rattlestick Theater (2021). In 2025, she also directed selections from Cameron Stewart’s Vivian Oblivion at The Brick and wrote her first audio play, Springtime in America, commissioned by Mind Dream Theater. 

She is currently developing Whispers Are the Shape of the Soul, a time-based performance exploring defiance and solidarity under authoritarian rule, and The Immortal and the Rise and Fall of the Jarmak Battalion, set to premiere at The Brick Theater in 2027.

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Book cover titled 'Rough for Radio III: Annihilation' by Elijah Guo with a colorful background and sketches of a face and stars.

A British couple, besieged by the Blitz, listens to the radio for guidance. They find themselves taking a trip through memory and human existence.

Credits

Written by Elijah Guo
Directed by Elijah Guo & Allyson Dwyer
with Rivers Duggan as Toffee, Elijah Guo as Biscuit and Tara Louise Bruno as Radio

Sound design by Hannah Birch Carl
Mastered by Kegan Zema
Recorded at Spaceman Sound

About the artist

Elijah Guo (any pronouns) is a writer/actor whose plays include TOURIST TRAP (Ars Nova ANTFest, The Brick, Theatre 4 the People, Samuel French OOB Top 12 Finalist), BIRDIGO (The Brick’s ?!: New Works), BUTTON LAKE BAND CAMP (Clubbed Thumb Winterworks), sasha/SAPPHO (Clubbed Thumb reading) and BEATRICE (Crash Theater / Skeleton Rep). Elijah's original TV shows include MY FRIEND WILL (Tribeca, The Roku Channel), and STAND-INS (Emmys-partnered Catalyst TV Festival). They’re an alum of the Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers’ Group and Harvardwood TV Writers Program. Winner: Sundance Collab Screenwriting Challenge, David Mamet Playwriting Contest at American Conservatory Theater. Finalist: Emmys Foundation Screenwriting Fellowship, David Nathan Meyerson Prize for Fiction. MFA: American Repertory Theater / Moscow Art Theater at Harvard. Instagram: @elijahguo | www.ElijahGuo.com

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Book cover with pink and purple abstract background, featuring the title 'U ruined my life...again' and the author's name, Catherine Weingarten.

Two sisters with opposite personalities clash hardcore.

Credits

Written by Catherine Weingarten
Directed by Allyson Dwyer
With Susan Myburgh as A and Isabel Ebeid as B

Sound design by Hannah Birch Carl
Mastered by Kegan Zema
Recorded at Spaceman Sound

About the artist

Catherine Weingarten is a friendly jewish chick from an obscure area of Pennsylvania! Honors Include: the Scott McPherson Award and the Tennessee Williams Scholarship through the Sewanee Writer’s Conference. She is a new georges affiliated artist and has previously developed her “girly, trashy” work with Dixon Place, The Tank, Less Than Rent, Sam French OOB Short Play Festival, Last Frontier Theater Conference and has been awarded residencies through Bethany Arts Community, The Studios of Key West, Fresh Ground Pepper’s BRB and Monson Arts. Catherine has participated in Art House Production’s INKubator Writer’s Group, New Perspective’s Women’s Work Short Play Lab and The Shelter’s Virtual King Lear project. BA: Bennington College MFA: Ohio University catherine-weingarten.squarespace.com/

Releases March 02

Sky filled with flying seagulls against a blue background with white doodles and text promoting a book titled 'Sections from 108 Notes' by Kanishk Pandey, with the phrases 'It is happening again' and 'mind dream'.

A recording from Ava and Eve's research into the 108 Notes.

Credits

Written & directed by kanishk pandey
With Emma Callahan as Ava and Sophie Zmorrod as Eve

Sound design by Hannah Birch Carl
Mastered by Kegan Zema
Recorded at Spaceman Sound

About the artist

kanishk pandey is a writer, director, and producer. His efforts are unified by the belief that consciousness can only exist through dialogue. He prefers theater because he doesn't like to be alone. His work has been recognized by institutions such as 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 companies such as Ars Nova, Rattlestick Theater, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Clubbed Thumb, Fresh Ground Pepper, Pipeline Theatre, The Barn at Lee, Exponential Festival, Invulnerable Nothings, The Brick, LPAC's Rough Draft Festival, SPACE on Ryder Farm, The Lark, Sanguine Theater, and Boomerang Theater. More at kanishkpandey.com

Releases March 09

Book cover with a pink bokeh background and white line drawings of a man with glasses and a beard, the title "Nothing Simple" by Jerrod Jordahl, with phrases "It is happening again" and "mind dream".

Observations. Self-preservation. They are trying to stay good; to ward off the compulsion. They’re trying to stay good.

Credits

Written & directed by Jerrod Jordahl
With Leah Plante-Wiener as God and Teri Madonna as the Agonies

Sound design by Alyse Lamb
Mastered by Kegan Zema
Recorded at Spaceman Sound

About the artist

Jerrod Jordahl is a Brooklyn-based playwright and co-artistic director of mind dream theater. Recent works include Examples of God Personally Killing People (Garret Theater, Enough with the Dog Days Festival), Monologues for Nobody (mind dream theater), Taking Care of Animals (21ten Theater), death as repetition (The Brick, ?!:New Works). MFA in Playwriting, The New School of Drama, 2020. jerrodjordahl.com

Releases March 16

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