Theatre & Performing Arts
Jackalope Theatre Presents the 17th Annual Newspaper Living Festival August 24, 2026
Jackalope Theatre Company is proud to announce the schedule for the 17th Annual Living Newspaper Festival, August 20 – 24, at the Jackalope Theatre in the Broadway Armory, 5917 N. Broadway. The Living Newspaper Festival is inspired by the 1930s Living Newspapers of the Federal Theatre Project that created stories based on recent events. Each night, the Festival includes five one-act plays inspired from recent news headlines.
The 17th Annual Living Newspaper Festival includes:
Picture Day
By Madie Dopelt
Directed by Breon Arzell
Cast includes Miriam Lee, Niko Kourtis and Reilly Oh
Inspired by Epstein-Linked Rumors Ignite Panic Over School Photos in Coulee Dam
When Reddit users loosely link a school photography company with the Epstein files, parents in Coulee Dam, Washington express their concerns. As the school decides how to handle their upcoming picture day, the parents take matters into their own hands.
Let them East Cake
By Anelga Hajjar
Directed by Kaiser Ahmed
Cast includes Yourtana Sulaiman, Chris Chmelik and Claudia Quesada
Inspired by GLP-1 drugs are changing how Americans eat. Food companies are racing to catch up
It’s Selma’s birthday but the cake is uneaten and something seems terribly off. Can her mom and boyfriend get to the bottom of what’s infected her? Let them Eat Cake, exposes the insidious consequences of our bodies being injected with public opinion.
Fellow Mortals
By Aurora Real de Asua
Directed by Janyce Caraballo
Cast includes Sierra Phan, Katie Bevil and Z Mowry
Inspired by Mouse study shows repeated cloning causes grave genetic mutations
Three individuals, trapped in a cage. Who put them there? And why? And how the hell are they going to get out?
Turning
By Netta Walker
Directed by Sydney Charles
Cast includes Jalbelly Guzman and Morgan Lavenstein
Inspired by Newly declassified FBI documents detail UFO sighting by Anoka officers — and one of them filmed it
- Post Civil War. On a forest creek bed, south of the Mason Dixon, a young woman flees a colony only to be confronted by a relic of the past.
The Day The Night Came Down
By Ike Holter
Directed by Stephanie Diaz
Cast includes Laura Lodewyck and Pedro Jimenez
Inspired by Newly declassified FBI documents detail UFO sighting by Anoka officers — and one of them filmed it
After a life changing encounter with an unexplained aerial phenomena, a rookie cop weighs the cost of speaking truth to power.
The running time is 75 minutes with no intermission. The performance schedule is Thursday, Aug. 20 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Aug. 21 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 22 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 23 at 2 p.m. and Monday, Aug. 24 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for August 20 – 24 are $20 – $35 and are available at JackalopeTheatre.org or by calling 773.340.2543.
