We are so proud of our work that we accomplished with Jose Casas and the BIPOC Superhero Playwrights with the support of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation this year!

We were thrilled to partner with Jose Casas this year as our Artist in Residence!

We brought about his play Sometimes, I Wish with a multigenerational cast and performed it for multiple libraries and community organizations in the winter of 2026. It was beautiful to watch the actors and audiences process the complexities of child homelessness as a part of Casas’ thought-provoking play.

We also brought to life Casas’ and Asher’s play, Mariposa/Butterfly, which is multilingual and demonstrates how friendship and beauty can cross all prejudices. It had an especially wonderful opening at the downtown AADL in June 2026!

Jose Casas and Adam Weisman, Spinning Dot Theatre teacher, performer and playwright, also lead an incredible series of playwriting workshops for all ages that culminated in amazing public sharings in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor in the Spring of 2026. So many youth, teens and adults got to share their work that was developed this year in such an open and supportive atmosphere.

And – we were able to bring to life 7 incredible plays as a part of our BIPOC Superhero Festival at Eastern Michigan University in June 2026. It was an amazing chance to support new playwrights across the US as they create work for the BIPOC Superhero Project.

The Spinning Dot Theatre Youth and Teen Companies were able to perform plays by Jose Casas, Rhiana Yazzi – Navaho playwright who was able to join us for our performances, Sigrid Gilmer, Alvaro Saar Rios, and Marcus Yi.

The plays included:

And Then … He Looked at Me – by Jose Casas

Joy in Uncertainty: A Glory Chicken Adventure – by Sigrid Gilmer

Emily Song and the Queen of the Night – by Marcus Yi

The Other Children of the Sun – by Rhiana Yazzie

Quetzali and the Comic Book Queen vs. the Alebrije of Darkness: Live in the School Cafeteria – by Alvaro Saar Rios

Frankie: the Untold Story of a Gurl Frankenstein – by Jose Casas

Luchadora! – by Alvaro Saar Rios

These plays demonstrated for performers and audiences alike the power of inviting new stories to the stage. These plays opened our eyes to other cultures and highlighted our shared humanity and common goals as we seek to build bridges in our community and in the broader world.

We cannot be more grateful to Jose Casas, the BIPOC Superhero Playwrights that collaborated with us and to the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation for supporting all of this unique and compelling theatre for young people and their families in our community.