Tim Tai, Senior Photographer

The spring semester is here, and, with it, a brand new season of shows from the Yale Dramatic Association — the largest undergraduate theater association at Yale.

The spring season of the Dramat will feature three new productions from February through April, titled “Delicacy of a Puffin Heart,” “Every Tongue Confess” and “Dance Nation.” With themes including American identity, magical realism and growing up, these three plays explore the nuances of theater with shows spanning from comedic to dramatic, and ensemble-led to intimate.

“This season, the shows look so fun!” past performer Cameron Nye ’27 said. “Last semester, I was a part of shows, and it was a great experience.”

The first show to premiere this season will be “Delicacy of a Puffin Heart,” which follows a lesbian couple in the 1990s as they navigate in-vitro fertilization and bipolar disorder. However, this couple’s story is not the only one that the play highlights. The show, which is inspired by the New York Times’ “36 Questions to Fall in Love,” jumps forward and backward in time and documents the couple’s daughter’s experience battling cancer.

The Yale Asian American Collective of Theatermakers, or AACT, is producing this show in collaboration with the Dramat. This will be the AACT’s third show since its founding in 2022. 

The show was a finalist for the 2019 National Playwrights Conference and will be playing from Feb. 15-17. 

“Dance Nation” will be this season’s second production and the annual FroShow of 2024. The FroShow will follow the traditional path of this type of production as it will be staffed, crewed and performed entirely by first-year students at Yale.

“The show is going to be very crazy, very funny, and we want to get across the feral-ness to the audience,” said “Dance Nation” producer Robert Gao ’27.

“Dance Nation” tells the story of a group of pre-teen dancers who navigate the chaotic world of competitive dance and adolescence. The ensemble production won the 2015 Relentless Award, the 2017 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. 

The show will premiere on Feb. 22 and run through the weekend until Feb. 24. 

The third show of the regular spring season will be “Every Tongue Confess,” running from April 3-6.

The annual spring mainstage will feature a blend of folklore, magic and American history to tell the story of a group of parishioners caught inside a burning church. As the church burns, those trapped inside tell stories spanning generations — stories that could just unravel the mystery of who is behind the arson. 

This production received nominations for the Steinberg New Play Award and the Charles MacArthur Award, and also won the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

“I just love the community that it embraces, and I love to see the enthusiasm … it makes me enjoy the performance even more,” said Bella Le ’27, explaining why she’s excited about the Dramat’s new season.

The Dramat will put on all its productions at the University Theater.