OSU Theatre presents ‘Songs for a New World’ Oct. 2-4

Monday, September 28, 2026

Media Contact: Jet Turner | Associate Director of Marketing and Communications | 405-744-9559 | jet.b.turner@okstate.edu

The Oklahoma State University Department of Theatre will present Jason Robert Brown’s “Songs for a New World” Oct. 2-4 at the Seretean Center for the Performing Arts.

Unlike a traditional musical, “Songs for a New World” is a song cycle without a linear plot. Through a collection of songs and characters, the production explores defining moments of hope, feat, love, identity and change.

Director Lyndsee Bell, visiting assistant professor of music theatre voice, said the format has given the cast and creative team an opportunity to find their own connections between each song and the larger themes of the production.

“Due to this production being a song cycle, it does not have a plot by means of a through storyline,” Bell said. “This means it has universal themes that we are charged with bringing to life and to connect in our own way.”

Bell’s vision places those stories within a dreamlike landscape where movement, fabric, music and voice come together. Fabric is used throughout the production as a physical representation of experiences that can be pulled, unraveled, stretched, gathered and reshaped.

“Developing each of those individual moments required close collaboration for our students,” Bell said. “This has required a level of patience, tenacity and understanding that our students have stepped into full force.”

Without a traditional storyline or recurring characters to follow, Bell said the 80-minute production allows audience members to focus on each individual moment and potentially recognize pieces of their own lives on stage.

“I can almost guarantee you have a moment in your life that will be told on stage,” Bell said. “You as the audience member are tasked with being in the moment, something we all need right now.”

“Songs for a New World” will run Oct. 2-4 at the Seretean Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are available at okla.st/theatre or by calling the box office at 405-744-6094.

The production is presented by the Mary Lou Lemon Endowment for Underrepresented Voices and through special arrangement with Music Theatre International.