On Tuesday, October 4th, 2022, No Dream Deferred NOLA announced the WE WILL DREAM: New Works Festival play selections, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

For year one, the festival licensed the following plays for world premiere productions:

Drapetomania: A Negro Carol by M.D. Schaffer| March 25th -April 30, 2023

Where the Suga Still Sweet by Brian Egland | April 8- May 21, 2023

The Defiance of Dandelions by Philana Imade Omorotionmwan | April 28- June 17, 2023

The festival also featured a staged reading of Sons of Liberty by Cris Eli Blak |
June 10- 17, 2023.

The WE WILL DREAM: New Works Festival is a biennial event that locates the Bayou Road corridor of New Orleans as the “national meeting place” for Black playwrights originating/working in the American South to engage with compelling, artistic, intellectual, and cultural dialogue and community exploration. The festival’s goal is to serve as a bulwark of support for the professional and artistic development of Black playwrights.