ITHACA, NY (607NewsNow) — Tonight is the opening night for Milkweed, an original play by Ithaca College professor and playwright Wendy Dann.

Dann started the writing process for Milkweed in January of 2025, wanting to examine the relationship between teachers and students in a way that explores the nature of time, idea of possibility, and ponders the idea of the path not taken. The play looks into ‘the charged space between students and teachers, at the intersection of physics and theater, where knowledge and desire blur.’

“I think of the play as a puzzle, something I want the audience to see as a Rubix cube they can solve as the show progresses,” says Dann. “At the first preview of the show on February 25th, we had some of the audience stay back to give us feedback and help us delve deeper into what story we’re telling and what we want the audience to take away from it.”

The process of getting the play on stage was a quick one, Dann stating that the story had been playing on her mind for a while.

‘Once I sat down to write, it all poured out of me in about two weeks. After holding a workshop for the play in April 2025, I sent a draft to Producing Artistic Director Emily Jackson. We met in person and not long after, she told me she pulled a title out of the season and put Milkweed in. Usually this process would take a couple years, but Emily and the creative team at Kitchen Theatre have been so helpful and enthusiastic about seeing it through. Former students of mine have been working on and are in the play, which kind of feels like a full circle, meta-theatrical moment.”

Find more information on show times through the rest of February and into March on the Kitchen Theatre Company website here.