LYRICS
SONG: "Kamala's At The Podium Now"
(Lyrics by Marilyn Campbell-Lowe, for THE MOMENT, CPA Theatricals)
SONG: "We Are Sentinels, an Anthem"
(Lyrics by Marilyn Campbell-Lowe and Kim Sherman for SENTINELS, CPA Theatricals)
FIRE!!
First Produced Nov. 2025 at
Quintessence Th., Philidelphia, PA
2025 Grant Recipient,
The William Penn Foundation ($225,000) and the NEA ($25,000)
M A R I L Y N C A M P B E L L - L O W E
PLAYWRIGHT, PERFORMER, PRODUCER, CO-FOUNDER
REPRESENTATION
Literary: Gurman Agency LLC 212.749.4618, New York, NY
("Crime and Punishment" International only)
Publishers: Dramatic Publishing 815.338.7170
("Crime and Punishment" United States and Canada only)
TriQuarterly Magazine Northwestern Univ. Press, Issue 118
("Crime and Punishment")
("Sentinels" only)
Actor (AEA): BMG Talent, Chicago, IL 312-829-9100
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
2026 Reviews!
#2 TOP RATED SHOW IN CHICAGO!!
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, TUTA Theatre
"Dirt, Death, and Redemption. TUTA's Crime and Punishment is spare, hypnotic and multi-layered."
EXCITING NEWS!
2026 Annual
Langston Hughes Festival,
Nov. 19 & 20, 2026
CUNY'S BLACK STUDIES PROGRAM WILL BE HONORING
FIRE!!'s CENTENNIAL!
(TICKET INFORMATION TBA)
CUNY is supplying the space and the marketing but we are seeking some additional funding to support the Artists for the two days they will be in town performing.
IF YOU ARE ABLE TO DONATE
in support of this NYC Showcase,
please send a check to:
Quintessence Theatre
7137 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19119
ATTN: FIRE!!
NEW CLASSICS COLLECTIVE
Paul Oakley Stovall, Founder,
Artistic Director
Marilyn Campbell-Lowe,
Founding Core Member
Cheryl Lynn Bruce , Founding Core Member
NEW CLASSICS COLLECTIVE (NCC) was founded in Chicago after recognizing that buried voices deserved to be mined. WRITTEN BY PHILLIS marked the Premiere Production for New Classics Collective. However, our founding core group, Paul Oakley Stovall, Cheryl Lynn Bruce, and Marilyn Campbell-Lowe, represent a history of practice in the field of new plays and adaptations of literature for the stage, which spans decades. NCC represents something new, focused on expanding and experimenting with new theatrical models. Up next! FIRE!!
"WRITTEN BY PHILLIS
F E A T U R E D R E V I E W S
ON STAGE!
"To be able to take the original book and manage to extract everything needed for a ninety-minute play is just amazing ... Hats off to Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus for producing such a well-written flowing narrative." --London, UK, Westend
“CRIME AND PUNISHMENT” in a feat that rivals the construction of the Hoover Dam, has been distilled into a taut 90-minute play by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus, and the production will banish any bad memories you might have of trying to struggle through Dostoyevsky’s book.” -- Neil Genzlinger, New York Times
“THE BEATS,” adapted by Marilyn Campbell, and first seen at Writers’ Theatre in 1997 is now getting what will surely be the defining production of this generation at Berwyn’s now hotly competitive 16th Street Theater. --Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
"MY OWN STRANGER," by Marilyn Campbell and Linda Laundra, is a return to the core of poetry as performance, and the best sort of union of language and presence ... A must see! Absolutely riviting. --Sacramento News
COMMISSIONS!
• QUINTESSENCE THEATRE Philadelphia PA
2-PLAY COMMISSION
Written by Phillis
Opened May 13, 2023
NEA Grant Recipient
FIRE!, devoted to younger negro artists,
Opened Nov. 2, 2025
NEA & Wm Penn Found. Grant
• CPA THEATRICALS, Larry Little , Producer
Sentinels, a play with music
Opened Aug. 2025
Jungle Jim & Jungle Jim Kids, a Musical
New York (2023)
The Moment, Girlhood
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Creative Producers (2026, Dates: TBA)
London
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
TUTA Theatre (May 7- June 28, 2026)
Chicago, IL
FIRE!! Devoted to Younger Negro Artists
CUNY Black Studies Prog. (Nov. 2026)
New York, NY
MY OWN STRANGER
Tom Fontana Presents on Substack (airing TBA)
Featuring voices of: Edie Falco, Mariska Hargitay,
and Julianna Margulies
-----------
FIRE!!! Devoted to Younger Negro Artists
Quintessence Theatre, PA (2025)
Grant: $225,000 (Wm Penn Foundation) &
$25,000 (NEA)
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
The Street Theater (2025)
Canberra, Australia
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
PHOENIX ENSEMBLE THEATRE, NYC (1/2024)
Phoenix Ensemble Theatre
"Stupendous. They have taken Dostoyevsky’s work about a horrible murder, redemption, and the twisted words we tell ourselves to justify our monstrous actions, and boiled it down to ninety minutes compressing it to a rich dense cream. A completely fulfilling evening of theater!" Holli Harms, Front Row Center, NYC
INTERVIEW (PHOENIX ART DIR. & CAMPBELL/COLUMBUS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMSR42QkOjk
"SENTINELS", THEO-U, Dir. Christopher Pazdernik, Chicago, IL, Aug. 2025 (CPA Theatricals)
"JUNGLE JIM KIDZ," Ovation Academy, 2024 (CPAT)
"LIVED THROUGH THIS," w/Anne K. Ream,
Virginia Stage Co. , 2024
GALLERY
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Eler Theatre, Athens, Greece
Translated into Greek
32 performances
City Wide Tour
2021
"CRIME AND PUNISHMENT,"
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (2017)
Corpus Christi Owlets
"The subject matter of this distillation of Crime and Punishment may be chilling, even harrowing. But its lesson that humanity can triumph over delusions of power is a timeless and heartening one. Those lucky folk in possession of a ticket for Corpus Christ Owlets' production can prepare themselves for a sophisticated and enthralling treat."
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Budapest, Hungary
Performed in Hungarian
April, 2023
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Lansing Community College, 2025
"For a front-row seat to "the thrilling moments when study transforms into artistry, LCC’s “Crime and Punishment” offers a masterclass in theater education done right."
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Indonesia (2025)
SENTINELS
New York & Chicago
(2025)
