Overview: The Summer Solstice 2025 New Play Festival, hosted by the Solstice Theatre IE, was held at Sandalwood Farms in Rialto, California, on July 12, 2025. The event featured performances by local playwrights, designers, and performers, highlighting individuality, love, environmental justice, and storytelling before colonization. The festival also included a community dinner, silent art auction, and tabling from multiple community organizations. The event was inclusive, with ASL and Spanish translations offered, and was originally scheduled for June but was moved to July to allow the community time to process and address ongoing ICE raids.
Aryana Noroozi
Community members of all ages and identities gathered for the Summer Solstice 2025 New Play Festival hosted by the Solstice Theatre IE, an arts program focused on creating shadow puppetry plays to uplift diverse voices, land and diaspora.
Hosted at Sandalwood Farms, a community farm in a residential area of Rialto, the evening began with a free community dinner, a silent art auction, and including tabling by multiple community organizations. The production was created by local playwrights, designers, and performers.
The event was centered on inclusivity and accessibility, with translations offered in both American Sign Language and Spanish.
The performances highlighted individuality, roots to the land and the history, love, environmental justice and storytelling before colonization. Black, Latinx, Filipino and queer voices were among those featured throughout the production. The performances allowed interested audience members to participate in an improv play, and urged the crowd to consider the idea of being a spectator witnessing events that cause them to take action.
The event was originally scheduled for June but was moved to July 12 in order to allow the community time to process and address the unprecedented state of current affairs, including ongoing ICE raids.
Solstice Theatre IE is sponsored by Arts Connection, The Arts Council of San Bernardino County.
Take a look at the event through the lens of the Black Voice News.
