About this Event
SATE CELEBRATES A DECADE OF THE APHRA BEHN FESTIVAL
Tenth Annual Aphra Behn Festival features nine plays — one from each year of the Festival’s history — including a fully-staged production of Aurora Behlke’s The Inferno is for B*tches.
Tenth Annual Aphra Behn Festival
April 2–4, 2026
The Chapel (6238 Alexander Drive, St. Louis, MO 63105)
All performances begin at 7:00 PM.
To mark a decade of the Festival, SATE is looking back at its extraordinary history with nine plays — one drawn from each year of the Aphra Behn Festival. Over three evenings, audiences will experience staged readings, culminating in a re-mounted production of Aurora Behlke's The Inferno is for B*tches, which premiered at the 2025 Festival. Each evening celebrates the writers, directors, performers, and designers who have made the Aphra Behn Festival a cornerstone of St. Louis theatre.
The Aphra Behn Festival is named for the fascinating poet, translator, and spy who is widely considered to be the first English woman to make her living as a playwright. In 2015, SATE produced a fictionalized account of Aphra Behn's life in Or, by Liz Duffy Adams, and subsequently partnered with Pr*son Performing Arts to create an adaptation of Behn's play The Rover with artists at the Women's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic, and Correctional Center in Vandalia, MO. SATE and its artists are very much a part of Aphra's legacy.
Since 2017, the Aphra Behn Festival has given women, transgender, and non-binary artists interested in directing and writing for theatre an opportunity to get more experience, try out ideas, experiment, and hone their craft.
EVENING ONE — Thursday, April 2 at 7:00 PM
Life Ever After (2017 Festival) by Alyssa Ward
The Rover: Act IV, Scene 2 (2020 Festival) by Aphra Behn
Tonya and the Totes in Subterrastrata (2021 Festival) by Courtney Bailey
The evening’s readings are directed by Summer Baer
Featuring actors Nicole Angeli, Ellie Schwetye Rachel Tibbetts, Elizabeth Van Pelt, and John Wolbers
EVENING TWO — Friday, April 3 at 7:00 PM
V (2019 Festival) by e.k. doolin
Bold Stroke for a Villain (2023 Festival) by Summer Baer
The Croning (2024 Festival) by Margeau Steinau
The evening’s readings are directed by Christina Yancy
Featuring actors Margeau Steinau, Kristen Strom, and Kelly Howe
EVENING THREE — Saturday, April 4 at 7:00 PM
Staged Readings:
How to be a Woman (2018 Festival) by Amanda Wales
The Super Fun Time Party Palace (2022 Festival) by Lize Lewy
The evening’s readings are directed by Keating
Featuring actors Carl Edward, LaWanda Jackson, and Alicen Moser
Full Production:
The Inferno is for B*tches (2025 Festival) by Aurora Behlke, with music from punk band Who's Asking?
Directed by Kayla Lindsay
Featuring the original cast Celeste Gardner, Bradley Rohlf, and Claudia Barney
TICKETS
$20 per evening or $50 for all three nights.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Chapel, 6238 Alexander Drive, St. Louis, United States
USD 23.18 to USD 55.20
