Ivy Day, The Hope Theatre
Camden Fringe 2025 may start tomorrow (28 July), but we’ve still got lots more interviews to publish before the end of July. We’ve already reached our original target of 100, but why stop there. You can find all our published interviews here with plenty more to come over the next few days.
Writer/ director Arianna Muñoz new play Ivy Day takes us to America, and into the lives of six friends waiting on a life changing moment, the news of which Ivy League Universities they have been accepted by.It might sound like a story that has no relevance to a London audience, but as Arianna tells us, this show is about much more getting into the right university.
Ivy Day will play at The Hope Theatre between 18 and 22 August, and you don’t need top exam grades to get in, all you really need is a ticket which you can buy here.
What can audiences expect from the show?
A darkly comedic, whip-fast play about a group of friends waiting to find out if they’ve been accepted into an Ivy League university. Succession meets the petty dramas of high school as these six friends slowly turn on one another and reveal their hidden prejudices and rivalries.
Is Camden Fringe going to be the show’s first time on stage, or have you already performed elsewhere?
Ivy Day received development at The Space, and had a one-night showing at the Golden Goose Theatre in August 2024 – since then, the script has only continued to be edited and refined. With all this development and positive feedback, I feel like Ivy Day is now at the perfect place for a longer (five show) run at the Camden Fringe, and especially at The Hope Theatre, a theatre that has always been incredibly supportive of my work.
What was your inspiration behind the show?
Ivy Day is inspired by my own experiences and frustrations with the American university admissions system. I wanted to explore how college admissions often forces historically underrepresented groups to compete amongst one another for a small number of spots at elite institutions. Such an environment breeds the race, class, and gender-based anxieties that permeate the play, turning students from these marginalised backgrounds against one another while legacies and the ultra-rich skate by without a thought.
I also was really itching to write something in the super-fast, cruelly comic style of David Adjmi, Justin Kuritzkes, and Lucy Prebble, and this concept really lent itself to such a style – the characters in Ivy Day LOVE to talk, talk, talk!
Is this version how you originally envisioned it or has it changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?
As a writer, I’m in the rare, wonderful position of being asked to expand Ivy Day’s story rather than edit it down! Since our original performance, the biggest changes made to Ivy Day have been fleshing out the characters, giving them more defined personalities, conflicts, and arcs.
However, a drastic change to the play has been the world around it. In the time I’ve been developing Ivy Day, the Ivy League has become a lightning rod for social/political conversations – from the end of affirmative action, to Operation Varsity Blues, to the current crackdown on protests and diversity initiatives, the Ivy League represents on a micro scale the systematic issues that continue to plague both the US and the wider global community, issues that Ivy Day likewise sets out to tackle.
How important is audience interaction to you?
So important! While Ivy Day deals with heavy topics, it is also a play about the petty dramas of high school, in all their immaturity and madness. I want the audience to feel free to laugh, gasp, and shout as these characters become increasingly catty and backstabby – it’s a show that thrives on the investment and engagement of a live audience.
If your show had a soundtrack what songs would definitely be on it?
Easy – the music from Challengers, composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Challengers played a significant influence on Ivy Day’s rapid-fire pace and cutthroat tone; listen to ‘Brutalizer’ for a sense of just how quick, intense, and indeed, brutal, Ivy Day will be.
If you could perform this show anywhere in the world where would it be?
I wonder what the reaction would be if we staged Ivy Day at Harvard…
What words of advice/encouragement would you give anyone thinking about doing Camden Fringe next year?
Plan ahead! Whether that’s saving up money throughout the year, locking in the script/concept, or reaching out to possible collaborators, the more time you dedicate to your project, the more at ease you will feel as you get closer to the actual show.
Many thanks to Arianna Muñoz for taking the time to chat. Ivy Day plays at The Hope Theatre from Monday 18 to Friday 22 August.
