About

BA American Theatre Arts’ Barn Season 2026 explores the forces that shape our lives – friendship, identity, power, and the ties that bind us. Bold, urgent, and inventive, these plays reflect the voices, passions, and contradictions of contemporary life.

 

Once Upon a Time in Key West by Sasha Wilson 

Inspired by true events in 1930s Florida, Once Upon a Time in Key West by writer-director Sasha Wilson tells the haunting story of Elena, a young woman whose longing to live binds her to a charismatic doctor – and to a love that refuses to let her go.

Awakening years after her death, Elena begins a surreal journey through memory, myth, and the Florida underworld, guided by an ensemble cast and infused with Latin music and magical realism. As history blurs with fantasy, the play becomes a vivid exploration of love, obsession, and a woman’s fight to reclaim her body, her story, and her freedom.

This is an amateur production by arrangement with Sasha Wilson.

 

 

Programme

2pm, 14 February

7pm, 16 February

2pm, 17 February

7pm, 17 February

 

Venue: Barn Theatre, Rose Bruford College

Content & technical warnings: to be confirmed

Run time: 90 minutes with no interval

 

How to book

Please book here.

 

Cast

Elena – Charlotte Dowson Karl, Rose Lowenna

Karl – Rose Lowenna

Maria – Bethan Alison Jones

Hemingway – Fin Thorpe

Tennessee Williams – Stephanie Gunton

Yemayá – Farah El-Barhdadi

Fate – Evie Lily

Fate – Jessica McCartney

Fate – Erinna Redmond

Ensemble – Alyx Innes

*Assistant Director: Eva De Luca

 

Find out more about BA American Theatre Arts Class of 2026.