The Apiary: A Bee-Centered Production at New Village Arts in Carlsbad

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt.

The original cast announcement of the show.

Two views of the Bee Screen onstage. (Jason Sullivan/Dupla Photography).

To bee or not to bee?

That is the question in The Apiary, a dystopic, occasionally comic play by Kate Douglas that originally premiered off-Broadway in 2024, and was directed here by Kristianne Kurner, NVA’s Founder and Executive Artistic Director.

Set 20 years in the future, it’s a play about a small team of women working in an Apiary that’s meant to sustain honeybee populations trying to keep their colonies from suddenly dying out. With plenty of dedication but no funding, they happen to discover that bees can survive by eating the flesh of dead humans…so they begin recruiting terminally ill people to donate themselves to science and keep the bees alive. 

This regional premiere kicked off the theater’s 25^th anniversary year and was the 40^th show presented by Kristianne Kurner, whose note in the play’s program thanked “the many bee experts and bee lovers who shared their knowledge and passion with us about these most fascinating creatures.” 

She also added: “This show encompasses so many of the things I am passionate about: support for female artists, the importance of the scientific community, and the belief that telling each other stories is what brings out the best in us as humans.”

It’s a little too late to see The Apiary, whose actors I actually found more engaging than the play itself, but there’s plenty of time to get tickets for Hairspray, the Tony-Award-winning musical based on John Waters' 1988 film, coming June 5-July 19. 

The Apiary -  Jan 23 until Feb 22, 2026
New Village Arts
2787 State Street
Carlsbad, CA 92008
760-433-3245

Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net