L’Alliance New York presents the US Premiere of LACRIMA, written and directed by Caroline Guiela Nguyen from October 22-25, 2025 at 7:30pm and October 26, 3035 at 3:00pm at BAM Strong Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St Brooklyn New York, 11217. For tickets and more information, visit https://lallianceny.org/event/lacrima/.

When the Princess of England announces her engagement, a Parisian haute couture fashion house receives an extraordinary commission, and a fascinating story unfolds across continents and generations. Renowned theater maker Caroline Guiela Nguyen transforms the stage into a bustling workshop floor in this sprawling play about the hands that make the garments we covet.

Sworn to complete secrecy, craftspeople around the world embark on eight months of intricate labor in service of a single wedding dress. Marion, the overworked head seamstress of Maison Beliana, fields tough questions from her troubled daughter, while Thérèse, an Alençon lacemaker, comes face to face with a complicated family past. Meanwhile, across the ocean in Mumbai, master embroiderer Abdul fastens 1,000 roses onto duchesse satin as his eyesight rapidly deteriorates. As these men and women all but obliterate themselves in pursuit of perfection, LACRIMA invites us into the space between that which destroys us and that which gives our lives purpose.

“The point LACRIMA makes is that lots of invisible work, much of it underpaid and done in poor conditions, goes into a fashion statement like a royal wedding dress… As international festivals go, Avignon is working hard to tell such rarely heard stories — and overall, it’s paying off.” — Laura Cappelle, The New York Times

In French, with scenes in French Sign Language, Tamil and English, with English surtitles.
Duration: 175 minutes