AACT NewPlayFest 2026

Listen by Brigid Amos

Presented by Theatre Salina (Salina, Kansas)  |  Premiered October 10–26, 2025

Brilliant but unstable artist Dale Digman escapes his sister Carson’s watchful eye to bring one of his Bob Ross-inspired paintings to a gallery in Brooklyn. Determined to protect her brother’s artistic reputation, Carson pursues him and struggles to retrieve the painting from gallery owner Kelly Anker. Jay’s early arrival at the gallery forces a showdown between Dale and Carson. Will Dale finally free himself from his domineering sister to pursue his unorthodox artistic vision?

Brigid Amos is a New Jersey-based writer whose plays have been produced, read, or podcast in ten states and the UK. Winner of the 2022 Goshen Peace Play Contest and a 2024 Tiger’s Heart Players Literary Competition award, she has also been a finalist for several national playwriting honors and is a member of The Theater Project’s Playwrights Workshop and the Dramatists Guild.

The Thomas Hardy Project by Becca Blackmore

Presented by Westchester Collaborative Theater (Ossining, New York)  |  Premiering June 19-28, 2026

Jada and Abigail, two very different high school senior girls become friends as they complete a project about Thomas Hardy and his works. When a scandal about one of the girls explodes, the girls rage at the parallels in the school's response and the cruelty aimed at women in the novels they're studying, bonding even as they compete for academic acclaim.

Becca Blackmore wrote or co-wrote of the musicals Quiz Bowl, Snow Way Out, The Peculiar Tale of the Prince of Bohemia and the Society of Desperate Victorians, and Hatter, and the plays President Mom (with Dan Marshall), Bedtime, Dead Behind the Eyes, Peaceful Warrior, and The Thomas Hardy Project. Her works have been finalists for the Dramatists Guild National Fellowship, the Kleban Prize, the Princess Grace Awards, and the Jane Chambers Award. The Thomas Hardy Project was part of Claymour Theater's Clay and Water Playwright Residency. Her play President Mom won the Ronald M. Ruble Prize. Becca's pilot Republic of California won the Vancouver International Women's Film Festival best pilot award and her pilot Happy Medium won the Cinequest best pilot award. She holds both a BFA and MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Bloody Murder at the Black Dog Tavern by Christopher Hencke

Presented by Kenai Performers (Soldotna, Alaska)  |  Premiering July 31–August 9, 2026

Seven years ago, a man was murdered at a stagecoach inn. Now, on the anniversary of the murder, the local patrons inform a group of overnight guests that everyone is waiting for the annual visit of the murdered man's ghost. Can this be true? A ghost is coming in search of a murderer? And if the murderer can be identified, how will the ghost wreak vengeance?

Christopher Hencke is a native of Washington, D.C. and a resident of Alexandria, Virginia. He has written a dozen stage plays and screenplays, and will probably write a few more. His plays include The Emperor’s New Clothes: The Rest of the Story (winner of a playwriting contest sponsored by the Little Theatre of Alexandria in 2019 and performed by Dean Productions on the Premiere the Play Podcast in 2024); Grandpa’s Christmas Story (performed by West Virginia Theater East in 2023); and Who Killed Mr. Boddy? (co-written with his brother Tom and performed by West Virginia Theater East in 2019). Before retiring, Chris was an attorney in the federal government.

They Must Be Women Now by Nedra Pezold Roberts

Presented by Vortex Theatre (Albuquerque, New Mexico)  |  Premiering August 14–30, 2026

They Must Be Women Now takes its title from a line by Sophocles’ Creon. Charleen (alias Sweet Tea), like her ancient precursor Antigone, has a big mouth that gets her into trouble—specifically, fired from her job in Atlanta where she feels demeaned by men. Unemployment sends her home to Half Way, Georgia and to her mother, the feisty owner of Miss Althea’s Bridal Boutique and Bail Bonds; Althea’s black business partner, Olivia; and imperious Lurleen and her daughter Betsy, customers preparing for an upcoming wedding. It seems that everyone is coping with diverse prisons (social, cultural, economic, political, marital, racial) forged by their individual journeys. And it is their task to discover themselves—and become women now.

For several decades Nedra Pezold Roberts taught English and drama in college and high school, publishing two textbooks along the way, and then took early retirement to write her own plays instead of teaching those of others. At this point in her second career, Roberts has had plays produced all over the U.S., and in Canada and the UK. The dramas have won many competitions, including AACT NewPlayFest: The Vanishing Point won in 2013 and had its premiere at California Stage Company in Sacramento, and Wash, Dry, Fold won in 2015 and had its premiere at Chicago Street Theatre in Valparaiso, Indiana. This third AACT winner, They Must Be Women Now, was developed at the Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights, Barter Theatre (Abingdon, Virginia), and Pegasus PlayLab at the University of Central Florida (Orlando). Roberts is a lifetime member of the Dramatists Guild.

Unabashedly by Mike Teverbaugh

Presented by Waterville Opera House (Waterville, Maine)  |  Premiering August 28-September 6, 2026

An ancient myth states that we are each connected to our One by a red thread, which stretches, bends and twists but never breaks, eventually drawing us together. Dave, a young editor at a major city newspaper, feels someone tugging at his thread. But Helen, a new beat reporter, is a non-believer. Will the thread hold, and even if it does, what if you don't like this One once you've reeled them in?

After 30-plus years writing for television, Mike Teverbaugh began writing plays at the dawn of the pandemic. His plays have been produced or read in London, New York and Los Angeles, as well as other cities throughout the country. Delta Princes is his second play to be selected to the Waterworks Festival, following a staged reading of Unabashedly in 2023. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and TV-writing partner, Linda Teverbaugh.

Stag Light by Emily Turner

Presented by Players de Noc (Escanaba, Michigan)  |  Premiering October 2026

George Frenel has one final wish: to have his ashes scattered from the top of his favorite lighthouse. Yet despite residing in Maine (known as The Lighthouse State), his last will and testament unexpectedly instructs the family to drive to Michigan, seven states away. With that, the enigmatic patriarch has found a way to drag his estranged wife and children on one last family road trip together.

Emily Turner is an Ohio playwright and performer whose work is fueled by coffee, Extra-Toasty Cheez-Its, and the secret lives of animals. Her debut full-length, Girl, in Progress, was produced by Red Herring Theater Company. She served as playwright-in-residence for Curtain Players Theatre's New Works Initiative, resulting in two original plays, Stag Light and Little Boxes. Her short scripts have been staged across the United States. Emily's a guest artist at Mouth of the Wolf Productions, which commissioned her family-friendly comedies A Krampus Story, Home Sweet Home, and A Totally Killer Show. She's performed improv with #Hashtag Comedy and is a member of Wild Women Writing. Emily shares a love of theater with her brilliant husband and orange guard-cat. Special thanks to fellow healthcare workers everywhere and to Brookville Community Theatre, where it all began.