Next Act! is an expansion of Capital Repertory Theatre’s (theREP) commitment to the development of new work. At the same time, the weekend long summit is designed to complement the Upper Hudson Valley’s rich diverse populations. NEXT ACT! is an expansion of Capital Repertory Theatre’s commitment to the development of new work and directly reflects the theatre’s mission, “to create meaningful theatre generated from an authentic link to the community.” Click here for details on the submission process.

Winners of SOPA at theREP’s 2019 Young Playwright Contest:

• Abigail Guenther (Loudonville Christian School) “Two Bachelors and a Lyre”
• Ava Zuelsdorf (Loudonville Christian School) “Alienation”
• Lindsey Penet (Coxsackie-Athens High School) co-author of “Keep Your Friends Close…”
• Lydia Valentino (Coxsackie-Athens High School) co-author of “Keep Your Friends Close…”
• Amanda Recine (Coxsackie-Athens High School) co-author of “Keep Your Friends Close…”
• Violet Kreifels (Guilderland High School) co-author of “The Fractured Hero”
• Elizabeth Novak (Guilderland High School) co-author of “The Fractured Hero”
• Sarah McCollum (Guilderland High School) co-author of “Quarantined Hummingbirds”
• Rya Vallabhaneni (Guilderland High School) co-author of “Quarantined Hummingbirds”
• Jayleigh Bellefeuille (Rensselaer Jr/Sr High School) “Best Friends With My Mind”

Playwrights:

Meridith Friedman (playwright of THE LUCKIEST PEOPLE) was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She received her BA from Connecticut College, and her MFA in Writing for the Stage & Screen from Northwestern University. She is the recipient of a Dramatist Guild Writers Alliance Grant and a former Dramatist Guild fellow. She is also a National New Play Network affiliated artist and has participated in numerous NNPN programs and initiatives including the Playwright-in-Residence program, Rolling World Premieres, MFA Playwright’s workshop, Collaboration Fund, Commissions Program, and the National Showcase of New Plays. Meridith resides in Los Angeles and writes for television. An episode she co-wrote of NBC’s Chicago Med received a 2018 Sentinel Award from Hollywood Health & Society. Her work has received productions at First Folio, Curious Theatre Company, Kitchen Dog Theater, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, LOCAL Theatre Company, Actor’s Theater of Charlotte, Stage Left Theatre, Chicago’s Theatre on the Lake, The Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival and The American Southwest Theatre Company at NMSU. Her work has also been developed and workshopped at The Kennedy Center, Chicago Dramatists, The Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals, Florida Repertory Theatre, The Ashland New Play Festival, Florida Studio Theatre, The NNPN National New Play Showcase, New Repertory Theatre, The Lark, Actor’s Express, The Greenhouse Theatre Center, and The Abbey Theatre in Orlando. Upcoming: Your Best One at Capital Rep. Meridith was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Drama at Kenyon College from 2011-2012, and taught screenwriting at Northwestern University while completing her graduate work there. She has also taught playwriting to talented high school and middle school dramatists at Interlochen Center for the Arts, Curious Theatre Company, and Westridge School for Girls. Her insights into playwriting are featured in the newly released textbook, The Essentials of Theater. 

Rachel Lynett (playwright of HERE BE DRAGONS) is an Arkansas-based playwright and theatre artist. Her recent playwriting credits include HE DID IT presented as a reading with Theatresquared (2019), Equity Library Theatre, Chicago (2018) and presented as a workshop production with University of Central Florida’s Pegasus PlayLab; REFUGE as part of Z Space’s Problematic Play Festival (2018); GOOD BAD PEOPLE as part of Talk Back Theatre’s Reading Series (2018), part of American Stage Theatre Company’s 21st Century New Voices New Play Festival (2018), part of Jackalope Theatre’s CIRCLE UP series (2017) and as a reading as part of Unicorn Theatre Plays In Progress (2018); WELL-INTENTIONED WHITE PEOPLE as the Michigan premiere with Matrix Theatre (2018), the world premiere with Barrington Stage Theatre Company (2018), the Downstage Left Residency with Stage Left (2017), part of Orlando Shakespeare New Play Festival (2017), and receiving honorable mention for the 2017 Kilroys for her play (2017). Her play, ABORTION ROAD TRIP received a workshop production produced by Theatre Prometheus as part of Capital Fringe where it won Best Comedy (2017) and then was later presented by Theatre Prometheus, as a part of the 2017 Kennedy Center Page to Stage Festival. Rachel Lynett is also the 2018 Recipient of the Arkansas Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship and the Dramatist Guild Ambassador for Northwest Arkansas.  

Deborah Yarchun (playwright of THE CALM BEFORE) is an NYC-based playwright and a member of the 2018-2019 Civilians’ R&D Group. Her plays have been developed at Ensemble Studio Theatre, The New Harmony Project, Jewish Plays Project’s OPEN Festival, The Great Plains Theater Conference, Jewish Ensemble Theater, The Playwrights’ Center, Rattlestick, TheatreSquared, the William Inge Center for the Arts, WordBRIDGE, and Williams Street Rep, and produced at places including Fusion Theatre, the Minnesota Fringe, the Philadelphia Fringe, Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theater by Young Playwrights Inc., and Williams Street Rep. Deborah’s honors include two Jerome Fellowships at The Playwrights’ Center, a 2017-2018 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, an EST/Sloan Commission, The Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, the Kernodle New Play Award, the Richard Maibaum Playwriting Award, and the Women in the Arts and Media’s 2019 Collaboration Award. Deborah earned her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow. You can read more about her work at DeborahYarchun.com.  

Paige Zubel (screen/playwright of BROKEN LILIES/IN FULL BLOOM) is a Philadelphia-based playwright, dramaturg, and producer. Her plays have been developed and produced internationally with over 50 companies including Letter of Marque Theatre (The Pull of the Moon, NYC), Normal Ave Productions (Dead Meat, NYC), and What If? Productions (A String Between Man and the World, NC). Her plays and prose have been published through Smith & Kraus, One Act Play Depot, Every Day Fiction, and Hashtag Queer. She is the Artistic Associate of Shakespeare in Clark Park, Resident Dramaturg of Paper Doll Ensemble, National New Play Network Producer in Residence at InterAct Theatre Company, and a member of The Foundry, an emerging playwrights’ lab partnered with PlayPenn.  

Aoise Stratford’s (Synopsis Clinic Instructor) plays have had more than 100 productions internationally and around the country. Most recently, her short play JO was performed at the National Theatre in London. She has won several awards, including a Pinter Review Silver Medal and the Yukon Pacific Playwriting Award, and she has been a finalist for the Actors’ Theatre of Louisville’s Heideman Award and a nominee for The American Theatre Critics’ Association New Play Award. THE UNFORTUNATES was a Time Out NY Critics Pick and winner of The Susan Glaspell Award. Recent commissions include an adaptation of A Christmas Carol for the Hangar Theatre, and two historical site specific audio plays for the Cherry Arts. Aoise is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and is represented by Beacon Artists Agency. She currently teaches playwriting at Cornell University. 

Aaron Jafferis (Teaching Artist – YPC Finalist Workshop Instructor) is a playwright and hip-hop theatre maker. Aaron and composer Byron Au Yong’s Stuck Elevator premiered at the American Conservatory Theatre, where it was named “high point of the theatrical year” by the San Francisco Chronicle. Their oratorio Trigger, aka (Be)longing premiered at the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech as part of the 10-year memorial of the Virginia Tech shooting, then moved on to MDC Live Arts and Long Wharf Theatre/International Festival of Arts & Ideas. Aaron and Byron’s current project Activist Songbook interviews Asian American organizers nationwide to create a collection of new songs and raps for current activists to use in movement-building. Aaron’s other works include How to Break – a hip-hop play about teenagers learning to live while their bodies are breaking, based on Aaron’s experience as writer-in-residence at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital; Kingdom – a hip-hop/rock musical about the Latin Kings which premiered at The Old Globe; and Shakespeare: The Remix, about a high school rapper battling the ghost of William Shakespeare. Aaron also worked with Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services and dozens of refugees from around the world to create Stories of a New America, a play touring with Collective Consciousness Theatre. Current projects include a Long Wharf Theatre commission about a Latinx gang leader and white cop imprisoned together (Tone, with Antonio Fernandez); Smooth Criminal – a hip-hop play about a nerdy white kid desperate to liberate his people as soon as he can figure out who they are; and a touring solo show with accompanying workshops – What Is Race and How Did I Catch It? Honors include a Creative Capital Award, Richard Rodgers Award, Sundance Institute/Time Warner Fellowship, NEA Art Works Grant, NEFA National Theatre Project Grant, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, and multiple MacDowell Fellowships. A former Open Rap Slam champion at the National Poetry Slam Championships, Aaron founded The Word poetry-in-the-schools program in New Haven, and teaches hip-hop theatre for liberation in schools, colleges, and organizations nationwide. www.aaronjafferis.com 

YOUNG ADULT PLAYWRIGHT FINALISTS 

Straton Rushing (author of Round the Decay) is a playwright and actor currently living in the DFW Metroplex. He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. Most recently, his musical The Weaver (written with Memphis composer Garrett Addington) was workshopped at Art Centre Theatre. His other most recent productions include Some Sunny Day (Maverick Theatre Company), Ms. Delight (at the Drama Desk-Nominated Emerging Artist’s Theatre) and his play Hal and His Atomic Ray Gun will be produced by SceneShop Productions in August. His other plays have been used by Capital Repertory Theatre, Stage Writers Dallas, The Guinea Pig, Nouveau 47 at the Margo Jones Theatre, The Player’s Theatre, TheatreWorks New Milford, Camp Death Productions and several other companies around the USA. He has had the pleasure of teaching with BareBones Shakespeare, Arlington Public Libraries, and the Muse Theatre Workshop. As an actor, he has appeared in several professional shows including the world premiere of Josefina Lopez’s Hypsteria with TeCo Theatrical, Arsenic and Old Lace at Pocket Sandwich Theatre and the world premiere of Red Cotton: The Birth of Black America with Dynamic Arts.  

Ava O’Dea (author of Postmortem) is going into her senior year at the University at Albany, majoring in English and minoring in Theatre. She has had two plays featured in the University’s FRESH ACTS festival, as well as acting in shows such as A DOLL’S HOUSE and HAIR. She would like to thank her mother, friends, and family for all of their endless support, as well as her professor Kathryn Walat for being a mentor over the past year and a half. 

Alyssa Haddad (author of Wo[man]) is a Brooklyn-based, award-winning and award-losing playwright and screenwriter. Her plays have been presented at the Capital Repertory Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, Theater for the New City, Sundog Theatre, Kraine Theatre, and The Midtown International Theatre Festival where she was the recipient of the Playwright’s Award. She is an alumna of Living Room Theater’s New Play Incubator Lab and a current member of New Perspectives Theatre Company’s Women’s Work Play Lab. She is also an Artist-In-Residence at Adams State University’s Rare A.I.R program. She is a frequent columnist for Eleanora Magazine. She holds a BA in History and Writing from The College of Saint Rose and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. More at alyssahaddad.com 

NEW VOICES: YOUNG PLAYWRIGHT CONTEST FINALISTS 

Two Bachelors and a Lyre by Abigail Guenther (Loudonville Christian School) 

The Little White Business Card by Anna Roberts & Amy Zhang (Guilderland High School) 

The Fractured Hero by Violet Kreifels & Elizabeth Novak (Guilderland High School) 

Best Friends with my Mind by Jayleigh Bellefeuille (Rensselaer Jr/Sr High School) 

Alienation by Ava Zuelsdorf (Loudonville Christian School) 

Keep your Friends Closer by Lindsey Penet, Lydia Valentino & Amanda Recine (Coxsackie-Athens High School) 

Shattered Glass Doesn’t Always Make Art by Sydney Elmore & Nina Tuxbury (Guilderland High School) 

Quarantined Hummingbirds by Sarah McCollum & Rya Vallabhaneni (Guilderland High School) 

Garcia by Jessica Airhienbuwa & Quincy Brown (Guilderland High School) 

The Snow Day by Kaliana Burnell & Steven VanDenburgh (Coxsackie-Athens High School) 

2019 SUMMIT DIRECTORS 

Rachel Klein (director for The Luckiest People) is a NYC based director, of whose work The New York Times has praised: “What makes this show pop is the bracing vision of its director, Rachel Klein.” Off-Broadway Direction: Red Roses, Green Gold (Minetta Lane Theatre/featuring the music of the Grateful Dead); Around the World in 80 Days (The Davenport Theatre); The Anthem (The Lynn Redgrave Theatre/starring Randy Jones, the Original Cowboy from the Village People); Gay Bride of Frankenstein (iStar Theatre Lab). Selected NYC Theatre: Tink! (New York Musical Festival); More Than All the World (adapted from Marlowe’s Edward II); Symphony of Shadows (Jerome Robbins Foundation commission); A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Circus of Circus (The House of Yes.) Selected Regional and Workshops: Hairspray (Jenny Wiley Amphitheater); Snow (Playwrights Horizons); 54 The Musical (Axelrod Entertainment); Helen (A musical adapted from the Euripides play); Where Angels Fear to Tread (THML Theatre Co.) Ms. Klein directed the roast of Michael Musto which raised money for the Callen Lorde Community Health Center, featuring Rosie O’Donnell, Bruce Vilanch, Bianca Del Rio and Jinkx Monsoon. For more info: http://www.rachelkleindirector.com 

Yvonne Perry (director of Here Be Dragons) is a professional actress based in both the Capital District and New York. This is the second reading she has directed for Next Act. Other directing credits include shows at UAlbany (My First Time; Circle Mirror Transformation); Siena (How I Learned To Drive; Tartuffe; Spike Heels); Union College (Boeing Boeing) and The Albany Academy for Girls (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe). She has directed several Theatre Voices productions, including RX, Defiance and Outside Mullingar. Yvonne also Assistant Directed for Cap Rep’s production of Outside Mullingar in 2017. Yvonne is an adjunct professor in the Theatre Department at Skidmore College, and has also taught and/or guest lectured at UAlbany, Union, Siena and Adelphi University. You can learn more about Yvonne’s performance, teaching and directing work on her website at www.yvonneperry.com. Proud member AEA and SAG-AFTRA. 

Carolyn Anderson (director of The First 15: Be a Literary Manager Reading) is a director, writer, professor of theatre and a Board Member of both theREP and Proctors Education program.

Matthew Winning (director of the Young Adult Playwright Finalists Reading)  

Aaron Moore (director of the New Voices: Young Playwright Contest Finalists Reading) 

Aaron Moore comes from Albany NY and has always had a heart for the stage and screen . Having trained under Ward Dales and Gregory Marsh at Albany high school’s Drama program. Aaron then took his talents to suny Potsdam there he earned a degree in Theatre with a concentration in African American theatre, and continued his education at The Alvin and Ally dance company, The Salvin’s school for therapeutic Arts, and the Classical theatre of Harlem. Aaron has performed and worked with Local non-local company’s such as Capital Rep theatre , Pendragon Theatre company, Youth FX, The African American culture center, Proctors, The roundtable theatre company, NBC, Showtime, The History Channel, and much more. 

“This is my second year Directing next and I couldn’t be more excited” 

Margaret E. Hall (director of In Full Bloom) 

Chantalle Todd (director of Broken Lilies) Chantalle Todd is a filmmaker, photographer, graphic designer, and artist. She graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh with a BA in Communications: TV/Video Production in 2012. Since then she’s served as the Creative Director at RPR Studios and has produced hundreds of web, event, and TV videos for some of the Capital Region’s largest organizations. 

Kevin Mcguire

Most recent directing credit, THE SCHOOL FOR LIES, by David Ives at the Ring Theatre, Miami Florida. At Capital Rep, HAMLET in the 2014-15 season. As well as, several readings for Next Act. In New York, the workshop of PERFECT LOVE, A new musical among others. As founding Artistic Director of Theatre Company Hubbard Hall in Cambridge he directed over 50 plays and musicals, several world premiers, winning multiple awards and “best of” for the capital district and the Berkshires. Kevin is an actor who has appeared on Broadway, national and international tours and many regional theatres in the USA

Cast:

FRIDAY JUNE 7, 2019

STAGE TO SCREEN – BROKEN LILIES Screenplay by Paige Zubel
Produced by Frosted Lens & Productions
Directed by Chantalle Todd
Director of Photography Gary Flugge
Executive Producers: Ben Katagiri and H. Russell Wilks

IN FULL BLOOM by Paige Zubel
Directed by – Margaret E. Hall
Stage Manager – Conway Hahne
Roger – Ben Katagiri
Beth – Dana Goodknight
Stage Directions – KD McTeigue

SATURDAY JUNE 8, 2019

FIRST 15: BE A LITERARY MANAGER
Directed by Carolyn Anderson
Stage Managed by Elise Charlebois
(First 15 cast lists are in alphabetical order)

FALL WITH ME by Jared Eberlein
Delia – Angelique Powell
Bithiah – Bianca Stinney*
Lenny – Ben Williamson*
Stage Directions – Kevin Craig West*

EVERYTHING MUST GO by Mark Rigney
Shelbey Foster – Kristyn Youngblood*
Zach Foster – Matt Tenorio
Harold Wilsbacher – Kevin McGuire*
Denelle Jenkins – Bianca Stinney*
Stage Directions – Barbara Howard*

BAYBRA’S TULIPS by Lewis Morrow
Baybra – Aaron Moore
Tellulah – Barbara Howard*
Charles – Kevin Craig West*
Nessa – Angelique Powell
Avery – Makiah Massass
Stage Directions – Joshua DeMarco

A DRIVING BEAT by Jordan Ramirez Puckett
Mateo – Joshua DeMarco
Diane – Kristyn Youngblood*
Stage Directions – Kevin McGuire*

RAISIN BREAD by Steven Peterson
Hank – Aaron Moore
Emma – Bianca Stinney*
Mr. Laine – Ben Williamson*
Stage Directions – Matt Tenorio

YOUNG ADULT PLAYWRIGHT EVENT
Directed by Matthew Winning
Stage Managed by Rachel Frascella*
(Young Adult Playwright cast lists are in alphabetical order)

Wo(man) by Alyssa Haddad
Mother – Emily Curro
Father – Joshua Redfield*
Government Officer – Ethan Botwick*
Stage Directions – Dana Goodknight

Round the Decay by Straton Rushing
Ozzy – Ethan Botwick*
Amy – Gabrielle D. Straight
Stage Directions – Joshua Redfield*

Postmortem by Ava O’Dea
Winnie – Gabby Straight
Tan – Emily Curro
Travis – Joshua Redfield*
Quinn – Dana Goodknight
Stage Directions – Ethan Botwick*

SECOND LOOK: THE LUCKIEST PEOPLE By Meridith Friedman
Directed by Rachel Klein
Stage Managed by Melissa Richter*
Cast (in order of appearance):
Richard – James Lloyd Reynolds*
David – Michael McCorry Rose*
Oscar – Richard Mawe*
Laura – Brenny Rabine*
Stage Directions – Eileen Schuyler*

SUNDAY JUNE 9, 2019

NEW VOICES: YOUNG PLAYWRIGHT CONTEST
Directed by Aaron Moore
Stage Managed by Rachel Frascella*
Playwright Workshop led by Aaron Jafferis
(New Voices cast lists are in alphabetical order)

The Snow Day by Kaliana Burnell & Steven VanDenburgh
John – Logan Esposito
Alex – Matt Tenorio
Mr. Hanes – Shayne David Cameris*
Janitor Lewis – Joshua DeMarco
Stage Directions – Marquis Heath

Two Bachelors and A Lyre by Abigail Guenther
Narrator – KD McTeigue
Nimrod – Cedar Brock
Elgar – Marquis Heath
Woman – Liesel Gerstenberger
King – James Q. Carola
Stage Directions – Joshua DeMarco

Shattered Glass Doesn’t Always Make Art by Sydney Elmore & Nina Tuxbury
Elle – Maya Terry-Stein
James – Joshua DeMarco
Dad – David Girard*
Elle’s Hallucination – KD McTeigue
Stage Directions – James Q. Carola

The Little White Business Card by Anna Roberts & Amy Zhang
Jamie White – Maya Terry-Stein
Hannah Jameson – Gabrielle D. Straight
Jack Williams – Matt Tenorio
Derrik Smith – Logan Esposito
Harry – Marquis Heath
Craig – Joshua DeMarco
Stage Directions – Erica Tryon*

Alienation by Ava Zulesdorf
Marva – Liesel Gersteynberger
One – Cedar Brock
One Prime – Erica Tryon*
Student 1 – Makiah Massas
Student 2 – Logan Esposito
Student 3 – Maya Terry-Stein
Professor – Kristyn Youngblood*
Stage Directions – KD McTeigue

Garcia by Jessica Airhienbuwa & Quincy Brown
Esli Garcia – Joshua DeMarco
Ritza Garcia – Gabrielle D. Straight
Alejandra (Mamá) Garcia – Erica Tryon*
Mateo (Papá) Gacia – Marquis Heath
Adalia Aceves – KD McTeigue
Miguel – Logan Esposito
Police Officer – Shayne David Cameris*
Stage Directions – Matt Tenorio

Best Friends With My Mind by Jayleigh Bellefeuille
Ava Jones – Maya Terry-Stein
Depression – Liesel Gerstenberger
Anxiety – Makiah Massas
Carol Jones – Kristyn Youngblood*
Stan Jones – David Girard*
Stage Directions – Erica Tryon*

Keep Your Friends Close… by Lindsey Penet, Lydia Valentino & Amanda Recine
Detective – David Girard*
Partner – Shayne David Cameris*
Receptionist – Kristyn Youngblood*
Witness – Gabrielle D. Straight
Stage Directions – Makiah Massas

The Fractured Hero by Violet Kreifels & Elizabeth Novak
Alexander – Shayne David Cameris*
Hades – David Girard*
Hestia – Kristyn Youngblood*
Alex – Cedar Brock
Xander – Matt Tenorio
Phoebe – Liesel Gerstenberger
Narrator – James Q. Carola
Stage Directions – Logan Esposito

Quarantined Hummingbirds by Sarah McCollum & Rya Vallabhaneni
Alena Henderson – Erica Tryon*
Keith Henderson – Shayne David Cameris*
Ronin Henderson – Joshua DeMarco
Macie Henderson – Gabrielle D. Straight
Stage Directions – Cedar Brock

SYNOPSIS CLINIC led by Aoise Stratford

YPC Workshop for Young Playwright Contest Top 10 Finalists led by Aaron Jafferis

HERE BE DRAGONS By Rachel Lynett
Directed by Yvonne Perry
Stage Managed by Melissa Richter*
Cast (in order of appearance):
Amy (Queen Boudicca)– Victoria Benkoski
Kiah – Adrian Kiser*
Erin (Lady Cixi) – Rebecca Miyako Hirota*
Nathan – Joel Ashur*
Ines (Lady Catherine) – Esco Jouléy*
Julian (Lord Alfonso) – Ben Katagiri
Stage Directions – Victoria M. Preisman

MONDAY JUNE 10, 2019

THE CALM BEFORE by Deborah Yarchun
Directed by Kevin McGuire
Stage Managed by Melissa Richter*
ASM – Rachel Frascella*
Sound Scape by Rider Q. Stanton
Cast (in order of appearance):
Mitch Mayborn – Dan Daily*
Ellen Mayborn – Allison Jean White*
Stage Directions – Tony Pallone*

Next Act! Submission Process
The submission process for the Next Act! New Play Summit begins early in the year. 

theREP looks for scripts that use theatre to address injustices, inequities, and cultural collisions, providing a voice for the unheard on stage, in the workplace, the Capital Region and beyond. Scripts that engage art and social justice. Submission documents must be void of playwright’s name and contact information. Two plays will be selected from this submission process. to have readings (with an eye towards a potential future production) during the annual summit.

Next Act! New Play Summit
The Next Act! New Play Summit, a joint venture between Capital Repertory Theatre and Proctors, is an annual showcase of new plays designed to shed light on new play development. 

The summit brings playwrights, directors, actors and audience members together for a series of workshops and readings where no less than four new full-length plays are given readings. Among a variety of additional events is theREP’s New Voices Event that includes readings of five short plays by young playwrights.

The Summit was founded on the goal to find a play that theREP wants to produce – furthering the theatre’s commitment to the development of new work. To date, theREP has selected one play to produce as a World Premiere from every single Next Act! New Play Summit. The public is invited to attend and provide feedback during these events.

Officially formed in the fall of 2012, the Next Act! New Play Summit is made possible by a generous legacy gift from Samson O.A. Ulmann – a professor of English at Union College (from 1957-92).

Production
Playwrights selected for readings during the Next Act! New Play Summit have the opportunity to develop their script during the Summit. The results of the Summit could lead to a potential future production at theREP. Past summit scripts developed into World Premiere productions include Paris Time, Assisted Loving, Naked Influence, and How Water Behaves and The God Game

AEA members names as follows L-R: Christopher Invar, Lisa Bol, Peter Rini, Robert LuPone and Tony Pallone