COVID-19 Information
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The Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival honors new American plays that provide dynamic performance opportunities for college-aged actors.
The festival endeavors both to recognize playwrights for their outstanding work and to provide a resource for universities across the country to identify dynamic plays with robust roles for college-aged actors for production at their institutions.
The 2021 Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival will be held in person at the Dobbins Conservatory of Theatre & Dance on the River Campus of Southeast Missouri State University from June 14-19.
All appropriate COVID safety protocols will be followed.
The festival will feature staged readings of the five Official Selection plays, as well as workshops and seminars on playwrighting and new play development.
At the conclusion of the festival, one play will be selected for the festival’s top prize and will receive its world premiere in the 2021-2022 Dobbins Conservatory Mainstage Season and will be considered for publication by Concord Theatricals, the world’s most significant theatrical company, comprising the catalogs of R&H Theatricals, Samuel French, Tams-Witmark, and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection.
2021 Official Selections
MONDAY, JUNE 14 at 7:00pm
Randi & Roxanne
by Rachel Graf Evans
TUESDAY, JUNE 15 at 7:00pm
Jungle Juice
by Kevin Renn
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16 at 7:00pm
All Eight
by Lilly Camp
THURSDAY, JUNE 17 at 7:00pm
Civics and Humanities for Non-Majors
by Jeff Talbott
FRIDAY, JUNE 18 at 7:00pm
The Romantic Movement
by Emily Bohannon
2021 Semi-Finalists
39 Revolutions by Alex Lin
Below the Fold by Matthew Stoffel
Blue Whale Heart by Max Henry
Boner: A Symphony by Elijah Cox
The Closet Pigeon by Kwik Jones
The Divine Buoyancy of Being by Cary J. Simowitz
Earworm by Shualee Cook
Everlasting Chocolate Therapy by Steven Hayet
Fury, or the frat play by Justice Hehir
Hysterical! by Elenna Stauffer
Like a Queen or Whatever by Grant MacDermott
Little Women.....NOW by Donna Hoke
Oh Righteous God And Sinful Me by Linsey Watkins
The Scrambling Class by Amy Tofte
The Showcase by Matt Schutz
The Silver Tureen by James Armstrong
The Tower by Keyanna Khatiblou
The Velvet Ditch by Kate Leslie
The Young Ladies Of The Class Of 1902 Of Wesleyan University Present, “As You Like It” by Natalie Sacks
Way Down Here by Emily Garrison
2021 Short Play Selections
The Bee That Declared A War by Cary J. Simowitz
Don’t Toy With Me by Andrew Black
Lawncare by Paul Vintner
Remembering Morgan by Annie Brown
Rising by Gabrielle Freitas
Seminar and Special Guests
Please check back soon for information on the seminar schedule and special guests participating in the festival!
Mission Statement
The Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival identifies and supports new plays that feature robust roles for college-aged actors, while providing a laboratory to train students in the skills and ethics inherent to work with living playwrights on new works.
The festival accepts submissions of full length plays from playwrights nationwide and one-act plays from residents of the state of Missouri and/or students enrolled at universities in Missouri.
Contact Us
For additional information, please contact Kitt Lavoie, Artistic Director, and lanfordwilsonfest@semo.edu
Contact
Sara Steffens
573.651.2149
ssteffens@semo.edu
River Campus Seminary 454
One University Plaza, MS 7850
Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63701