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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 and 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.
All festival events are free!
2021 Official Selections
Monday, June 14 at 7:00 p.m.
Randi & Roanne
by Rachel Graf Evans
Synopsis: Randi Beaudelaire, junior year transfer and secret poet, has a major inconvenience: she’s totally in love with her best friend Roxanne and can’t seem to stop writing sappy poetry about it. So when Kristy, the new star of the softball team, asks Randi for help on how to woo Roxanne, what’s she supposed to do? Tell the truth? A queer romantic comedy about secrets, sonnets, and softball.
Tuesday, June 15 at 7:00 p.m.
Jungle Juice
by Kevin Renn
Synopsis: On the eve of their college graduation, six friends gather together to celebrate with one final rager – but after the night takes a surprising turn, the group is forced to confront both their uncertain futures, and a troubling secret that looms between them.
Wednesday, June 16 at 7:00 p.m.
All Eight
by Lilly Camp
Synopsis: Nine freshmen women sit in one boat on their collegiate rowing team, competing with each other up for best times, lowest body weights, and most influential seats, until race day when they row as one. And rumor has it their coach is sleeping with at least one of them.
Thursday, June 17 at 7:00 p.m.
Civics and Humanities for Non-Majors
by Jeff Talbott
Synopsis: Two new student groups are forming on two different campuses. Both have to write a statement saying who they are, and both are falling apart. Two stories become one story in this thorny comic drama about getting things started.
Friday, June 18 at 7:00 p.m.
The Romantic Movement
by Emily Bohannon
Synopsis: Summer of 1967. High school students gather in rural Florida to study classical music in the heart of the Vietnam War and the Summer of Love. Will the college-aged Resident Assistants survive a summer of babysitting high schoolers? Does studying music even matter during a time of war?
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
Special Guest Speakers
Hana Sharif
Artistic Director
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis
David Crespy
Professor, University of Missouri
Founding Artistic Director
Missouri Playwrights Workshop
Jerzy Gwiazdowski
Managing Director
The CRY HAVOC Company, NYC
Sujotta Pace
Producer of the Professional Training Company
and Casting Associate
Actors Theatre of Louisville
Schedule of Events
Monday, June 14
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 11:00am-12:00noon |
Festival Opening Session |
| 1:00pm-2:30pm |
Twenty Minute Playwriting Challenge Kenneth Lee Stilson, PhD Executive Director of the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival and Chair of the Jeanine Larson Dobbins Conservatory of Theatre & Dance, Southeast Missouri State University Rust Flexible Theatre |
| 3:00pm-4:30pm |
The Role of the Playwright in the Rebirth of the American Theatre Hana Sharif Artistic Director of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis Bedell Performance Hall |
| 7:00pm-9:30pm |
OFFICIAL SELECTION STAGED READING Randi & Roxanne by Rachel Graf Evans Directed by Kitt Lavoie Bedell Performance Hall Reading will be followed by a talkback with the playwright. |
Tuesday, June 15
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 9:00am-10:30am |
Actor Workshop: Adjusting to New Pages Kitt Lavoie Artistic Director, Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival Rust Flexible Theatre |
| 10:30am-12:00noon |
So You Want to Write A Musical: Rachel Graf Evans Official Selection Playwright Bedell Performance Hall |
| 1:00pm-2:30pm |
Lanford Wilson Comes Home: David Crespy, PhD Founding Artistic Director of the Missouri Playwrights Workshop Bedell Performance Hall |
| 3:00pm-4:30pm |
Writing What You Know, Better Lilly Camp Official Selection Playwright Bedell Performance Hall |
| 7:00pm-9:30pm |
OFFICIAL SELECTION STAGED READING Jungle Juice by Kevin Renn Directed by Sujotta Pace Bedell Performance Hall Reading will be followed by a talkback with the playwright. |
Wednesday, June 16
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 9:00am-12:00noon |
Playwrights Lab Rust Flexible Theatre |
| 1:00pm-2:30pm |
Multi-Medium Casting Sujotta Pace Producer of the Professional Training Program and Casting Associate Actors Theatre of Louisville Bedell Performance Hall |
| 3:00pm-4:30pm |
New Play Development Jeopardy A live theatre history gameshow. Bedell Performance Hall |
| 7:00pm-9:30pm |
OFFICIAL SELECTION STAGED READING All Eight by Lilly Camp Directed by Roxanne Wellington Bedell Performance Hall Reading will be followed by a talkback with the playwright. |
Thursday, June 17
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 9:00am-10:30am |
Actor Workshop: Cold Reading for New Plays Jerzy Gwiazdowski Managing Director, The CRY HAVOC Company Rust Flexible Theatre |
| 10:30am-12:00noon |
What to Write About When You Don't Know What to Write About Emily Bohannon Official Selection Playwright Bedell Performance Hall |
| 1:00pm-2:30pm |
Breaking the First Wall: New Rules for New Plays Jerzy Gwiazdowski Managing Director, The CRY HAVOC Company Bedell Performance Hall |
| 3:00pm-4:30pm |
Things My Theatre Teacher Never Told Me Kevin Renn Official Selection Playwright Bedell Performance Hall |
| 7:00pm-9:30pm |
OFFICIAL SELECTION STAGED READING Civics and Humanities for Non-Majors by Jeff Talbott Directed by Kenn Stilson Bedell Performance Hall Reading will be followed by a talkback with the playwright |
Friday, June 18
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 9:00am-12:00noon |
Playwrights Lab The Molecule Literary Magazine 50 Word Play Challenge Rust Flexible Theatre |
| 1:00pm-2:30pm |
Human Behavior: Kitt Lavoie Artistic Director of the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival Bedell Performance Hall |
| 3:00pm-4:30pm |
Doing Two Things at Once: Jeff Talbott Official Selection Playwright Bedell Performance Hall |
| 7:00pm-9:30pm |
OFFICIAL SELECTION STAGED READING The Romantic Movement by Emily Bohannon Directed by Jerzy Gwiazdowski Bedell Performance Hall Reading will be followed by a talkback with the playwright. |
Saturday, June 19
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 3:00pm-4:30pm |
OFFICAL SELECTION STAGED READINGS: SHORT PLAYS 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
Bedell Performance Hall |
| 6:00pm-7:30pm |
Panel Discussion with Full-Length Playwrights and Closing Awards Ceremony |
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
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