21st ANNUAL New Works Festival

August 9-18, 2024

Join us for the 21st Annual New Works Festival! It’s in our DNA at TheatreWorks to gather our friends and family and build community around the creation of new plays for the American theatre. Plays that celebrate the human condition – stories that build understanding, that entertain, that take us to new surroundings, new emotions, and new heights! We can’t wait to share this journey with you. See you at the festival!

GET YOUR TICKETS!

Want to see it all? Try a... FESTIVAL PASS

Subscribers: $60
Non-subscribers: $65

Each pass entitles you to a ticket to one performance of each of this year’s four shows and more*!

*Festival pass holders get access to Meet the Artist and a Gio Bday Event!

Have a particular show in mind? Try...

INDIVIDUAL EVENT TICKETS

$25

You can buy individual tickets to any of our readings for $25 apiece! Just click the button of the show you’re interested in seeing below!

Hello TheatreWorks Family and Friends.

I’m sending this to share the news that officially and gratefully, my title this summer will be the “Artistic Producer of the New Works Festival.” I am so thrilled to step into this role this year, and it feels full circle for me. My first role at TheatreWorks was as a soundboard mixer for the 2010 New Works Festival. This role led me on a path in my theatre and TheatreWorks career that was beyond my imagination as a 22-year-old right out of college.

I am very grateful to Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli for entrusting me with this festival that she has helmed with such excitement and energy since 2014. I know this festival means so much to her as it does to all of you, our TheatreWorks family, and I will strive to keep TheatreWorks’ incredible reputation for developing New Works going strong. As in festivals past, we will have our Welcome Dinner on August 9, a fun closing party on the Sunday of Festival weekend, August 18 (Gio’s Birthday!!), and myriad other activities, events, and artist engagement opportunities. Keep your eyes peeled for more information coming soon. With all of that, I am excited to share with you the New Works crop of plays and musicals that we are nurturing this summer! For the 2024 New Works Festival, we will be producing staged reading workshops of two musicals and two plays along with an exciting kickoff keynote address. Get your tickets and passes today!

staged readings

Molly Bell’s

Hysterical

By Molly Bell

Step into the manic mind of Molly Bell, a suburban mother of two and a writer/performer, who embarks on a transformative journey…

Sat, Aug 10, 8pm

Fri, Aug 16, 8pm

Sun, Aug 18, 3pm

5 & Dime

Book by Ashley Robinson
Lyrics by Shakina
Music by Dan Gillespie Sells

Based on the play Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean by Ed Gracyzk

Set in the 1970s in a ramshackle Texas town, a group of friends as they celebrate the 20th reunion of their fan club “The Disciples of James Dean.”

Sun, Aug 11, 3pm

Wed, Aug 14, 7pm

Sat, Aug 17, 8pm

Liebling

By Vichet Chum
After Sovanna publicly blames his book agent for sabotaging his career, Leo, his partner decides it’s time to finally take a break.

Tue, Aug 13, 7pm

Sat, Aug 17, 3pm

A Driving Beat

By Jordan Ramirez Puckett

2,000 miles, a cross-country car ride adopted son and mother travel side by side white woman, brown boy in the same space 9 states… 

Thu, Aug 15, 7pm

Sat, Aug 17, 12pm

Interested in all? Grab a Festival Pass!

Each pass entitles you to a ticket to one performance of each of this year’s four shows.

special event

KICKOFF DINNER & KEYNOTE

From Classics to Rap Scripts:

Unlocking the Beat of The Tell-Tale Heart

Fri, Aug 9, 8pm

Dinner @ 6:00 PM

Onstage Event @ 8:00PM

Celebrate the start of our 21st annual New Works Festival with dinner, drinks, and the beat box stylings.

After dinner, prepare for an unforgettable keynote from Carlos Aguirre (actor, musician, vocal percussionist, educator).

Thank you to our festival sponsors!

venue

Lucie Stern Theatre

Audiences at the TheatreWorks NWF will get the first peek at the extensive remodeling underway at the Lucie Stern Theatre. The new space is not quite finished, the handsome new plush seats will not be installed yet so you will be sitting on temporary chairs (with foam padding). When our audiences return to the Lucie Stern in December for Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberly it will be to a gorgeous new space, with comfy new seats and increased accessibility for all!

New Works Festival Program