“The Gulfshore Playhouse New Works Festival has restored my faith that even in a time of reduced budget for the arts in this country, there is still a place nurturing new voices.”
– Laura Maria Censabella (Playwright of Paradise, featured in the Fourth Annual New Works Festival)
Gulfshore Playhouse’s Annual New Works Festival is a week-long developmental workshop for unproduced plays. Each fall, 3 playwrights are invited to Gulfshore Playhouse to work alongside a team of directors and professional actors to develop their play and present their work as a staged reading to a live audience.
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Our New Works Festival is a great opportunity to experience a weekend of new plays. Attend multiple readings and save on your tickets!
About the Plays
Wonderland by Michael Scanlan
Friday, September 13 at 8PM
It is 1968. “The times, they are a-changin’”— in politics, religion, and society as a whole. Some think these cataclysmic upheavals are for the good, while others are convinced that the world is “on the eve of destruction.” WONDERLAND explores the changing culture through the eyes of the Lynch family, who grapple with it through anger, fear, courage, and humor. Will their love for each other take them safely through the chaos, or will they be crushed by the changes that threaten their way of life?
Near Nellie Bly by Mark Loewenstern
Saturday, September 14 at 8PM
Nellie Bly, aspiring daredevil reporter, went undercover in an insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island) in New York City, 1887. There she befriended a patient named Anne Neville. After 10 days, Nellie was released. Anne stayed. Near Nellie Bly follows this fascinating true story from Anne Neville’s perspective.
Picasso in Paris by Rich Rubin
Sunday, September 15 at 3PM
The place, the Montmartre district of Paris; the time, 1906. Twenty-five year-old Pablo Picasso, his reputation just emerging, is introduced to the already acclaimed Henri Matisse by Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo. As their creative and personal lives collide, Picasso and Matisse soon become rivals for fame and fortune. In the cut-throat world of modern art, who will become the leader?
About the Playwrights
Michael Scanlan is a teacher, director and playwright who has written the book and lyrics for three innovative musicals. A dozen of his plays for young adults have been published by Samuel French and enjoy active production lives throughout the United States. In addition, several have been translated into other languages and have been performed in Africa and Europe. He has been working on WONDERLAND for a number of years and is delighted that Gulf Shore Playhouse is helping to bring it to fruition. He lives with his actress/teacher wife, Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, and they divide their time between Florida and Rhode Island.
Mark Loewenstern is a winner of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Play Fest and a three time finalist for the Heideman Award. He is published in Best Ten Minute Plays of 2019, 30 Ten Minute Plays for 2 Actors, and the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival Series. He is currently writing a commissioned play for California Stage Company about real-life 59-year old female con-artist and serial killer Dorothea Puente which will premiere in January 2020. Dramatist Guild Member #516. www.markloewenstern.com
Rich Rubin’s plays have been produced throughout the U.S. as well as internationally in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico. His full-length plays include Swimming Upstream (winner, Todd McNerney Playwright Award; finalist, Reva Shiner Comedy Award); Caesar’s Blood (finalist, Oregon Book Award; finalist, Ashland New Play Festival); Shakespeare’s Skull (winner, Portland Civic Theatre Guild New Play Award); Left Hook (finalist, Woodward-Newman Drama Award); Assisted Living (winner, Neil Simon Festival New Play Contest); Marilyn/MISFITS/ Miller (finalist, Julie Harris Playwright Award); and Cottonwood in the Flood (winner, Fratti-Newman Political Play Award). Member: Dramatists Guild, the New Play Exchange, and Portland’s Nameless Playwrights and LineStorm Playwrights. www.richrubinplaywright.com