DCPA Theatre Company Sets 11th Annual Colorado New Play Summit

The Theatre Company at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts is proud to announce the four selected playwrights for the 2016 Colorado New Play Summit. The festival of new work will take place over two weekends, 2/13-2/14 and 2/19-2/20 and will feature new plays by José Cruz González, Lauren Gunderson, Tira Palmquist, and Mat Smart.

The expanded Summit programming will also include a panel on devised work by Third Rail Projects, a Local Playwrights' Slam hosted by the Athena Project, and readings of the finalists of the Regional High School Playwriting Competition.

Hailed as a "a must-see stop for new-play development" by American Theatre Magazine, the Colorado New Play Summit has introduced 44 new plays, over half of which returned to the stage as full Theatre Company productions. Recent Summit World Premieres include Matthew Lopez's The Legend of Georgia McBride (which made it's Off-Broadway debut at the MCC Theater), Samuel D. Hunter's The Whale, Eric Schmiedl's adaptation of Kent Haruf's Benediction,Catherine Trieschmann's The Most Deserving, Marcus Gardley's black odyssey, Karen Zacarias's Just Like Us, Jeffrey Haddow and Neal Hampton's Sense and Sensibility The Musical, and Dick Scanlan's reimagined version of The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

THE NEW PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS

A.M. by José Cruz González

Theatre Company Commission

Lucha and Bolie want to start their own all-female mariachi band, but find that breaking into the male-dominated musical form is more difficult than they thought. But Lucha pushes ahead, driven by the desire to use music to heal her broken family.

Book of Will by Lauren Gunderson

Theatre Company Commission

After Shakespeare's death, two of the remaining actors from his theatre company scramble to find his scripts, or in some cases reassemble them, and publish them in a single Folio edition. If not for their resourcefulness and dedication, some of the world's most famous plays might have been lost forever.

Two Degrees by Tira Palmquist

Emma, a scientist who studies ice core samples in Greenland, has been invited to the nation's capital to share her findings on climate change with the Senate. But when her husband's recent death starts erupting into flashbacks, she can't seem to get a grip on herself. Two Degrees charts the tumultuous inner life of a woman poised to make a difference in the global sphere.

Midwinter by Mat Smart

Theatre Company Commission

It's the dead of winter in McMurdo Station, Antarctica. No planes in or out for six months. No sunlight for four months. And yet somehow there's romance in the air. Watch love run amok in Midwinter by Mat Smart, who trained for this play by spending three months at the South Pole.

Sponsored By: Joy S. Burns, Terry & Noel Hefty, Karolynn Lestrud, Robert & Carole Slosky, Daniel L. Ritchie and the Women's Voices Fund.

Special thanks to the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for its continued support of new play development at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

About the Denver Center for the Performing Arts

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is a not-for-profit theatre organization dedicated to creating unforgettable shared experiences through beloved Broadway musicals, world-class plays, educational programs and inspired events. The DCPA is the largest non-profit theatre organization in the nation, offering more than 40 plays and musicals year-round that engage and inspire audiences of all ages and interests.

The Theatre Company is helmed by Producing Artistic Director Kent Thompson and is currently in its 37th season.

**Please be advised that The Denver Center for the Performing Arts website - denvercenter.org - is the ONLY authorized online seller of tickets for both the touring Broadway productions and the resident theatre company productions. Currently there are scalpers, also known as 'second party vendors,' selling tickets online at a rate more than double the standard price - and up. Tickets bought through these vendors MAY NOT BE VALID. You could not only be refused admission, but also lose your entire investment.

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