The New Harmony Project Announces Inaugural PlayFest Indy
A weeklong celebration of new plays in partnership with eight Indianapolis professional theatre companies.
By: A.A. Cristi Jul. 10, 2024
The New Harmony Project has announced that its inaugural PlayFest Indy will take place in Indianapolis from September 9 to 15, 2024. The festival, a weeklong celebration of new plays, will spotlight Indianapolis as a center for new play development as it hosts eight of America's most exciting playwrights who will develop innovative plays during PlayFest Indy in collaboration with professional theatre companies from around the city.
“PlayFest Indy is an incredibly exciting initiative for The New Harmony Project, and I am thrilled to bring these eight innovative playwrights to Indianapolis to collaborate with our vibrant local theatre companies,” says Jenni Werner, NHP Executive Artistic Director. “Plays start out as the spark of an idea in the mind of a writer, and audiences aren't usually invited into the process of developing those ideas into what you see produced onstage. But that's our invitation to you – join us to see a story no one's ever seen before, and help the writers bring their plays to life. And while we're doing that, we're going to show the nation just how vital Indianapolis theatre is.”
The week culminates by inviting the public to attend free concert-style readings from September 13 to 15. The readings will be held at downtown theatre venues, scheduled to allow the public to attend all eight readings if they wish. After each reading, an optional post-performance discussion with the writer will follow.
The New Harmony Project is partnering with eight Indianapolis professional theatre companies: American Lives Theatre, Fonseca Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Indianapolis Shakespeare Company, Naptown African American Theatre Collective, Phoenix Theatre, Storefront Theatre of Indianapolis, and Summit Performance Indianapolis.
The public readings will officially kick off on September 13 at 7:30 PM at The Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center with Port Isabel, Texas by Lucy Thurber, hosted by American Lives Theatre.
Port Isabel, Texas will be followed by an opening night party at 9:30 PM, setting the tone for a weekend of theatrical exploration and celebration.
The schedule for September 14 is packed with diverse offerings at Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center:
· 11:00 AM - Audubon by Erika Dickerson-Despenza (hosted by Indianapolis Shakespeare Company)
o Synopsis: Immediately before his assassination, a frustrated Malcolm X reshuffles a rapidly collapsing program of the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Audubon reimagines the final conversations in the life of this man-turned-icon struggling to forge international solidarities with a bounty on his head.
· 2:00 PM - Noa by a.k. payne (hosted by Naptown African American Theatre Collective)
o Synopsis: Noa's Ark is a diner in Greenwood District where folks come to remake the world. A queer Black woman named Noa stands at the helm and in May of 1921, no one else can see what's coming to threaten the streets of Greenwood. Against the backdrop of one of the largest race riots in American history, pairs of lovers try to imagine a world where they can breathe.
· 5:00 PM - Sick Girl, Or Don't Hate Me ‘Cuz I'm Pretty by Lina Patel (hosted by Summit Performance Indianapolis)
o Synopsis: Immigrant parents, a misdiagnosis, and a journey toward healing. Sick Girl or, Don't Hate Me Cuz I'm Pretty, is a multi-faceted investigation of disability, desire, and the value of broken things.
· 8:00 PM - Wet by Aurora Real de Asua (hosted by Phoenix Theatre)
o Synopsis: One of the only places where the teachers, staff, and students of a prestigious all-girl school can intermingle is the changing room of the school pool. But when a sex scandal rocks the community, everyone must reevaluate the true meaning of safe space.
On September 15, the readings will be spread across different venues, emphasizing the collaborative nature of the festival:
· 11:00 AM - The Birth of the Pill by Jessica Huang (hosted by and performed at Indiana Repertory Theatre)
o Synopsis: Katharine McCormick and Margaret Sanger schemed for decades about a pill that would grant women autonomy over their fertility. Based on the book by Jonathan Eig and commissioned by TimeLine Theatre, The Birth of the Pill explores their work to transform science, society, and women's lives, as well as the pill's troubling links to the Eugenics movement.
· 2:00 PM - WAD by Keiko Green (hosted by and performed at Storefront Theatre)
o Synopsis: True-Crime-obsessed Nyce becomes pen pals with Jim, a man on death row. As Jim's execution date nears, he and Nyce live out alternate realities, fantasize about death and dying, tell a bunch of lies, and eventually get to something close to the truth.
· 8:00 PM - Huelga by Jordan Ramirez Puckett (hosted by and performed at Fonseca Theatre)
o Synopsis: Living and working on a lemon-picking labor camp in Southern California during the 1920s, two Mexican baseball prodigies fight to be seen by pro scouts, their plantation bosses, and each other. Huelga is a queer love story about two friends who dare to dream of more.
PlayFest Indy is more than just a festival; it is a statement about the power of theatre to transform and spark change. By bringing together a diverse array of playwrights and theatre companies, the festival showcases the richness of contemporary American Playwrights and theatre and highlights Indianapolis as a burgeoning center for artistic innovation.
Earlier in the week on September 9, each PlayFest Indy writer and their team will begin their creative journey with a two-day retreat at the Athenaeum. There, playwrights, directors, and dramaturgs will gather for intensive script development sessions, inspired by The New Harmony Project's ethos of nurturing writers in a collaborative environment where writers can refine their scripts and discuss revisions. From September 11 to 13, the focus shifts to workshops with actors. Over these three days, each play will undergo rigorous rehearsals, utilizing local and national acting talent to bring the scripts to life.
On September 15, the festival will conclude with a closing party at 9:30 PM, providing a space for attendees and participants to reflect on the week's achievements and look forward to the future of new play development in Indianapolis.
The New Harmony Project, producer of PlayFest Indy, has a long-standing commitment to supporting playwrights and their work. This festival extends that mission by providing a platform for their voices and fostering a vibrant theatrical community in Central Indiana.
PlayFest Indy invites theatre enthusiasts, community members, and supporters of the arts to join in this celebration of storytelling and creativity. The biographies of the writers follow this release. For more information about the festival and The New Harmony Project, visit newharmonyproject.org/pfi.
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