Black Box New Play Festival

January 16 – January 26, 2025

Thurs – Sat @ 7:30pm
Sun @ 3pm

Gallery Players has a history of supporting emerging playwrights, fostering play development, and producing world premieres. Now in its 28th year, our playwright-focused festival aims to polish and perfect a collection of new plays and offer a home where playwrights can deepen their stagecraft and hold a mirror up to our time.
 

Black Box New Play Festival

 

Week One: Jan. 16 – 19, 2025

  • CAMEO
    Playwright, Ken Levine
    Director, Riley Alexander

    Celebrities getting paid to personally wish fans a happy birthday began in the days of Julius Caesar.

  • THERE INHERENT
    Playwright, Kyle R. Thomas
    Director, Laura Livingston

    As a threatening storm bears down on an old family home, an aging couple decides to ride it out. When their son and daughter-in-law show up demanding that they evacuate immediately, the story shifts into a battle of wills, an exploration of faith, and ultimately what can and can’t be left behind.

  • CAROL: A TRIPTYCH
    Playwright, George Sapio
    Director, Gabrielle Giacomo

    Three glimpses into Carol’s life and the men in it.

  • BUNTLETT WEDDING WEEKEND
    Playwright, Vicki Riba Koestler
    Director, Gregory Lipson

    An early fall wedding in the country sounds idyllic. But when four guests with clashing agendas, expectations, and personalities are assigned to the same cabin in the woods, the occasion is far from peaceful.

Featuring Madeline Bernhard, Coda Leana Boyce, Josie Brandmeier, Michael Thomas Carter, Claudia Cromley, Amy D’Aulerio, Mike Durkin, Laura Livingston, Danny McWilliams, Joe Mihalchick, Jim Periconi, Gianni Sallese, Jason Santel and Jordan Westfall


 

 

Week Two: Jan. 23 – 26, 2025

  • M&A
    Playwright, Joseph Bulvid
    Director, Mark Harborth

    M&A provides an inside view to the high-risk, highly pressurized world of corporate Mergers & Acquisitions. Rankin is a high-flying savant in the world of M&A. Project YP will be the biggest deal ever if he can make it happen. Rankin’s deeply flawed personal life emerges as he struggles to close the deal that could “change the world.”

  • CAMBRIOLAGE
    Playwright, James Kelsey Nelson
    Director, Noel MacDuffie

    Five actors are randomly assigned their roles at the top of the performance in this expressionist comedy. A receptionist working at a museum late at night is tricked by an intruder and an active burglary ensues. As more visitors arrive – the curator of the museum, a police dispatcher who is learning on the job, and a nosy neighbor who seizes an opportunity to advance their career – the situation spirals out of control.

Featuring Roxy Arecco, Chrissy Brinkman, Teddy Fischer, Matthew Foley, Nick Freedson, Jaden Gant, Hannah Herbert-Hunt, Samuel James Rider, Abby Wheeler, Andrew John Wilson, Chantel Woo


 

 

Festival Staff

Co-Producers: Sue Glausen & Dominic Cuskern
Sound Designer: Sebastian Bader
Lighting Designer: Zijun (Neil) Wang
Props Designer and Costume Coordinator: Jerry Mittelhauser
Intimacy Coordinator: Becca Carter Freeman
Production Stage Manager: Britt Kolek
Assistant Stage Manager: Georgina Marshall & Cecilia Milbrandt
 

 
Black Box New Play Festival

“Words can’t express what I feel right now. What a special two nights I just had. Sitting with friends and strangers and watching 2 hours of my work in a theater full of love and support for my writing. This whole process has been not only fun but important because I learned so much from seeing OCEAN PLANET staged and realized. What a special memory. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for believing in me and producing this weekend of my plays.” – Brett Epstein, playwright