New Plays

Geva Theatre Center Commissions

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa: Based on a Totally True Story
Tanya Barfield: Chat (co-commission with Primary Stages in NYC)
John Belluso: Pyretown
Gregg Coffin & Bookwriter TBA: Maggie, A Girl of the Streets (musical)
Eisa Davis: The History of Light
Gabriel Jason Dean: TBA
David Dabbon: TBA
Keith Glover: Revival: The Resurrection of Son House
Prince Gomolvilas: Panorama
Rickerby Hinds: One Size Fits All
Naomi Iizuka: Garuda’s Wing
Julie Jensen: Cheat
Bob Devin Jones: Clarissa Street Reunion
Julia Jordan: A Good Year for Begonias
Carter Lewis: The One-Eyed Man Is King, Women Who Steal
Michele Lowe: Good on Paper
Kira Obolensky: Russian Soul and All is Well in the Kingdom of Nice
Dan O’Brien: The House at Hydesville, based on the story of the Fox Sisters, early celebrities of the Modern Spiritualist Movement
Mat Smart: The Agitators: The Story of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass
Catherine Trieschmann: Dangerous Dress
Universes: Africantic
Elyzabeth Wilder:  Looks Like Pretty

Geva Theatre Center Premiere Productions

2018-2019

Hard Cell by Brent Askari
The Magician’s Daughter by Lila Rose Kaplan
Revival: The Resurrection of Son House by Keith Glover

2017-2018

The Agitators: The Story of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass by Mat Smart
Heartland by Gabriel Jason Dean
One House Over by Catherine Treischmann; co-production with Milwaukee Repertory Theatre

2016-2017

Other than Honorable by Jamie Pachino

2014-2015

Women in Jeopardy! by Wendy MacLeod
Katherine’s Colored Lieutenant by Nora Cole
The Road to Where by Cass Morgan

2013-2014

All Your Questions Answered by Greg Kotis
Informed Consent by Deborah Zoe Laufer
Tinker to Evers to Chance by Mat Smart

2010-2011

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted by Mark Cuddy and Gregg Coffin

2008-2009

The House In Hydesville by Dan O’Brien

2007-2008

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, adapted by Marge Betley and Mark Cuddy

2006-2007

Lost and Foundling by Eric R. Pfeffinger

2005-2006

A Marvelous Party, The Noel Coward Celebration (devised by David Ira Goldstein, Carl J. Danielsen, Mark Anders and Patricia Wilcox)
The Road Home: Re-Membering America by Marc Wolf
Iron Kisses by James Still
Splitting Infinity by Jamie Pachino

2004-2005

Key West by Dan O’Brien
That Was Then by Gerard Stembridge (*American premiere)

2003-2004

Pyretown by John Belluso
All Is Well in the Kingdom of Nice by Kira Obolensky
Five Course Love (musical) by Gregg Coffin

2002-2003

Theophilus North by Matthew Burnett, based on the novel by Thornton Wilder; co-production with Arena Stage in Washington, DC
September Shoes by José Cruz González

2000-2001

Convenience (musical) by Gregg Coffin

1998-1999

The One-Eyed Man is King by Carter W. Lewis

1997-1998

Famous Orpheus by OyamO, collaboration with Garth Fagan Dance

Workshops and Readings at Geva

Festival of New Theatre

The Festival of New Theatre is a celebration of the theatrical imagination, an exciting glimpse into the creative process, and YOUR opportunity to contribute to the future of theatre in Rochester and around the world. During the Festival, Geva’s audiences are invited to take a glimpse into the writers’ studios as they work on new ideas, tell new stories and explore new forms. Everything you see onstage – all of your favorite plays, musicals, comedy routines, monologues, etc. – was a new work once. It’s Geva’s job, as a company of theatre makers, to help support new plays so that they become the classics of the future. There’s a process to theatre making, and it starts with the idea, the story, in the mind of the writer. Then, collaborators – directors, dramaturgs, actors and designers – are added into the mix, and the story goes through a process of development. The audience is our final collaborator in the development of a new play – writers need to hear the responses of an audience to fully understand how their plays work. And because the readings of new plays are presented concert-style – with actors at music stands, facing the audience – the budget for the set, costumes and other effects is limited only by your imagination!

Geva’s Festival of New Theatre includes concert readings of plays and musicals by national and regional writers, a presentation of work by the winners of our Young Writers Showcase, and other events which let audiences into the earliest stages of the creative process. In addition to readings of full-length plays, the Festival often includes The Author’s Voice (an event which gives audiences a more intimate introduction to a playwright), The Bake-Off (writers are given three days to create a monologue or scene inspired by something from Rochester), or excerpts from writers’ works in progress.

Playwrights: Interested in submitting your work for consideration for the Festival of New Theatre? Find out more.

Plays in Progress

Here’s your chance to check out what might just be Geva’s next big hit…. Plays are chosen from a national pool sent by agents, directors and writers, given rehearsal time with professional actors and directors and presented in an informal script-in-hand concert reading. Each reading is followed by a conversation with the playwright. These play readings may be an opportunity for us to establish a new relationship with a playwright, or to support the work of writers we know and respect.

Submit your play!

2019-2020

Festival of New Theatre

The Sea and The Stars by Harrison David Rivers
Lulu in Rochester by Allison Gregory
Africantic by Universes
Solitude by Carolyn Kourofsky

Plays in Progress

Dangerous Dress by Catherine Trieschmann

2018-2019

Festival of New Theatre

Just Like Sisters by Jay D. Hanagan
Before Evening Comes by Philana Omorotionmwan
The Color Girl by Elyzabeth Wilder
On That Day in Amsterdam by Clarence Coo
The Magician’s Daughter by Lila Rose Kaplan

Plays in Progress

Unseen by Mona Mansour

2017-2018

Festival of New Theatre

The Lotus Paradox by Dorothy Fortenberry
Alexandria by Jeffrey W. Jones
The Dust People by Catherine Trieschmann
Heartland by Gabriel Jason Dean

Plays in Progress

Panorama by Prince Gomolvilas

2016-2017

Festival of New Theatre

Other than Honorable by Jamie Pachino
The Agitators: The Story of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass by Mat Smart
With by Carter W. Lewis
Fielders’ Choice by David Andreatta

Plays in Progress

Devising the American Dream, An Ensemble-Devised Piece Directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh

2015-2016

Journey to the Son

Revival: The Resurrection of Son House

Festival of New Theatre

Cry it Out by Molly Smith Metzler
Strait of Gibraltar by Andrea Lepcio
Separate Rooms by Joe Calarco
Drowned by Bill Capossere

Plays in Progress

The Brothers Paranormal by Prince Gomolvilas

2014-2015

Festival of New Theatre

Katherine’s Colored Lieutenant by Nora Cole
Amid Purpleheart by Victor Lesniewski
Far From the Trees by Christina Gorman
The Cell  by Maria Brandt

Plays in Progress

Still Life by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich

2013-2014

Festival of New Theatre

True Home by Cass Morgan
Love/Sick by John Cariani
Galileo’s by Bill Capossere

Plays in Progress

Women in Jeopardy! by Wendy MacLeod

2012-2013

Festival of New Theatre

Chat by Tanya Barfield
The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence by Madeleine George
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, adapted by Sean Daniels, Jon Ludwig and Jason Hines
Stop the Presses by David Andreatta

Plays in Progress

Brilliant Corners by Andrew Rosendorf
Informed Consent by Deborah Zoe Laufer
Tinker to Evers to Chance by Mat Smart

2011-2012

Festival of New Theatre

When You’re Here by Sam Hunter
Ups & Downs by Michael Hollinger
Wake Up, Mrs. Moore by Julie Marie Myatt
In The Territories by Mark R. Jabaut

Plays in Progress

Carve by Molly Smith Metzler
Firework by Lauren Gunderson
Last Gas by John Cariani

2010-2011

Festival of New Theatre

Lake Effect by Padraic Lillis
House on Stilts by Sarah Hammond
An Evening with Mrs. Kasha Davis by Ed Popil
And So It Goes… by Aaron Posner
Mystic Castle by Lori Marra

Plays in Progress

Natasha and the Coat by Deborah Stein
The Americans Across the Street by Carter W. Lewis
Lavender Scare by Peter Duchan

2009-10

Plays in Progress

Any Solid Color Other Than Black by Billy Finnegan
Walter Cronkite Is Dead by Joe Calarco
Prince of Air by Jim Knable
100 Planes by Lila Rose Kaplan
Waking Matilda by Mimi Kennedy
The Morini Strad by Willy Holtzman

2008-09

Plays in Progress

Fire in the Garden by Ken Weitzman
Good Egg by Dorothy Fortenberry
Breadcrumbs by Jennifer Haley

2007-08

The Good Book by Moby Pomerance
rightnextto me by Gregg Coffin (musical)
The History of Light by Eisa Davis (commission)

American Voices New Play Reading Series

Dov and Ali by Anna Ziegler
Evie’s Waltz by Carter W. Lewis
Thomas Repair by Mat Smart

2006-07

Amazons and Their Men by Jordan Harrison
The House in Hydesville by Dan O’Brien (commission)
Untitled Darfur Play by Winter Miller

American Voices New Play Reading Series

The Velvet Rut by James Still
Unaccounted For by Alex Lewin
Progress in Flying by Lynn Rosen

2005-06

Hickorydickory by Marisa Wegrzyn
Splitting Infinity by Jamie Pachino
Lost and Foundling by Eric Pfeffinger (Big Theatre for Little People workshop, a collaboration with Childsplay)

American Voices New Play Reading Series

Act A Lady by Jordan Harrison
Exposure Time by Kim Merrill
The Red Forest by José Cruz Gonzalez

2004-05

Community Service by Good on Paper: Michele Lowe (commission)
Based on a Totally True Story by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (commission)
Iron Kisses/The Long Division of My Mother by James Still
Maggie, A Girl of the Streets by musical by Gregg Coffin (in-house workshop, commission)

American Voices New Play Reading Series

Ice Glen by Joan Ackermann
Splitting Infinity by Jamie Pachino
The Dear Boy by Dan O’Brien

2003-04

Dark Matters by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Paper Armor by Eisa Davis
Centrifugal Force by Gary Winter

American Voices New Play Reading Series

Psalms of a Questionable Nature by Marisa Wegrzyn
Kid Peculiar at the Coral Court Motel by Carter W. Lewis
Key West by Dan O’Brien

2002-03

All Is Well in the Kingdom of Nice by Kira Obolensky (Big Theatre for Little People commission)
Philosophy of the World by musical by Joy Gregory and Gunnar Madsen
The Mystery Plays and Rough Magic by  Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (developed in partnership with Dad’s Garage Theatre Company)

American Voices New Play Reading Series

Saltimbanques by Jim Knable
An Ole Soul, A Young Spirit by John Henry Redwood
N by Laura Harrington

2001-02

Theophilus North by Matthew Burnett, adapted from Thornton Wilder
September Shoes by José Cruz González
Pyretown by John Belluso (commission)

American Voices New Play Reading Series

House of Wonder by Rinne Groff
Men on the Take by Carter W. Lewis
Map of Heaven by Michele Lowe

2000-01

Someplace Soft to Fall by S.M. Shepard-Massat
The Spirit House by Adam Kraar
Garuda’s Wing by Naomi Iizuka (commission)

American Voices New Play Reading Series

The Weird Sisters by Laura Shamas
The American In Me by Rebecca Gilman
Theophilus North by Matthew Burnett, adapted from Thornton Wilder

1999-2000

The Women of Lockerbie by Deborah Baley Brevoort
Be Aggressive by Annie Weisman
Russian Soul by Kira Obolensky (commission)
Convenience by Gregg Coffin (in-house workshop)

American Voices New Play Reading Series

Blur by Melanie Marnich
Making It by Joe Hortua
Pickett’s Charge by Laura Harrington

1998-99

Watusi by S.P. Miskowski
Cheat by Julie Jensen (commission)
One Size Fits All by Rickerby Hinds  (commission)

American Voices New Play Reading Series

The Book of David by Bob Clyman
The Mystery of Attraction by  Marlane Meyer
Convenience by Gregg Coffin
Longevity Abbreviated for Those Who Don’t Have Time by Carter Lewis

1997-98

Women Who Steal by Carter Lewis (commission)
Clarissa Street Reunion by Bob Devin Jones (commission)
A Good Year for Begonias by Julia Jordan (commission)

American Voices New Play Reading Series

Grand View by William Kennedy
The Balkan Spy by Dusan Kovacevic
Beating Heart Cadaver by Colleen Murphy

1996-97

American Voices New Play Reading Series

Sockdology by Jeffrey Hatcher
Tomorrowland by Neena Beeber
The One-Eyed Man Is King by Carter W. Lewis
3 ½ Catholics by Julia Jordan
Lunatic by K.C. Davis

1995-96

American Voices New Play Reading Series

Emil’s Enemies by Douglas L. Huff
Alice in Ireland by Judy Sheehan
Beast with Two Backs by Don Nigro
Limoges by Jeanne Drennan
Between Men and Cattle by Richard Kalinoski

1994-95

American Voices New Play Reading Series

The Bottom Line by Henry G. Miller
Incorruptible by Michael Hollinger
The Normals by Chris Widney
Death’s Door by Deborah Savadge