2024 Players New Play Festival

Witness the birth of a brand-new play. Each day this week you will get to hear local playwright’s works read by local actors, directed by local directors. After each reading there will be a talkback with the audience to allow the playwright feedback on their piece. One show will be selected as the winner and will get the opportunity to have their play performed as a workshop production the following season.

All readings take place at 3501 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34239

Monday, July 8
Life is Small
Written by Douglas Gearhart
Directed by Tim Spradlin

It’s Christmas time in southern Florida. Dominic Duluth lives alone and chats with his dead dog. His son Jedi has not been home for seven years and is now in big trouble at the park just down the street from Sonny. An angry plumber (and father of a young girl) is holding Jedi for the police after roughing him up a bit. A distracted police officer named Maureen arrives on the scene to try to sort it all out in time to take her final exam.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Tuesday, July 9
Yumee and Jack
Written by Bill Bozzone
Directed by Alan Gillespie

It begins as a battle of wills.

JACK McGRAF, a resident at an adult care facility, refuses to forgive himself for the mistakes of his past. Disastrous marriage, botched career, failed fatherhood. Enter YUMEE FISHKIN, an administrator temporarily working among the facility’s population, a well-meaning woman unfortunately over her head. JACK sees this woman as someone who can be easily manipulated, but YUMEE, as she states late in the play, is someone “known to get my way through polite persistence.”

It’s during a blind date off-site that YUMEE meets JUNIOR BRUNETTI, a boastful police officer out to impress. But BRUNETTI, like the others present here, hides behind a façade which he’s eventually forced to drop.

JACK, who’s been expecting his wife to arrive and take him home, is eventually visited by JOYCE McGRAF. SHE’S a strong woman, caring and generous, and while Jack refuses to see the hopelessness of their reuniting, JOYCE pushes ahead with life with the force of a Florida hurricane.

Wednesday, July 10
Happy Endings Wedding Chapel
A play in one-week
Written by Hannah Mitchell
Directed by Alisha Tyler-Lohr

In the heart of Las Vegas, the “Happy Endings Wedding Chapel” is a tacky yet charming place run by Kathy and her equally tacky yet charming family. Enter Andreas, a delightfully witty lawyer from England, who arrives at the chapel to gather evidence for a peculiar case. Despite his profession, Andreas is a hopeless romantic who believes in love wholeheartedly. Despite her profession… Kathy hates love. Jaded by past experiences and surrounded by the constant flow of fleeting romances, she has grown to despise the concept of love. As the week goes by an unlikely friendship blossoms. Through their humorous and heartfelt conversations, they explore deep topics such as love, divorce, death, luck, and coffee. “Happy Endings Wedding Chapel” is a comedic and touching exploration of love’s complexities, the unexpected bonds we form, and the hope that can be found even in the most unlikely of places.”

Thursday, July 11
LIFE CORP.
A 20-minute sci-fi courtroom drama
Written by Jenna Jane
Directed by Alexa Perez

A 20-minute sci-fi courtroom drama. After years of struggling with infertility, Monica Duncan was able to conceive with a bionic womb. But now she can’t pay her debt on the device. The corporation that manufactures the bionic womb has come to collect, claiming full custody of Monica’s daughter. This play explores the implications of body modification, what it means to be a parent, and the inevitable trap of sacrificing the self to a corporation.

Content warnings: Infertility, profanity, brief sexual reference.

Friday, July 12
Man 2 Man
A HueMan Race Play in Two Acts
Written by Mimi Ayers
Directed by Ariel Blue

In MAN 2 MAN the stories of  two African American men, a half-cropping father in the early 1900s and his son returning home after fighting in World War II, are intertwined to reveal their shared experiences confronting Jim Crow America.

$10 per play reading
New Play Festival Subscriptions are available by calling the box office at (941) 365-2494.
$24 for 3 play readings/ $35 for all 5 play readings